CAMPAIGN ’88 : Jackson Voices Protest With S. African Envoy

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, using his outspoken opposition to apartheid to distinguish himself from his Democratic rivals, met Tuesday in Washington with the South African ambassador to voice “outrage” at the recent detention of religious leaders in Cape Town, and then encouraged his opponents to back a bill that would toughen sanctions against South Africa.

Jackson said he told the ambassador, Pieter Koornhof, that the arrests of Bishop Desmond Tutu and other religious leaders demonstrated the “renewed arrogance and boldness” of the apartheid system.

“The crackdown in South Africa demands action and solidarity,” Jackson said. “They may arrest Bishop Tutu, the Nobel Prize laureate, but they cannot be allowed to arrest peace and justice any longer.”

Jackson’s visit to Washington, a hastily arranged deviation from his campaign schedule, was his latest effort to call attention to his position on the issue. He spoke Monday by telephone with National Security Adviser Lt. Gen. Colin L. Powell and asked him to urge President Reagan to join with U.S. allies at the NATO meeting in Brussels to impose multilateral sanctions agains South Africa. Jackson later persuaded his Democratic rivals at a debate in Williamsburg to don yellow ribbons in protest of the arrests.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Jackson challenged his Democratic rivals to join with him in supporting the tougher sanctions bill, a step they have shown little willingness to take.

Jackson said Koornhof agreed during their 30-minute conversation to meet further with Rep. Walter E. Fauntroy (a District of Columbia non-voting delegate to the House) and Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D-Berkeley), the congressional sponsor of legislation that would require most companies to divest their interest in South African holdings. Fauntroy and Dellums also attended Tuesday’s meeting.

But Jackson said Koornhof gave no indication that South Africa would moderate its stance against demonstrators. Koornhof did not appear with Jackson at a news conference after the meeting, and the ambassador’s request that the meeting be held in a downtown hotel rather than in the South African Embassy appeared also to indicate his desire to give little prominence to the meeting.