According to a 1980 estimate, 5,678,000 black South African adults are illiterate. A large number of organizations has been created to address the problem--among them such private sector operations as the South African Committee for Higher Education, Operation TEACH (Teach Every African Child), the Bureau of Literacy and Literature, the Urban Foundation, and the government's Department of Education and Training--but their failure to coordinate activities has hampered the promotion of adult literacy. Obstacles to greater coordination include a lack of consensus on the criteria for literacy, disagreement over whether efforts should be concentrated on preventing or curing adult literacy, varied methods of teaching reading, limited government commitment to adult literacy programs, limited funding, and restricted opportunities for black workers even with good literacy skills. Reasons for optimism over improved coordination in the future, however, involve an increased flow of capital into the study of black literacy, signs of increased state involvement in literacy education, the establishment of a black university in a major urban area, and some relaxation of legal requirements for black admission to universities. (MM)