S.A. regrets break

Press, 13 April 1978, Page 8

S.A. regrets break

NZPA Utntata, (Transkei) South Africa has expressed regret that the first black tribal homeland it created, Transkei, has severed ties with it in an apparent bid for world recognition. The South African Prime Minister (Mr John Vorster) said: “It is not our fault” that Transkei decided to break diplomatic relations, adding that the move could only be to the “disadvantage” of the tribal homeland, which he described as an independent State. In Washington, the State Department has said that the United States does not intend to recognise Transkei despite its decision to break diplomatic relations with Pretoria. “We have never recognised Transkei as an inde-

i pendent entity and there is ■ no question of our doing so ; now,” a spokesman said. : Just after Transkei’s inde- ■ pendence on October 26, i 1976, the United Nations ■ General Assembly veted 1340 to declare the “sham indei pendence” invalid. i The Transkei Prime Minis- ’ ter (Chief Kaiser Matan- > zima) announced in the , Transkei Parliament on Mon--1 day that his Government • was cutting diplomatic ties I with South Africa, the only ■ nation that recognises its t independence, and would press a “struggle for liber- ! ation” from white rule in t South Africa. t Under its apartheid policy i of racial segregation, South ; Africa plans to consign its i 19 million blacks to nine scattered homelands. Critics - said the creation of Transkei ■ and the over-all homelands

plan helps perpetuate the dominance of South Africa’s 4.5 million whites. Chief Mantanzima said he was forced to break with South Africa because of its “contemptuous and brutal” rejection of Transkie’s claim to East Griqualand, an area along Transkei’s northern border.

He predicted not only a confrontation between Transkei and South Africa, but a “bloody struggle” between black and white South Africans. Transkei remains economically dependent on South Africa, which provided more than half of its 1977-78 national Budget of SUS 274 million.

Chief Matanzima said he expected South Africa to cut off financial aid and he appealed “to Western countries to come to our assistance.”