American Delegation Vows to Keep Pressure on Pretoria

A delegation of 31 prominent American anti-apartheid activists, concluding a 56-hour visit here, promised Nelson Mandela on Tuesday that they will urge U.S. states, counties and cities to maintain sanctions and “keep the heat on” Pretoria.

And the visitors added that they will pressure President Bush and Congress to persuade South African President Frederik W. de Klerk to halt the black violence that has become the primary impediment to negotiations.

“Our nation, since the lifting of (U.S. congressional) sanctions, has watched as a casual bystander, and we have used little of our considerable influence,” said Randall Robinson, executive director of TransAfrica and leader of the delegation, which called itself Democracy Now. “Our job now is to put America on the right side of this issue,” Robinson added.

The Americans, most of them blacks and including former tennis star Arthur Ashe, musician Quincy Jones and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), limited their mission to meetings with Mandela’s African National Congress and a quick tour of two black townships.

“We came to listen and learn . . . with open minds,” Robinson said.

But, unlike the hundreds of other foreign visitors who have made fact-finding trips here, the Americans made no attempt to meet with other black opposition groups or the government. Robinson said the group’s primary goal is to determine the role that U.S. anti-apartheid groups should play during South Africa’s transition to a multiracial democracy. He added that, while he had no objection to meeting De Klerk, “we were invited by Mr. Mandela.”

As the visitors departed with their pro-sanctions message, the ANC received bad news from Japan, where the government announced Tuesday that it is lifting all economic sanctions against Pretoria.

“We are back internationally with countries that matter--the industrial giants of the world,” declared a jubilant Roelof F. (Pik) Botha, South Africa’s foreign minister. Botha predicted that the Japanese move will “give momentum to . . . the negotiating process in South Africa.”

But the ANC and its allies criticized Japan’s decision. The ANC said this will take pressure off Pretoria and slow the transition from white-minority rule to a democratic government.

Although the ANC supports the lifting of so-called people-to-people sanctions, such as air links and visa restrictions, it opposes new investment or loans until an interim government has been formed. The ANC-aligned Congress of South African Trade Unions said the Japanese move is “premature . . . and a slap in the face for the majority of South Africans.”

The 1.2-million-member black union federation warned that the action might “bedevil future economic relations” between the two countries.

The Democracy Now delegates, including leaders from business, sports, entertainment and organized labor, spent most of their visit in meetings with ANC officials and ANC-aligned businessmen, labor leaders and entertainers.

But it was a visit to Soweto and Alexandra, Johannesburg-area townships, that left the biggest impression on many delegates.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, could prepare me for what we saw today,” Jones said. But, he added, “in spite of the degradation and inhuman standard of living forced upon these people, I saw young people with hungry minds, people with hope, spirit and joy in their eyes.”