Cautious S.A. move

Press, 26 May 1977, Page 8

Cautious S.A. move

NZPA Cape Town White-ruled South Africa yesterday unveiled a bluei print for a future political system in which blacks living in white areas might get direct representation in a I central governing body. I The proposal, outlined in a speech to a conference on 'group accommodation in I rural societies by the Education Minister (Mr Piet I Koornhof), was regared in ! South Africa as one of the most significant revelations on Government policy in recent years. Mr Koornhof said that South Africa was moving towards a political system in ! which different races would eventually be able to particiipate in the central decision- | making process. The cautiously worded (speech was the first time a Minister of the ruling National Party has suggested such black political representation, Mr Koornhof

i urged the establishment of grey areas in the white part i of South Africa. Mr Koornhof made it , clear that the Government was not considering abandoning its policy of separ- : ate, ultimately independent i black Homelands in 13 per cent of the country. i South African blacks now i have political rights only in i these tribal areas. About ■ half the country’s 18 million : blacks live in the Homei lands, in many cases kept 5 there by strict urban influx > control measures. What South Africa needed, he said, was cultural pluralt ism — “equal coexistence - in a mutually supportive rei lationship within one nation i of people of different col- • ours, cultures, languages, • and beliefs.” The speech, which offered 1 little detail of the workings i of the new system, coincided - with the return to South i Africa of the Prime Minister - (Mr John Vorster) after f talks in Vienna with Vice- 1

' President Walter Mondale, of the United States. Mr Mondale urged Mr Vorster last week to dis- : mantle South Africa’s rigid ■ system of racial segregation, which denies political rights to the black majority. But Mr Vorster showed no sign of giving up his staunch support of the apartheid system. Mr Koornhof said that the new system could be similar to Switzerland’s cantonal Government — a federation of strong local Governments with a relatively weak cen- , tral Government. “Cultural pluralism,” Mr : Koornhof said, would offer South Africa more policy options and political manoeuvrability, but would mean a significant departure from the traditional BritishI style parliamentary Government. i A Cabinet Committee, i under the Defence Minister (Mr Pieter Botha) is also examing Constitutional alternatives.