THE FORMER PROTECTORATES NEW STATUS GIVES S. AFRICA NEW ALL BLACK NEIGHBOURS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31188, 12 October 1966, Page 16

THE FORMER PROTECTORATES NEW STATUS GIVES S. AFRICA NEW ALL BLACK NEIGHBOURS

(By

FRANK TAYLOR

in the “Daily Telegraph," London •

(Reprinted bp arrangement >

CAPE TOWN. October I.—lt is exactly 18 months since Sir Seretse Khama, Prime Minister of Bechuanaland, was informed that he was no longer on the South African Government’s prohibited immigrants list. Yesterday his country became the independent State of Botswana and helping him to celebrate the occasion was Dr. Hilgard Muller, the South African Foreign Minister. Such is the speed of political developments at the southern end of the continent.

No sooner had the festiv--ities ended in Botswana's 1 bush-enveloped capital of i Gaberones than Dr. Muller was leaving on the 350-mile journey to Maseru, capital of! Basutoland, which on Tuesday becomes the independent ■ State of Lesotho. The very presence of Dr. Muller at these events marks a new phase in the brittle progression of white-black politics in Africa. Never before has a South African official been asked to attend the coming of age of a new black State. And it is illustrative of the balancing act which the Republic now finds itself performing that a few days after the Lesotho celebrations Dr. Muller will be off to New York to defend his country’s racial policies—and particularly as applied in the administration of South-west Africa —before the United Nations. Sympathetic Ears The major forces within the Organisation for African Unity and the U.N. AfroAsian bloc regard with obvious displeasure the strengthening of ties between South Africa and the two former British Protectorates. But, looked at dispassionately, there is little they can do about it.

Botswana, a hot, featureless land of desert and scrub, and Lesotho, the mountainous enclave bounded wholly by South Africa, are starting their adult lives without having shaken off the economic sicknesses of their adolescence. Britain has been a poor physician and it remains to be seen whether Pretoria’s medicine is any more effective. Whitehall, it is true, will continue to give grants in aid, but once the old cord has been severed the two territories will turn unshamedly to South Africa for help.

It would be naive to imagine that the Republic would demand nothing in return for showing such a fatherly interest in the new States. What could be better for the guardians of white rule in Africa than to have two sympathetic (although certainly not pro-apartheid) ears in the 0.A.U.? In the case of Lesotho this is certainly the way things are going. Its Prime Minister, Chief Leabua Jonathan, has accepted an invitation to join the rest of Black Africa in its political councils. But he

simply cannot afford to pro-: mote an anti-South Africa line. He has gone on record; as being opposed to apartheid ! But he adds that it would be! suicidal for Lesotho to sup-; port any U.N.-inspired sane-! itions against the Republic? Seventy per cent of Lesotho’s imports come from South Africa and 95 per cent of its exports go to it. Suffering from chronic soil erosion and sketchy interest in secondary industry, Lesotho nevertheless has one I major potential in the pro- ! posed £l5 million Ox-Bow

hydro-electric project. This is a scheme for harnessing the waters of the majestic Drakensburg Mountains with the intension of using the power internally and selling the water to the thirsty farmlands of the Orange Free State and the Witwatersrand industrial complex. Critics of the scheme believe that South Africa would never allow itself to become dependent for a major part of its water supply on another State, especially a black one. But the weight o’ retaliation is so much in the Republic’s favour, that Lesotho could hardly make an attempt at blackmail. It would rather have the money from the water sales. In the past, industrialists have been discouraged from investing in the territory because under the tribal land system there was no security of tenure for an “outsider.” But now that a long-term lease plan is coming into operation the Johannesburg developers will no doubt become more interested. A Drawing Together Everything, therefore, points to a further drawing together of the two neighbours. There is no doubt at all that South Africa has a genuine desire for a placid relationship and

I Chief Jonathan’s talks with I Dr. Verwoerd four days ! before the South African ! leader was assassinated made I it clear that the feeling was • mutual. i There is one cause for un- ! certainty, however. Compared ,i with the other states of Black 1 Africa, Lesotho is a highlyeducated and politicallysophisticated land. It has a literacy rate of 85 per cent j Political awareness and con- • jversation in the dusty streets : of Maseru is of an extra- ■ ! ordinarily keen order. But ’jin the Opposition Basutoland

[ Congress party there is a j mounting determination to I oust Chief Jonathan and set the country on the Pan- ! Africanist road away from South African influence. I The Congress party I launches constant and vitrio- | lie attacks against Chief j Jonathan and his Nationalist party, enlists the aid of Cairo Radio and frequently sends its more prominent members for heart-to-heart talks with the Chinese in Peking. Earlier this year the party formed a curious and unexpected alliance with Paramount Chief Moshoeshoe, who will become constitutional monarch after independence, in an effort to have Chief Jonathan's powers curtailed. For a time is seemed that the young, Oxford-educated Paramount Chief might allow himself to get so deeply involved that the few powers he had himself would have to be taken away. In recent weeks, however, he has apparently realised that the Congress party’s attentions could not be reconciled with its fundamental political beliefs (anti-tribal and antimonarch) and that it was merely using him in the battle with the Prime Minister. While remaining opposed to the independence constitution, the Paramount Chief seems to have removed himself as an outright ally of the Congress party, which continues to remain a volatile body on which South Africa keeps a wary eye. A Political Enclave If Lesotho is a geographical enclave Botswana is a political one. It is bounded by South Africa, South-west Africa and Rhodesia, with but the tiniest of borders with Zambia. Thus Sir Seretse Khama finds himself entering independence virtually surrounded by white-ruled territories each with an ideological sympathy for the other. Unlike Caief Jonathan, Sir Seretse has the strongest of political mandates. He swept to power with an overwhelming majority in the first general election last year and has been allowed to rule without the distractions of an embittered Opposition. Botswana, too, is a poor country: but it has brighter hopes of future developments. Cattle exports (there are three times as many cattle as people) go mainly to Britain and South Africa and earned £6.6 million last year, substantial coal and copper deposits have been found and there are plans to step up the agricultural programme in i spite of the severe droughts in recent years.

I Since it has physical outlets other than South Africa, it is, potentially at least, less dependent than Lesotho on Pretoria. For this reason alone Sir Seretse will probably fir. 1 himself under greater pressures from his black colleagues to the north in the anti-South Africa campaign. But he has so far shown no desire to join it and if he harbours any rancour over the Republic’s previous hostility towards himself and his white wife he disguises it well.

Embarrassing Refugees

His chief source of embarrassment is the flow of political refugees—white and black—into Botswana from South Africa. At any one time there are some 200 in the country and there are indications that Pretoria may seek an extradition treaty to stop up the one serious gap in its security system. Many of [these exiles become harmless enough when they reach Botswana, but others go farther north to plot with other anti-South African groups and even return by the same route. How will South Africa , maintain diplomatic contact with her two neighbours? Mr Vorster refuses to be hurried on this. A black envoy could hardly be accommodated in Pretoria and a white South African official might run into hostility in Gaberones and Maseru. But the three capitals are close enough to make flying Ministerial visits a simple matter. This will no doubt be the form until Basuto, Bechuana and South Africa get to know each I other better.