APARTHEID Fresh Attack By Hertzog

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32117, 13 October 1969, Page 13

APARTHEID Fresh Attack By Hertzog

(N.Z.P.A.-Seuter—Copyright)

JOHANNESBURG, October 12. Three rebel members who were recently expelled from South Africa’s ruling National Party after they had accused it of deviating, from the policy of apartheid, made a bitter attack last night on the Prime Minister (Mr John Vorster).

In a statement issued to the press, they accused Mr Vorster of “weak, opportunistic and vacillating leadership,’* and said that the dis- ; pute, which has produced the most serious i split experienced by the once-monolithic party, rested squarely on him. The attack, led by. the Right-winger, Dr Albert Hertzog, came four days after a tumultuous rally at whfch the three “rebels” pledged that * they would hold a national conference later this month, with a view to possible formation of a new party to cohteet the General Election next year. Dr Hertzog, who is 70, Mr Jaap Manis and Mr Louis Stofberg were expelled from the party for refusing to accept the leadership's policy of maintaining friendly relations with black African countries and allowing some racial mixing in international sport. All three were Nationalist members of Parliament, and Dr Hertzog was once Minister of Posts, Telegraphs and Health in Mr Vorster's Cabinet. Their joint statement Mid the fact that more than 3000 people had attended the rally in Pretoria on Wednesday, showed the extend of the dissatisfaction that was spreading through the country. The rift between the Rightwingers and the National Party's moderate majority came to a head over the Vorster Government's agreement to Maoris being included in the All Black Rugby tour of South Africa next year. Dr Hertzog had expressed horror at the thought of South African girls dancing with ( Maoris. ' “It will be one black or two blacks—but if you open the . door, how can you close it ‘ again? The moment you make . a concession you have already ’ lost,” he said last week.

After describing the day Dr Hertzog was expelled as a “sad one in South African history,” last , night’s statement said that perhaps it was all for the best in the long run. “Three years of misdirection and incompetence was long enough. It is time that a sense of purpose and trust in public life be restored. It is time that the Government's evasiveness and double-talk be exposed for what it is—a lack of moral fibre and integrity. “It is time fdr an open confrontation, as the only means by which the people of South Africa can be made to realise the depth of political deception and the extent of the unprincipled actions on the part of the present Government party,” the statement declared. The three M.P.s ended their attack with a call to English as well as Afrikaans-speaking

South Africans, to fight with them and said they would be “taking to platforms” to state their beliefs in apartheid and the white man’s right to survival.