N.Z. protests ‘harmful’

Press, 5 September 1983, Page 9

N.Z. protests ‘harmful’

Overseas protests about the apartheid system and treatment of black African people in South Africa are doing more harm than good, according to a former Cabinet Minister, Mr H. J. Walker.

Mr Walker and Mrs Walker returned yesterday from a three-month world tour, three weeks of which were spent in South Africa.

During his visit to South Africa, Mr Walker talked with leaders of tribal “homelands” near Pretoria and Johannesburg, spent two days in Soweto, visited mines, and talked with sports administrators. While in Soweto, he talked to the Mayor, Mr M. Thebehali, who told him that he “would not change South Africa as it is today for any other country in the world.”

Mr Thebehali told Mr Walker that overseas protests were hurting the blacks of South Africa, who were not getting the “rough end of the stick” but who appreciated what the Government was doing for them.

Mr Thebehali said he was “grateful” to New Zealand members of Parliament, such as Mr Norman Jones,

for favourable comments about South Africa. As a result of those comments, Mr Thebehali had had letters from New Zealanders asking if the comments were correct, and he had confirmed that they were.

Mr Walker said housing in Soweto was “adequate and up to New Zealand State housing standards.” Four million rand (about SNZ4 million) had been spent on housing, reticulation, electricity, water, and sewerage. The money had come from the South African Government and private enterprise. Mr Walker was particularly impressed with the education system in Soweto.

For an official population of 850,000 (unofficial, one to two million) there were 280 primary schools, 61 secondary schools, 21 adult education centres with 69 satellite centres. The average teacher-pupil ratio was one to 45.

Mrs Walker commented on the “technicon” training centre where children aged from nine to 12 spent one to two days a week. Here they were taught all kinds of manual skills as well as a specialised mathematics

course on computers.

In the last financial year, an average of 12 new classrooms were completed every working day, said Mr Walker. There was an annual student intake into these schools of about 80,000 to 100,000.

Mr Walker said that all “horror stories” told in New Zealand about the conditions people had to work under in the South African mines were totally unfounded.

Facilities were equal or better than most private or public schools in New Zealand.

There were hospitals, “of the same standard as The Princess Margaret Hospital or better,” sports facilities that resembled an Olympic sports stadium, and the employees were well paid. About SNZ9OOO was spent on each new employee as he arrived, providing specialised training, and the teaching of a common language. Wages were SNZ9OO a month, tax-free, plus board, laundry, and the provision of all sports equipment, including clothing. After his three-week “fact-finding” tour of South Africa, Mr Walker was convinced that the South

African Government was “not hiding anything from anybody.” r ‘They want people to come and see what progress is being made,” he said.