The World - News from Sept. 5, 1988

South African Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu defied the government’s state-of-emergency regulations by urging blacks and whites to stay away from the polls during nationwide municipal elections next month. Tutu, who spoke during a service in Cape Town, described the segregated elections as “ludicrous” and “unjust” and said the government is attempting to “force participation.” Whites, blacks, Asians and people of mixed-race will hold separate elections Oct. 26 to choose local officials. “I urge black people in this diocese not to vote . . . and I hope that white Anglicans would join their black fellow Anglicans in that action,” said Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize. “I am aware of the penalties attached to this call. I am not defying the government, I am obeying God.”