South Africa Consulate Not Wanted, Says Beverly Hills

Yielding to repeated demands from anti-apartheid demonstrators, the Beverly Hills City Council has voted to ask the U.S. State Department to order the removal of the South African Consulate from the city.

Although the City Council has no power of its own to evict the consulate, “We certainly have the right to make a moral statement,” said Councilman Benjamin H. Stansbury Jr.

“We see no purpose in this consulate being in Beverly Hills,” he said, adding that if the federal government wants to maintain communication with South Africa, “let them do it in Washington, not here.”

Greeted by Cheers

The 4-1 vote Tuesday night was greeted by cheers from members of the Free South Africa Movement, who jammed the council chamber carrying signs showing clenched black fists and the slogan “On to Victory.”

But a spokesman for the group, Ed Waters, said the demonstrators will return to future meetings until they are satisfied that the letter, which has yet to be written, is strong enough to meet their demands.

An anti-apartheid resolution adopted by the council last month was inadequate, he said, and even now, “They could still say they abhor apartheid and not ask for the removal of the consulate.”

South African Consul Manus le Roux said the City Council’s action threatens to involve Beverly Hills in “a juridical mine field” that could affect the presence of U.S. diplomats in South Africa.

“I cannot prejudge the issue on behalf of the State Department, but I can only imagine that they would base their decision on existing international practice,” he said.

It was not the first time that the consulate’s location has generated controversy, however.

Communication Issue

When South Africa moved its consulate from San Francisco five years ago, the Los Angeles City Council passed a resolution asking the State Department to keep that nation from opening “any consulate . . . in the greater Los Angeles area.”

Consular officials have never admitted that the Los Angeles City Council’s resolution was a factor in selecting the consulate’s new address. Nonetheless, the South African Consulate is in Beverly Hills--while most other consulates are either downtown or in the mid-Wilshire district.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Edward I. Brown said he asked the State Department in 1980 if the consulate could not be located someplace other than Beverly Hills.

“The State Department indicated then that Beverly Hills was the appropriate site,” he said. “It’s really up to the federal government, not the City Council.”

Nonetheless, he voted to support

Stansbury’s motion.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert L. Bruce said there will be no response until the letter from the Beverly Hills council is received.

However, he said, “The Administration favors communication between peoples of both countries, and the more communication the better. We think isolation really doesn’t work.” He said President Reagan has repeatedly stated that America considers South Africa’s racial policies to be evil.

“We disagree with their government on this policy, but this Administration believes the United States ought to use diplomatic and other pressure and information efforts to bring about change.”

Diplomatic Presence

He said that one way to do that is for the United States to have a presence in South Africa through the embassy and consulates there to express the views of the U.S. government and to help bring about change.

Besides the embassy at Pretoria, the United States has consulates in Capetown, Durban and Johannesburg, Bruce said. Talks are under way on opening a consulate at Port Elizabeth.

Le Roux said South Africa has consulates in New York, Houston and Chicago in addition to the embassy in Washington and its offices on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, where a staff of 10 to 12 diplomats covers the 12 Western states.

“The bulk of the job is disseminating information about our country,” the South African consul said. “We’re trying to correct some misperceptions, of which there are a great many.”

Sign-Waving Protests

The decision to write to the State Department came a few minutes after the City Council adopted an emergency ordinance banning signs, placards and banners from its chambers.

The ordinance was not aimed at any one group, but it was introduced after members of the Free South Africa group staged a series of sign-waving protests at the council’s twice-monthly public meetings.

Until a satisfactory letter is sent, Waters said, the demonstrators would find other ways to make their point.

“There is nothing to prevent us from wearing T-shirts, carrying balloons and painting ‘Free South Africa’ on our faces,” he said.

But Councilwoman Donna Ellman warned that continued pressure could backfire. “When you feel pushed into a corner, the natural inclination is to rebel, even when you agree with the cause,” she said.