Gesture against South Africa

Press, 7 December 1985, Page 18

Gesture against South Africa

Sir,—lf Walker had asked one of the locals whilst enjoying his walk down the Durban foreshore “Is that the Indian Ocean?” he would probably have been told: “No, it is a couple of miles north, past all the good beaches and just before the African beach.” His perception of life in South Africa is about the equivalent of a visitor to New Zealand attending a garden party of the Sunday Club. — Yours, etc., G. J. WALCOTT. December 3, 1985.

Sir,—The day is fast approaching when black South Africans will walk along beaches as of right, not as a privilege bestowed by the white minority Government. Meanwhile, Bert Walker ("The Press,” December 3) may write all the letters he chooses (about deliberate distortions, etc.) in what is just another excuse in a long line of excuses. The injustices of apartheid go back long before television crews were around. The news media may have its share of opportunists. However, the “track record” of the South African Government causes me to be suspicious of the motive for censorship and/or banning of foreign television crews, e.g. what the outside world does not see, thf