Botha Snubs Tutu, 4 Other Churchmen : Group Was Led to Expect Face-to-Face Talks on Racial Strife

Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu led a group of church leaders to President Pieter W. Botha’s office today for what they thought would be a meeting about racial unrest--but Botha snubbed them.

Christian Beyers Naude, leader of the South African Council of Churches, said Tutu and the other clergymen waited at Botha’s Cape Town residence for two hours before they were told “the president is not available.”

Botha’s office said later he could not meet with the churchmen because he had other commitments. The church leaders said they had arranged to meet with Botha and had been led to believe they would see him.

Botha has never acknowledged Tutu’s 1984 Nobel Peace Prize and the meeting would have been the first encounter between the two men.

Deputy Minister Talks

Instead of meeting with Botha, Tutu led the five-member delegation in two-hour talks at Botha’s Cape Town residence with Adriaan Vlok, deputy minister of defense and of law and order, and other government officials.

Besides Tutu and Naude, the delegation included Allan Boesak, president of the Geneva-based World Alliance of Reformed Churches, Bishop Manas Buthelezi and Mike Beea, chairman of a civil rights movement in the riot-torn Johannesburg ghetto of Alexandra.

Tutu said before the meeting, “We are prisoners of hope. Our purpose is to persuade the government how serious the situation is” in the country convulsed by two years of racial unrest that has claimed the lives of 1,250 people. More than 11,000 people have been arrested or detained without charge during the violence.

Snub Not Discussed

The clergymen declined to discuss the snub and it was not clear whether Botha changed his mind at the last minute or whether there was a misunderstanding.

“We were told that a meeting had been arranged,” Naude said. “We expected to see Botha.”

Buthelezi said in a brief statement when the group left Cape Town, “the president himself was not in. He sent his apologies. He did indicate, however, that he was willing to meet with us.”

Botha’s office said in a statement later that “in view of the lack of timely notice and the president’s other commitments, the president could not meet the delegation personally.”

Buthelezi said the clergymen will hold a news conference Friday after they report to the people of Alexandra, a riot-torn Johannesburg ghetto where at least 19 people and possibly as many as 27 died in four-day riots earlier this week.

“We cannot go into the substance of the negotiations until we have reported to the people of Alexandra,” Buthelezi said.