equity interests by thio method in South Africa and Namibia, accounting for 2.5 per cent of the overall dioinveotment. Of these, 15 companies were from the United Kingdom. 12 from the United Staten and me each from Austria, France, Netherlands and Switzerland. Thicl method of dioinveeting, either by partial oele or dilution through merger8 with other companies. reduce their exposure in South Africa without actual withdrawal of capitel, but it ie difficult to aocertain the economic or political impact of these measures, which will be relatively leeo than other methods of full-scale withdrawel. In many inotanceo. partial pales amount to nothing more than change of ownerohip, and the parent companiee retain more or leee the same hold on the financial and conraercial merkete. 3. Sala 21. As mentioned before, this method normally take8 three forma: (a) sale to a third party; (b) sale to local management; (c) eele to a trust. (a) laLetohi 22. Thio is the eimpleet method of withdrawing from South Africa. This method was adopted by 118 firms and accounted for 35 per cent of the 339 disinvestment operations identified by mid-1988. Some argue that the departure of one nation’s corporations &ply permit8 transnatiouale of other naticne to replace them. Although 70 per cent of the United States companies that were eold to a third party were sold to South African companiee, in 28 caaea of sale the third.party remain8 unknown. 23. Moreover, available information on dioinveoting companies ehowe that all known oaleo to third-party buyoro entailed ongoing relations, and two thirds of those companies had arrangements for ongoing non-equity tiee. No doubt, there hao been a general decline in the significance of foreign ownerohip of inveotment in South Africa. In other words, there hae been much greater domestic control of capital and more manageriel powers over business by 
**Analysis**
The text appears to discuss the withdrawal of foreign investment in South Africa and Namibia, specifically in the form of equity interests. It mentions different methods of disinvestment, such as selling to a third party, local management, or a trust. The text also touches on the impact of this disinvestment on the local economy and the fact that some foreign companies may be replaced by other foreign companies. Given the focus on foreign investment and disinvestment, it seems likely that the text is related to the topic of economic development.

**Category**
International trade, Industry