S. Africa Aid Questioned // Chicago Hair-Care Grant Cited in Report

WASHINGTON A $500,000 grant to a Chicago-based foundation to teachhair care to South Africans is among a series of U.S. foreign aidgrants for South Africa under scrutiny by the Senate ForeignRelations Committee.

The committee has scheduled hearings into what its chairman, Sen.Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), called "abuses of U.S. foreign aid."

Targeted are grants made by the Agency for InternationalDevelopment under a policy of steering federal grants to blackorganizations in the United States. The policy was criticized by theagency's inspector general in a report that suggested it went beyondcongressional mandates on minority preferences.

Among the first grants …