What Sort of S. Africa Will Emerge? : Americans Can Support Violence or a Chance for Democracy

I am not surprised when I hear that many Americans believe that South Africa is just a short step away from disintegrating into chaos. That, of course, is the worst scenario. There is hope deep down in our hearts--and a flicker of light at the end of the very dark political tunnel in which history has placed us at the present time.

One thing is certain: South Africa will never be the same again. It cannot go backwards, and it cannot stand still. The country is heading towards a new future, and it is the nature of that future and how we get there that is within our power to influence. What kind of country will we have in a post-apartheid South Africa?

At present there are some who fear that the white-dominated tricameral parliament will attempt to cling to power for as long as possible while black anger increases and violence mounts. The economy, already under siege, will disintegrate under the weight of divestiture and sanctions. Security forces will play a major and increasingly violent role in seeking to quell sabotage and general unrest. And, at some point, power will be seized by a Marxist-oriented government. There will be no spoils of war; it will be, some people warn, a Pyrrhic victory.

This is not what I or the majority of all South Africans, who desire decency and democracy, want to see happen. I do not believe that we have exhausted all channels for peaceful change, negotiation and national reconciliation.

However, as I write this there are Americans who are (wittingly or unwittingly) actively supporting organizations and individuals who use violence against South Africa and its people and who are proponents of a future Marxist-Socialist state for this country.

There are blacks and whites in South Africa who are genuinely concerned that we stand in the very danger of having another form of tyranny replacing the tyranny of apartheid.

The External Mission of the African National Congress has publicly called for South Africa to be made “ungovernable,”and has said that “power must be handed to the people.” Black-on-black violence perpetrated by the ANC from abroad, and from its supporters and surrogate organizations within the country (including the United Democratic Front), has resulted in almost daily reports of blacks and whites being murdered and maimed by bomb blasts. Violence and counter-violence, by the state and others, has become endemic.

The horrible irony of this tragedy is that, for the most part, it is blacks killing blacks.

In a press conference in Lusaka, Zambia, earlier this year, Oliver Tambo, the ANC leader in exile, announced that there would be “increased civilian casualties” in South Africa as the ANC escalated its guerrilla warfare. This is now a reality.

Blacks who are arbitrarily branded as so-called collaborators, or those who do not wish to join the ANC “comrades” and other purveyors of death and destruction, are “necklaced”--a gruesome, barbaric death in which the victims are burned alive when car tires filled with petrol are placed around their necks and set alight.

I have been marked for assassination, and my followers in Inkatha are daily at the receiving end of violent attacks on them and their property. On June 29 in Soweto a petrol bomb was thrown at a bus carrying Inkatha supporters returning from a prayer meeting. Three people died, and scores were injured.

Meanwhile, there are church leaders such as Bishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, who are now talking in terms of “just war.”

The ANC is given acclaim and succor throughout the Western world and, of course, in the Eastern Bloc from which it receives its arms and ammunition. To a large extent, the liberal press and wellknown politicians in the United States and other countries find no fault with the ANC and its spokesmen--including churchmen.

Is this what the American people really want to support? The ANC kills people as a matter of policy. Do you want us to end up in a Beirut-type situation? I think not. Surely the lessons of Korea and Vietnam are still fresh in your minds.

It is time that the American people, too, started to think about what kind of South Africa they would like to see in the future. Abhorrence of apartheid is a good and a just cause. But I wonder if, amongst all the rhetoric and the debate currently emanating from the United States, enough thought has been given to the people and the policies of all the various opponents of the present South African government. Do the American people, who are bombarded with pro-ANC propaganda, really know what this organization is all about? Would the American people want to live in a Marxist-Socialist state in which major resources and industries were nationalized?

What, then, is the way out of this spiral of violence? How can democracy be given a free rein once more in South Africa?

Quite clearly the government must tell black South Africa that it is prepared to negotiate about genuine power-sharing. At the same time, all political prisoners must be released and political parties unbanned. The death sentence must be pronounced on apartheid--not bit by bit (as is the case at present), but totally, now.

The government must tell South Africa and the world that it is prepared to sit down with all representative groupings in the country and draw up a new constitution.

Democracy must be given a chance to work. People must be free to select the leaders and organizations of their choice--whether it be the ANC, Inkatha, the National Party or any other group now operating or yet to be formed.

And, finally, there must be free and fair elections, with all citizens participating in the formation of a new government for South Africa. South Africa must find its own constitutional formula that all race groups can support.

There is a future for South Africa--provided we grasp that future together. We all--black, white and brown--need each other.