APPEAL TO VERWOERD

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29246, 2 July 1960, Page 13

APPEAL TO VERWOERD

Referendum Opposed

JOHANNESBURG, July 1. South Africa’s biggest newspaper, the Johannesburg “Star” has appealed to the Prime Minister (Dr. Verwoerd) for “an act of statesmanship”—to call off the Government’s proposed referendum on making the country a republic divorced from the British Crown.

Dr, Verwoerd will address a National Party rally on Saturday and may announce a date for the referendum. . ' The "Star” said Dr. Verwoerd could “make the occasion truly memorable by an act of statesmanship. Even at this eleventh hour he should tell the people, that it would not be for the good of South Africa to plunge the country into the maelstrom of a republican struggle at the present time. ' “The reasons are clear. Within South Africa a referendum campaign could only bring an accentuation of political bitterness and disunity at the very moment when other and infinitely graver problems are crying out for calm consideration and reasoned action. "Our country is ringed by a growing host of ill-will and enmity. It faces the dangers of total isolation, dangers which could only he . aggravated by a move toward a republic and possible severing of our Commonwealth association.” The Justice Minister (Mr Erasmus) said yesterday that most of the 1200 political prisoners now being released were being freed unconditionally. . “Only a percentage of those released will be restricted,” he said. ,