Bophuthatswana Will Boycott S. Africa Vote

The African National Congress and the Bophuthatswana government were on a collision course Monday after the black homeland confirmed it will boycott South Africa’s first all-race elections.

A senior ANC official immediately accused Bophuthatswana of hindering democracy and defying the will of its own people. He said the ANC now has no choice but to throw its weight behind public workers’ strikes that have begun to cripple the government of President Lucas Mangope.

Popo Molefe, head of the ANC election campaign, also called on President Frederik W. de Klerk to immediately cut off South African subsidies that supply three-fourths of Bophuthatswana’s budget.

He suggested stopping South African goods from entering Bophuthatswana and organizing a tourist boycott. Bophuthatswana is home to the Sun City resort.

Like the nine other independent or semiautonomous homelands, which were set up under apartheid in an unsuccessful plan to separate blacks from whites, Bophuthatswana is due to be reincorporated into South Africa immediately after the vote April 26-28.

But Mangope so far has defied reincorporation.