Senate Assails S. Africa Apartheid, Asks Report on Police Shooting

The Senate voted Wednesday to condemn South African racial policies and request an Administration report on a police shooting incident in the eastern Cape region that took at least 19 lives.

The Senate acted after House Democrats unanimously endorsed a resolution calling for increased pressure--including economic sanctions--against South Africa until it shows progress in dismantling its apartheid policy of strict racial separation.

The Senate’s non-binding resolution, adopted 89 to 4, was sponsored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Lowell Weicker (R-Conn.).

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) called the measure “a way of expressing our outrage” over apartheid and the March 21 shootings outside Uitenhage, near Port Elizabeth. It was the only discussion of the measure as the Senate pushed forward to clear away business before the Easter recess.

The Senate resolution endorsed a statement by Secretary of State George P. Shultz that South Africa’s policy “is totally repugnant to the people of the United States” and that the killings “underline how evil and unacceptable apartheid is.”

The measure asks Shultz to submit a report on the violence to Congress by May 15.

The Reagan Administration’s “constructive engagement” policy calls for quiet negotiations aimed at easing South Africa’s repression of blacks but stops short of confrontation or economic sanctions.

In the House, 144 Democrats at a two-hour closed caucus adopted a document calling on Congress to adopt legislation barring future U.S. investment in South Africa and ending U.S. bank loans to the Pretoria government, saying U.S. foreign policy must make “immediate and substantial” strides toward forcing dismantling of the apartheid system.

Rep. Howard Wolpe (D-Mich.) said hearings on the measure are scheduled for April 17-18, and he hopes it will be brought to the full House in May.