Anti-Apartheid Group Asks Simon to Delay Africa Tour

An anti-apartheid group has urged American singer Paul Simon to postpone a tour of South Africa, saying concerts planned next month would provoke hostility from blacks.

“You will be coming to a hostile climate and one certainly not conducive to your performance,” the Azanian Youth Organization said in an open letter to the singer.

The group said Saturday that the tour would be premature, as genuine political reforms had not yet started.

“Perhaps your tour will be more appropriate on the day of our victory, so as to benefit every Azanian citizen and not a certain section of the liberation movement that has blessed your tour,” the youth group said, referring to the rival African National Congress.

The group, an affiliate of the Azanian People’s Organization, the main proponent of the late Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness philosophy, refers to South Africa as Azania.

Simon is due to play Johannesburg and Cape Town in January on his first South African concert tour.

The tour has been approved by the ANC, the main anti-apartheid group, which recently has softened its campaign for a cultural boycott of South Africa. Simon is well known for his “Graceland” album, which drew heavily on South African urban black music.