N.Z. stance on apartheid slated

Press, 12 April 1978, Page 11

N.Z. stance on apartheid slated

PA London The New Zealand Government’s stance against apartheid flayed by a normally staunchly pro-New Zealand weekly newspaper in London. The “New Zealand News,” a giveaway paper read mainly by expatriates and would-be migrants, in a leading article accused the Government of paying only lip service to the Commonwealth’s battle against apartheid. It was referring to a recent speech by the Commonwealth Secretary-Gen-eral (Mr Shridath Ramphal), given to mark the beginning o the United Nation’s International Anti-apartheid Year. Mr Ramphal said: “Each of our nations, individually and collectively, made a practical contribution towards alleviating the suffering and anguish of those men, women, and children who suffer directly under the South African Government and in neighbouring Zimbabwe and Namibia.” But “New Zealand News” said it seemed hard to believe that Mr Ramp-

hal was including New Zealand in his remarks. “The only force, apart from the Government’s lip service against the apartheid system, New Zealand has offered has come from Halt All Racist Tours and the Citizens’ Association for Racial Equality,” the paper said. The campaign by Mr Trevor Richards had been a long and diligent one, it said, “one of which the Commonwealth Secretariat could indeed be proud. But his appointment to the United Nations was undoubtedly an embarrassment to the New Zealand Government.” Mr Ramphal’s statement that each of the Commonwealth countries had made a practical contribution against apartheid could not be said about New Zealand, the paper said. “Instead of being among those nations which have helped by giving scholarships or offering asylum to tens of thousands, it is the white Rhodesians Mr Muldoon have invited to bur shores,” it said.