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others would be the inevitable re–
sult. This is not just the
vie~
of the
Whites. Many of the leaders of the
African population are opposed to
the idea of integration at this time
because of the danger that the mi–
nor tribes would be oppressed by
the larger ones, sorne of whom also
happen to be, by nature or tradition,
ofthe warrior type.
South Africa's 750.000 Indians,
whose ancestors carne to the country
in the 1860s to work on the sugar
plantations of Natal, a lso are gener–
ally opposed to a "one-man. one–
vote" system. They are well aware
that South Africa's worst race riot
on record was not between Blacks
and Whites but betwcen Indians
and Zulus in Durban in 1948. Many
Indians believe their rights are bet–
ter preserved in a self-governing
" ludian Council" which is gradually
gaining more authority.
Thus, governmenta l policy insists
that all South Africa's peoples must
be permitted to rule themselves.
The concept of "plural democra–
cies," it asserts, safeguards the long–
establishcd nationhood of the White
people in that part of South Africa
which has historically been theirs
and which was virtuaiJy uninhab–
ited at the time of its first settlement.
At the same time, separate devel–
opment envisages the progress of all
the Bantu peoples to individual self–
government in those parts of the
country in which they originally set–
tled and which a re still theirs today.
The end result of separate devel–
opment is hoped to be a sort of
"South African commonwealth." a
cooperative association between the
White nation and the self-governing
Bantu states, coupled with e levated
home-rule status for the Coloured
and Indian peoples.
Separate development
is
an ex–
tremely complex arrangement-but
then South Africa is, by its yery na–
ture, complcx.
Transkel 's " Stillbirth"
Throughout the 1960s and 70s the
government poured vast sums into
the economic development of the
various Black national homelands in
a costly attempt to make them as
economically viable as possible in
readiness of independence. The
French author Paul Giniewski has
referred to the development of
South Africa's homelands as the
· most ambitious socioeconomic pro–
gram that has ever been designed
for the uplifting of a developing
people.
Nevertheless. South Africa's own
rapid industrialization continued to
draw off millions of uncmployed
Blacks from their tribal arcas into
the townships around the major
cities of White-inhabited South Af–
rica.
The separate development pro–
cess finally reached its first plateau
on October 26. 1976. with the inde–
pendence of the Transkei. homeland
for most of the nearly five million
Xhosa people.
The news media of the world. as
expected. greeted the Transkei's
birth with a verbal cradle-killing.
calling it "artificial" and a "step–
ch iId of a partheid."
It
would seem that in the world
today, independence is supposed to
come only via revolution. insur–
rection. guerrilla movements. civil
war, and the massive infusion of So–
viet-made weaponry.
By contrast. the Transkei was
carefully prepared for independence
over a 13-ycar period- far longer
than the English. French or Bel–
gians ever prepared their ex-African
colonies for self-rule. Yet no nation,
other than her former parent South
Africa. has chosen to recognize this
fertile Denmark-sized new state
carved out of South Africa's Cape
Province. And. of course. the U.N.
has looked the other way.
The Transkei's eloquent Prime
Minister Kaiser Matanzima laid
bare the folly of the revolutionary
approach to independence in his
opening address to his new nation:
"Revolution is a concept relatively
easy to sell to those who have noth–
ing to lose. Beca use of this it has
proved appealing toan alarming ex–
tent in the Third World. The vast
di parity between the material wel–
fare of the Whites and Blacks in
Africa has afforded the Marxists all
the evidence they needed to con–
vince backward people that they
have but to take up arms, kili the
White man or chase him away. take
over his prosperous farms. indus–
tries and way of life and their trou–
bles will be over.
We Transkeians
are not an ignoran! people and have
never fallen for this nonsense.
,.
Matanzima has repeatedly told
an apparently deaf world tha t the
Xhosas themselves- a proud people
with a rich history- had many times
requested progress toward self-gov–
ernment and independence over a
period of 40 years.
The leade rs of four oth er home–
lands-Bophuthalswana, Ciskei. Le–
bowa and Vcnda- have announced
their intentions to pursue indepen–
dence from South Africa for their
respective peoples. The other Ban–
tustan leaders a re either vacillating
on the issue of independence. or as
is the case with KwaZulu's Chief
Gatsha Buthelezi. openly opposed
lO
it.
Problems Wlth the Master Plan
The government remains committed
to separate development a the
"only possible solution" that will
work for South Africa's disparate
population groups. Nevertheless.
making the homelands cconomi–
cally viable is a difficult process.
For example, the population ex–
plosion among the various Black na–
(Continued on page 34)
"There is no other international trouble spol
where il is abso/ulely realistic
10
lo la/k in lerms of lhe apocalypse."
London
Sunday Telegraph
December
5, 1976
The
PLAIN TRUTH April 1977