Botha rebukes churchmen

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 10

Botha rebukes churchmen

NZPA-Reuter Pretoria South Africa’s President, Mr Pieter Botha, attacked the anti-apartheid South African Council of Churches yesterday, accusing it of arrogance and malicious propaganda in blaming the white minority Government for unrest and bloodshed. “You should decide whether you are a church

organisation or a political activist group,” Mr Botha said in an open letter to the S.A.C.C.’s general secretary, the Rev. Beyers Naude. “You demand the withdrawal of members of the South African Defence Force and the South African police from black townships where they operate to protect law-abiding citizens,” said Mr Botha.

“You have no mandate to assume this arrogant attitude on the national affairs of South Africa.” The S.A.C.C., which groups 17 churches with 12 million members, most of them black, did not represent the vast majority of South African’s 31 millionstrong population, he said. It enjoyed the protection of the security forces to

express irresponsible opinions under the cloak of religion. He warned it against irresponsible action. Mr Botha’s letter was one of the strongest attacks on the S.A.C.C. to date. Formerly headed by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Rt Rev. Desmond Tutu, it is one of the Government’s most vociferous critics.