Beach Desegregated, S. Africa Announces
The segregated beach where mixed-race parliamentary leader Allan Hendrickse swam in defiance of apartheid two years ago has been opened to all races, an official said Wednesday.
Provincial governor Gene Louw announced his decision to desegregate the beach in Port Elizabeth three days after President Pieter W. Botha named him successor to Constitutional Development Minister Chris Heunis.
Louw last year overruled a decision by the Port Elizabeth City Council to open its beaches to all races.
Hendrickse triggered a prolonged row with Botha on New Year’s Day, 1987, when he led a group of “colored” (mixed-race) lawmakers in a defiant swim from King’s Beach in a protest against apartheid and the segregation of public facilities.
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