Plea of S.D.-Based Anti-Apartheid Group : California Delegation Urged to Aid Winnie Mandela

Officials for the San Diego-based Campaign Against Apartheid on Tuesday called on U.S. senators and congressmen from California to intervene by year’s end on behalf of South Africa’s Winnie Mandela, wife of imprisoned black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela.

The group hopes to arrange meetings between the elected officials and Campaign Against Apartheid representatives by the end of the month and will request that congressmen write President Reagan, urging him to offer Winnie Mandela political asylum in either the United States or in the U.S. Embassy in Johannesburg.

Campaign Against Apartheid officials will also urge Reagan to intervene personally on her behalf by contacting South Africa President Pieter Botha. They also say they will ask the officials to openly denounce Reagan’s use of “constructive engagement” in negotiating an end to South Africa’s apartheid policies.

“He (Reagan) is known as the great communicator, so let him do it with Botha,” said the anti-apartheid group’s co-chairman, Greg Akili. “They are a realistic set of demands, and it is the least that this government can do.”

Mandela “is being harassed because of who she is married to,” Akili said. “We are concerned that she can wind up dead, in jail, or both.”

Mandela was released on her own recognizance Tuesday after being arrested Sunday at her home in Soweto, the black satellite city outside Johannesburg. She defied an order banning her from returning to her Soweto home.

Akili said that staff members for U.S. Reps. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego) and Jim Bates (D-San Diego) were contacted Tuesday to set a meeting date, but they declined to commit to the meetings because of the Christmas holidays. Akili said that he will try to set up the meetings once again later this week.

U.S. Reps. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside) and Duncan Hunter (R-San Diego) and California’s U.S. senators, Alan Cranston and Pete Wilson, will also be contacted, he said.

The elected officials named by the Campaign Against Apartheid were unavailable Tuesday for comment.

Kate Yavenditti, a member of the National Lawyer’s Guild who said she was active with the anti-apartheid group, said Tuesday that someone must take a stand and “bring some attention to what his happening with Winnie Mandela.”

Yavenditti called Mandela’s ban from living in her home an outrage. She said having state officials “put pressure against the Reagan Administration” could be an important step in intervening on Mandela’s behalf.

“This is more of a humanitarian gesture to ask the elected officials to write the President” than anything else, said Akili. When asked if he thinks the Campaign Against Apartheid’s efforts will work, he said he preferred “to leave it open” and see what happens.

Akili said his group organizes anti-apartheid activities on a monthly basis and is made up of private citizens, city employees, and religious and community organizations that have shown a concern in combating the government-sanctioned discrimination.