Black Envoy’s Move in Pretoria Sparks Protest
A black African diplomat is going ahead with plans to move into a plush Pretoria suburb despite protests from white residents, neighbors said Tuesday.
Under the supervision of embassy officials, furniture has been delivered to the house, which has been sold to an unidentified diplomat from the nominally independent black homeland of Ciskei.
It is not known when the diplomat plans to move in.
Outraged whites have drawn up a petition and are distributing pamphlets opposing the sale of the house.
A key apartheid law, the Group Areas Act, states that races must live in separate areas although diplomats can normally live where they wish.
The residents have enlisted the help of Johan Welmans, a member of the far-right Conservative Party, who will take up the matter with party leaders.
“I am upset by the black family moving into a white area and will do everything in my power to prevent it,” he said.
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