South African policies

Press, 24 June 1981, Page 20

South African policies

Sir,—Mr Hiwi Tauroa's visit to South Africa and his recent comments concerning the Republic’s reported progress towards integrated sport, are both ill-timed and completely inconsistent with his position as Race Relations Conciliator. His public endorsement of such limited gains within the apartheid structure cannot be viewed in isolation as the comments of a private citizen when those comments reflect directly on the supposed impartiality of the conciliator’s office. They are indicative of an over-all acceptance of apartheid and, as such, are suggestive of a bias on the part of the conciliator in the sensitive areas of race relations and apartheid. Since the conciliator and his office must be regarded publicly as completely impartial, in all matters relatedMo race and racial politics, the Government has no alternative but to seek Mr Tauroa’s resignation if that perceived impartiality is to be maintained.—Yours, etc.,D. J. BAILEY. June: 16, 1981.

.. Sir,—Congratulations to your paper on the article “New Zealanders ‘uninformed about racial change',” (June 12). It gives a good factual account of what is going on in South Africa and how the present system is actually helpful to all concerned — blacks, whites and Coloureds alike. W’e need more of this instead of a barrage of negative information that we are loaded with.— Yours, etc., J. A. HOWIE. June 19, 1981.