The Killings in S. Africa--a Soldier’s Nightmare : Now in U.S., He Requests Asylum

I know I can no longer live in South Africa because I feel trapped. . . . I have already been forced against my will to kill innocent men, women and children, and I cry about what I have done.

--From a letter by Bernard Butler-Smith

to the Immigration and

Naturalization Service.

The ugly memories that haunt his sleep have chased Bernard Butler-Smith halfway around the world, from his South African home to the streets of Los Angeles.

As a soldier in the South African army, he recalls, he was at the helm of an armored tank as it rolled over huts filled with black families trying to hide from the white soldiers. Their helpless screams and the sound of crushing bones still echo through his mind.

Nor can he forget the sight of “black people smashed against trees” by the 18-ton troop carriers--or the sound of his white comrades’ laughter as they vied to see who could manage the bloodiest kill.

For more than two years, Butler-Smith, who is white, fought his conscience and his black countryman as a draftee in the South African infantry, fighting to uphold the country’s policy of apartheid, or racial separation.

Now he has chosen to defy South African law and refuse to serve in an army he says brutally oppresses the country’s black majority.

‘Will Never Return’

Three months ago, he left his country to “vacation” in America and joined a handful of other white South Africans who have fled compulsory military service to seek political asylum here.

“I will never return to South Africa,” said Butler-Smith, 27. “I cannot hate a person because of the color of his skin. I cannot live where I am forced to kill innocent people.”

Under South African law, white youths are required to perform two years of military service, then are subject to recall for up to three months every year, he said.

“You cannot refuse to fight, or you risk being shot by the (army) officers,” said Butler-Smith. After several tours of duty, “I knew I had to get away. I had to tell the world what is really happening in South Africa.”

He tells stories of the torture by soldiers of black civilians, of government payoffs to black tribal leaders who betray their followers, of black children shot by “bloodthirsty” white soldiers as the youngsters stand with their arms raised in surrender.

The stories are told haltingly, in a voice almost too soft to be heard. Some are interrupted by tears.

“It is not something I find easy to express,” he explained. “It is so wrong . . . and I still feel guilty about what I have done. It is difficult for me to speak about these things.”

An electronic technician for the national telephone company, Butler-Smith said he left behind a comfortable, middle-class existance in the city of Melmoth to seek sanctuary from the threat of future military service.

Free in the U.S.A.

He chose America as his destination “because it is the freest country in the world.” But he faces an uphill battle in winning the right to remain here.

Under U.S. law, political asylum can be granted to foreign nationals here who face persecution in their home countries because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.

But winning asylum is often a difficult task, and government officials look dubiously upon requests from draft evaders.

“Draft evasion itself is not a grounds for granting asylum,” said Laura Dietrich, deputy assistant secretary in the State Department’s Bureau of Human Rights, which furnishes the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) with advisory opinions on all asylum requests.

Popular Reason

“That’s a very popular reason given (on asylum applications)--’I don’t want to fight for this cause I don’t believe in’--but it’s not one that carries a lot of weight,” she said. “The only legitimate criteria (for winning asylum) is fear of persecution.”

Only a handful of South Africans have sought asylum in this country in recent years--just 21 of the 25,000 asylum applications reviewed in the last year were from South Africans--and there is no way of telling how many of those were white. The INS keeps no statistics on the race of applicants, and will not comment on individual cases.

Less than one-third of the South Africans who apply are granted asylum. Of the more than 60 applications submitted nationwide since 1982, only 19 were approved. In the Los Angeles area, all eight of the requests for asylum in the last two years have been denied.

“It’s not enough just to disagree with the government policy,” explained Vern Jervis, INS spokesman from Washington. “You have to have taken some actions and been involved in such a way to have demonstrated that disagreement, so the government is aware and has targeted you, personally, for persecution.”

Telling of Abuses

Although Butler-Smith was not active in the anti-apartheid movement in his country, he says it is not safe for him to return home because he is sharing information with American officials on abuses by South African authorities.

“If I went back, I would definitely get thrown into jail and tortured by the security police because of the stories I’ve told,” he said.

Soft-spoken and politically naive, Butler-Smith admits his opposition to apartheid is a recent development. Growing up, he received the same indoctrination as other white youths--that blacks were “trash” and did not deserve equal rights.

“Before I went into the army, I also thought a black person was inferior to me,” he said. “But the first time I shot and killed a black person, I realized they’re just as human as me. They’ve got every right to live like I do.”

His First Destination

Telling his family he was going to visit America, Butler-Smith arrived in this country in September, and headed straight for Los Angeles, where he hoped to find a job in computers.

But, forbidden from working until his asylum application is processed, he has wound up living in cheap hotels and mission shelters, to try to stretch the $5,000 he brought with him from South Africa.

He knows about America only what he has read in books. “When I was in school, grade nine, I did a project on America,” he said. “I did quite a bit of research . . . population distribution, economics, industry. I saw America was a better place than South Africa. Here, there is really freedom.”

The reality has not been disappointing. “This is such a beautiful place. . . . The people are so friendly. Never before in my life have I seen so many cultures mixing together.”

Butler-Smith can remain here legally while his asylum application wends its way through the various government levels of approval and appeal--a process that could take years. But what if it is ultimately denied, and he is ordered to leave the country he wants to call home?

“I don’t believe that can happen,” he says, but his shaking hands belie that confidence. “Surely, they cannot send me back to fight for the racists.

“But if they do not accept me here, I will find another country that will,” he said. “When I left, I did not know what would happen to me. The important thing is I had to get out . . . no matter what the consequences. Even if I were thrown in jail in America, it would be better than staying in South Africa.

“I’m not going back. I’d rather die than go back to South Africa.”