Pretoria Expels U.S. Journalist, 3rd Newsman Ousted in 2 Days

An American journalist who reports for Business Week magazine was ordered Friday to leave South Africa--the third foreign newsman ordered out in two days.

Steve Mufson, 28, a free-lance journalist who also writes for other American and Dutch magazines, said that the Department of Home Affairs told him that his application for a renewal of his work permit had been rejected and that he was to leave the country within a week. No reason was given.

The U.S. Embassy in Cape Town strongly protested the Pretoria government’s action and asked for a reconsideration. “The United States is dedicated to the ideal of a free press,” the embassy said. “Historically, South Africa has upheld those same principles. It is with growing alarm that we witness the lessening of South Africa’s commitment to them.”

Stoffel Botha, the minister of home affairs, on Thursday ordered the expulsion of two British television correspondents, Michael Buerk of the British Broadcasting Corp. and Peter Sharp of the London-based Independent Television News, after government complaints about their coverage of clashes between the police and students in campus protests.

Patrick Moberly, the British ambassador, asked Botha on Friday to reconsider his decision, noting that the action had drawn considerable protest in Britain. “He (Botha) said he would consider what the ambassador had said, but he emphasized his decision still stood,” a British Embassy spokesman said, adding that the final word on the two journalists was expected next week.

The South African government contends that the foreign press is biased in its coverage of the conflict here and contributes to the unrest by favoring the black militants. To curb what it considers propaganda on behalf of the anti-apartheid movement, the government has imposed severe restrictions on what both domestic and foreign newsmen may report about political violence, peaceful protests and “subversive statements.”

Mufson, who has been in South Africa for nearly two years, will be the 10th correspondent expelled since the government declared a national state of emergency last June to quell the country’s continuing civil unrest.