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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JULY 26, 1985
ON THE WORLD SCENE
SPECIAL REPORT: WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN SOUTH AFRICA
Just as the agitators had hoped, the government of the Republic of South
Africa this week was forced to declare a state of emergency to curb the
violence that has been churning in widely-scattered black townships across
the country for the past year. Thirty-six areas of the country were placed
under the emergency rule.
Along with the crackdown have come the usual charges of "oppression" and
"police brutality." Foreign reaction was swift, and for the most part,
expected. The United States government said the South African government
bore a "considerable responsibility" for the violence that has claimed the
lives of about 500 people, because of apartheid (South Africa's policy of
racial separation).
The European Community issued its strongest ever
denunciation of Pretoria and called upon it to end the clampdown at once.
The Socialist government of France recalled its ambassador to Pretoria and
announced a ban on future investments in South Africa by French companies.
("A cheap political move, really," said one Western diplomat in South
Africa, noting that French businesses were not planning to expand anyway.)
The head of the Commonwealth of Nations, Secretary-General Shridath
Ramphal, labeled the South African government a terrorist organization and
urged the world to apply sanctions to force an end to apartheid.
Overlooked in the cacophony of worldwide condemnation is what has really
been happening in the strife-torn townships.
The news media has, as
expected, concentrated on rioters killed or injured by police--about half
of the victims. The other half represent attacks by blacks on their own
civic authorities, plus infighting among members of radical groups fighting
for power.
Many of the victims of violence have been black authority figures--anyone
said to be "collaborating" with the white government. Black councilmen,
policemen, their wives and children have been brutally attacked, their
homes burned. Some have been hacked to death, others burned alive.
Recently a TV news clip showed a black woman (a so-called collaborator) who
was bound, dowsed with gasoline and set ablaze. While writhing in agony,
she was repeatedly kicked by members of the wildly ranting mob. It was
precisely because of the attacks upon local law enforcement officials and
the general breakdown of order that the government felt compelled to act.
What is really going on in South Africa? Why all the unrest at this time,
especially since the government of State President P.W. Botha �in the
process of instituting an unprecedented series of social changes?
To
obtain the answers to these and other questions I talked this past week with
visiting political and business leaders from South Africa. These individu
als, who represent a broad spectrum of interests and opinions, were visit
ing Los Angeles while on a nationwide tour of key U.S. cities. They were
attempting to shed light--instead of heat--on what is happening in their
troubled land.
Among the two delegations were eighteen parliamentarians in South Africa's
new tri-cameral national legislature. These included representatives of
the Indian and Coloured peoples as well as delegates from the Afrikaner and