Tutu’s Nobel prize has split South African whites

Press, 3 November 1984, Page 21

Tutu’s Nobel prize has split South African whites

From

ALLISTER SPARKS

in Johannesburg

South Africa’s only hope for a peaceful solution to its racial confrontation is the holding of a national convention of the “real leaders” of the black and white communities to thrash out an agreed settlement. This was stated by Bishop Desmond Tutu, of the South African Council of Churches, on his return to South Africa after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Bishop Tutu said that the ruling whites would never agree to such a convention of their own accord. They would do so only under pressure. This, he said, was why he advocated pressure by foreign Governments and agencies, including the disinvestment of capital. “It is the only alternative to violence,” he added.

The speech, which had rhetorical touches reminiscent of the Ameri-

can civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, moved some of Bishop Tutu’s audience to tears.

Dr Beyers Naude, the Afrikaner dissident who was recently freed from a seven-year restriction order, wept with emotion. As Bishop Tutu finished his speech, Dr Naude embraced him and told him in a choking voice: “I pray the day may come when my own people will understand something of the message you bring to black and white.”

Meanwhile, the South African Government has continued to treat Bishop Tutu’s award with a hostile indifference which contrasts sharply with the rapturous praise being showered on him by his fellow blacks. Both President P. W. Botha and Foreign Minister Pik Botha responded with a curt “no com-

ment” when asked how they felt about Bishop Tutu being given the Nobel prize. Tutu himself said on his return that he had received no word from the South African Ambassador in Washington or consulgeneral in New York. The hostility behind the official silence on Tutu’s award has been reflected in the editorials of proGovemment newspapers. The biggest of these, “Beeld”. of Johannesburg, described the choice of Bishop Tutu as “the most amazing decision ever made by the Nobel committee.” The “Citizen” referred to him as “a political priest who will now gain greater support for his bitter and extreme views.”

Other whites have ranged in their reaction from enthusiasm among radical and church groups to cautious praise among more orthodox liberal opponents of apartheid. The Progressive Federal Party, the main parliamentary opposition, sent Bishop Tutu a message of congratulation, and its chief press support, the Johannesburg “Rand Daily Mail,” said in an editorial that while it believed the bishop had made a “major error of judgment” in encouraging the withdrawal of foreign investments from South Africa, it recognised that “he offers the alternative of forceful dissent to people who might otherwise conclude that violence is the

only solution.” There is a certain distance between Bishop Tutu and white liberals, however, because of the bishop’s own support for what he calls “the aims” of the outlawed African National Congress, which has a military wing that is trying to overthrow white minority rule by violent struggle. Bishop Tutu draws a distinction between the aims and the methods of the A.N.C., to which he belonged before it was outlawed and driven underground 24 years ago. He says he supports its objective of trying to achieve a non-racial South Africa, which in practical terms would mean a black majority Government, but he does not support its violent strategy to achieve this, although he understands why it feels driven to adopt this strategy.

The distinction is too fine to make Bishop Tutu a comfortable

ally for anyone seeking votes in the white electorate. Support for the A.N.C. has been adjudged high treason by the South African courts, worth anything up to 15 years imprisonment regardless of people’s attempts to distance themselves from its military wing. Bishop Tutu has gone out of his way to restate his support for the A.N.C.’s aims, and from the assumed protection afforded by his newly enhanced international status, to challenge the Government to prosecute him for saying so.

In black terms, this makes him a hero. To white opponents of apartheid, though they may admire him, it imposes enough of a distance to prevent the award of the Nobel prize from becoming a major new polarising factor in the white community. Copyright — London Observer Service.