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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 23, 1984
But today was different. Assembled on two temporary pavilions
overlooking the red, hastily levelled parade ground were the
guests of the two leaders.
Eastwards sat the luminaries from
Maputo, invited by President Machel. The proximity of so many
Marxists, including diplomats from the Soviet Union, North Korea,
East Germany and Cuba, attracted the curious binocular gase of
VIPs on the South African stand in the west.
As his guests, Mr. Botha had assembled virtually every mover and
shaker in South African society.
Crowned corporate heads,
bankers and heavyweight eminences of every stamp were visibly
exhilarated by seeing a little bit of history being made....
"Historic" is � much-abused word these days, � this, clearly,
was the real thing. It seemed entirely appropriate that the men
and women who largely shape South African affairs should be
present at this moment.... Guards of honour were inspected, the
khaki-clad President Machel's slightly swaggering body language
compared with Mr. Botha's homier, but dignified, style.
Red and white balloons marked "peace" were still drifting over
head into the Lowveld from the Mozambique pavilion as the crowd
drifted into sweltering marquees for [ refreshments ].... Conver
sation was animated, the talk was of history and of new
beginnings. Even the Conservative Party's Mr. Tom Langley seemed
to enjoy himself hugely in the company of some new Mozambican
friends. Outside, soldiers from the two countries clinked beer
bottles and exchanged gifts and jokes.
As Mr. Botha's hot but still exhilarated guests set off for the
train-bus-plane link which would transport them back to Jan Smuts
with Madison-Avenue efficiency, they watched soldiers of the
Mozambique national guard trooping back towards their border.
Most of them carried a bottle of Grand Mousseux wrapped inside
their commemorative copies of the Nkomati Accord. Like the river
flowing slowly eastwards in the valley below, it all seemed very
symbolic indeed. Next step, Namibia?
T11e treaty clearly benefits both sides. The most important provision of
what has come to be known as the Nkomati Accord is its Article Three which
commits both sides to prevent their territory, waters or air space from
being "used as a base, thoroughfare or in any other way by another state,
government, foreign military forces, organizations or individuals which
plan or prepare acts of violence, terrorism or aggression" against the
other.
By a stroke of the pen the outlawed African National Congress has had the
ground cut out from under its feet. The ANC had been using bases inside
Mozambique to launch terrorist raids into South Africa. Over a year ago,
ANC "freedom fighters" ignited a bomb in Pretoria, South Africa's adminis
trative capital, killing 17 people and injuring over 40. In retaliation
South Africa launched a raid into Mozambique, bombing ANC compounds in the
capital of Maputo.
Mozambique also expects to gain political stability since South Africa will
no longer support a counter movement inside Mozambique known as the
Mozambique National Resistance. Significantly, the night before the treaty