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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MARCH 29, 1985
PAGE 11
further said that it "saddens me that certain people under the guise of
moral and religious conviction should take the lead in fomenting disobedi
ence, violence and destruction." There is no doubt that Botha directed
these remarks to several prominent liberal clerics who the day before had
led an anti-government march on Parliament in Cape Town.
Mr. Botha emphasized repeatedly that he is still committed to gradual re
form to "broaden democracy and improve the living conditions of all South
Africans regardless of race, color or creed•••• It is ironic that now, at
exactly the time that we have taken new initiatives that encompass coopera
tion on so many levels and in so many spheres, people of ill intent insti
gate demonstrations and marches that result in arson, violence and death."
Meanwhile, in Pretoria, Deputy Foreign Minister Louis Nel charged that "It
has become clear that the strategy of the rioters and the people inciting
the riots is to destroy any potentially successful democratic structure."
He said radicals could not afford the creation of a moderate black majority
and "so they continue to threaten, intimidate and murder any of their black
brothers who show a willingness to work towards peaceful reform."
The news media generally conveys the impression that the majority popula
tion in South Africa is united in a program to achieve political power.
Nothing could be further from the truth, as reported, in this instance
quite factually, by correspondent Michael Parks in the February 3, 1985 LOS
ANGELES TIMES:
So great is the bitterness among rival anti-apartheid groups now
that they disrupt each other's meetings, sabotage each other's
activities and even fight openly.
Members of the Azanian
People's Organization clashed last month with youths from the
Congress of South African Students demonstrating outside one of
their meetings in Tembisa, a black township 20 miles northeast of
Johannesburg. Knives, clubs and other weapons were used, five
people were seriously injured and police had to halt the
fighting. The Azanian People's Organization and its affiliates
mounted most of the demonstrations that met the South African
visit, sponsored by the rival United Democratic Front, of Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) last month.
The prospect of a
violent clash between the groups prevented Kennedy from
delivering his final speech here••••
The United Democratic Front and Inkatha, a black political group
whose members come mostly from the Zulu tribe, fought running
battles in Natal province much of last year, with at least 15
people killed and scores injured. A war of words continues be
tween the groups, often with sharper criticism of each other than
of the minority white regime•••• The factions are numerous, the
issues diverse, but the growing divisions among South Africa's 24
million blacks mean there is
ll2
unity ,2n� strategy for ending
apartheid, Jl2 agreed interim goal, not�� common vision of�
future South Africa.
The fundamental split is between "progressive democrats," most of
whom belong to the multiracial United Democratic Front, an um
brella grouping of 645 organizations with 2 million members, and