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PAGE 12
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, JUNE 24, 1986
calling themselves •vigilantes,• recently decided to fight back. Because
of this intercommunal warfare, much of Crossroads was set ablaze, with
tens of thousands made homeless.
Mr. Botha's dilemma is this: Should he try to reimpose authority in these
areas, now impossible unless the army is sent in, he will be accused of
further •oppression.•
No one--certainly not in the sympathetic news
media--condemns the ANC/UDF leaders for intimidating and oppressing their
own people.
In fact the ANC openly declared over a year ago that its
policy was to make the townships •ungovernable.•
It has largeiy
succeeded.
Still, the ANC and its supporters know that they cannot succeed in their
drive for power without support from the world community. And make no
mistake, the issue is power, not apartheid. If the latter weiet:lie case";
the Botha governmenc would be given credit for the many changes it has
instituted since 1978 to �amove areas of discrimination. The government
has even announced a plan to institute a National Council, to include
black leaders to work toward a new constitutional structure. The ANC is
not interested in any form of power sharing (whether such an idea would
work is another matter). The ANC, largely based among the Xhosa people,
but enjoylng intimidated support in the townships regardless of tribal
affiliation, is determined not to share power with, say, the Zulus, headed
by Chief Gatsha Buthelezi. As Peter Bibby wrote in the December 6 DAILY
TELEGRAPH of London:
•If Nelson Mandela was released and Oliver Tambo
were favoured, both of whom are Xhosas, the wrath of the Zulu nation would
be incurred. The liberal U.S. magazine THE NEW REPUBLIC even suggested
(Sept. 9, 1985): •In some ways, in fact, apartheid has restrained that
intra-black tribal warfare.•
The ANC, as stated earlier, is still weak. To be ushered into office it
is relying on the world community to clamp down hard on its enemy, the
South African government. Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu, arch-bishop-elect
of Cape Town (and a Xhosa) has called on the West to slap sanctions on his
country as the last chance for peaceful change. •If sanctions are not
applied," he said recently in the U.S., •if the international community
does not intervene decisively in South Africa immediately, then we have
had it.
Armageddon would be upon us.• To espouse sanctions in South
Africa is a punishable crime. Tutu had been edging closer to doing so
openly--and now does so brazenly. But his religious stature, and support
in the eyes of the world, shields him.
On
May 29, Bishop Tutu went so far as to say:
•I have come to the
conclusion that if the international community refuses to apply sanctions,
then our people will have tried everything, and following the principles
of the traditional doctrine of 'just war,' I would say it is justifiable
to overthrow the system by violence.
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And recently, Tutu met with
sympathetic wliite liberal� in South Africa. "What should the white
business community be doing to help you in your struggle?" asked a banker.
"Stop paying taxes,• Tutu replied.
"Stop supporting this immoral and
detestible regime. Put your money where your mouths are."
(Note Romans
13: 1, 5-7.)
In Paris this week, a U.N.-sponsored conference on sanctions against South
Africa was convened. Leaders of the ANC appealed for world action. Its