Botha, Clerics Far Apart in Talks Snubbed by Tutu : President’s Tone Called Combative

Top South African church leaders met with President Pieter W. Botha today, and one said later that they found themselves so far apart on how to deal with racial unrest that “we hardly began to communicate at all.”

The meeting was called to discuss a year of black anti-apartheid riots that have killed more than 600 people. Bishop Desmond Tutu, snubbed last month when he asked for a one-on-one meeting, refused to attend.

Without mentioning his name, the State Department today criticized Tutu, winner of last year’s Nobel Prize, for boycotting the meeting with Botha. Spokesman Charles Redman said in Washington, “A refusal to meet only worsens chances for ending apartheid.”

Wanted ‘All Communities’

Reading from a prepared statement, Redman said, “If we’re going to have a process involving all parties, it will have to include leaders of all communities.”

Asked if he were criticizing Tutu, Redman said, “It is urgent for all parties to use those opportunities to talk.”

The delegation of South African clergymen--including Roman Catholic Bishop Denis Hurley and Methodist Church leader Peter Storey--met with Botha, Police Minister Louis le Grange and Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha for a two-hour session.

Storey said the president was argumentative and not inclined to listen, and delegation members said they were not sure that they would agree to future meetings.

‘Midnight Has Struck’

“We were trying to represent those for whom midnight has struck, for whom hope has given way to rage,” Storey said.

Hurley said President Botha did not address any of the major issues the churchmen raised, but “we hope still that on reflection some impression might arise in the president’s mind that will point in the direction we were talking about.

“The two perceptions of South Africa were so different we hardly began to communicate at all,” said the Durban-based Hurley, who is white and chairman of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

The churchmen urged the president to dismantle apartheid and to convene a national convention of black and white leaders to discuss the increasing racial violence that has killed 635 people in the last year.

Want Prisoners Released

They also called for the release of political prisoners, including dissident Nelson Mandela; an end to the state of emergency, and the withdrawal of police and soldiers from black townships.

President Botha met the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the outspoken leader of the U.S. Moral Majority, for private talks before today’s meeting with South African clergymen.

After the meeting, Falwell said Americans were falsely informed on events in South Africa and pledged to launch a $1-million media campaign in support of the white minority government. He also said he would mount a campaign in the United States to promote investment in South Africa.

“Apartheid is not the policy of the government; it is a social reality,” Falwell quoted Botha as saying of the official policy of racial segregation. “Reform is the policy of the government.”

Storey condemned Falwell’s intervention and said: “I do not think he has done any service to the cause of justice in this land.

“His perception of the situation here is totally inaccurate. He hasn’t the slightest notion of what is happening in the hearts and minds of the people in this country.”