South African Tells Hope for Ties to East Europe After Hungary Trip

Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha, back from his first trip to Eastern Europe, said Friday that his government hopes to establish diplomatic relations with Hungary and possibly other long-hostile Warsaw Pact countries.

Botha also said his government wants to attract Eastern Europeans to South Africa to ease a labor shortage in skilled jobs. Anti-apartheid groups have denounced the recruitment campaign, saying the government should be training blacks rather than wooing white immigrants.

In Budapest, Botha met Thursday with Hungarian Foreign Minister Guyla Horn. Hungary’s national MTI news agency reported afterward: “Both sides expressed their intention to gradually establish official relations.”

The African National Congress, which for decades has received Soviet Bloc backing for its guerrilla campaign against white-minority-led rule, accused Hungary of betraying South Africa’s black majority and forming “a racist partnership with apartheid.”

Alfred Nzo, the group’s secretary general, said Hungary’s decision to receive Botha demonstrated “bad faith and a cynical disregard for international agreements.”

“Only 10 days ago, representatives of the Hungarian government assured the ANC that they have no contact with the apartheid regime,” he said.

However, Botha told reporters before leaving Budapest that “no agreements were concluded” with Hungary. And Horn reminded Botha that Hungary “opposes any kind of racial, national or ethnic discrimination, and condemns all manifestations of apartheid,” MTI said.

At a news conference Friday at Johannesburg’s airport, Botha said the two countries will investigate possible cooperation in trade, industrial development and tourism.

Asked about the prospect of formal ties with other Eastern European countries, Botha replied: “There is already contact, and we are talking.”

Botha’s two-day stay was the first known visit by a senior South African official to a Warsaw Pact country.