S.A. unrest ‘worse than ever’

Press, 16 December 1985, Page 17

S.A. unrest ‘worse than ever’

The South African Government has finally realised it cannot solve the problems of the country on its own, according to a visiting spokesman for the United Democratic Front, one of the most dominant forces in the anti-apartheid campaign. Commenting on the release on Tuesday of 12 leading campaigners after the Government dropped treason charges, the spokesman said the Government had realised it had to work with the respected leaders of the country. “Since a state of emergency was imposed the Government has not been able to handle the situation,” he said. “The unrest through the country is worse than ever before.” Those released were all executive members of either the Natal Indian Congress or the U.D.F.

The U.D.F. first became a force in South Africa in August, 1983, with the elections for the tricameral Parliament.

Since then it had grown to have more than 600 affiliated organisations, and more than a million members.

“Mostly it has been trying to sort out the unrest,” said

the spokesman. “The tricameral Parliament has caused much of it, and served only to instigate violence.

“Any country that is governed by a system which excludes four-fifths of the population is bound to come into some sort of trouble. What is being said is that the Indians and Coloureds in Parliament have joined hands with the whites, while 80 per cent of the Africans have been shunted off to the Homelands. This has caused a great rift,” the spokesman said.

Anti-apartheid and black consciousness groups were working together more than ever before.

“Groups are exchanging ideas and people forgetting their ideological differences, he said. “There is a buzz in South Africa like never before. For the first time in years there is talk of releasing Nelson Mandela, and now 12 leading figures are back in the community.” The merger of two black unions, the Federation of South African Trade Unions and the South African Trade Union, was a breakthrough and a big move toward change, he said. “The U.D.F. is hoping to

work with them, the' unionists are hard-core workers who know what repression is all about,” he said. The U.D.F. was also involved in consumer boycotts, particularly in the East Cape. With a slogan of “Don’t buy white,” the boycotts had a big effect on the economy, as had the foreign disinvestment drive, he said.

“If you rock the economy you rock the roots of apartheid. The people in the white economic sector are now saying, ‘Let’s talk with the African National Congress.’ ‘Let’s talk with Nelson Mandela’.”

The spokesman said that in the last six months the

top five joint stock companies had met the Natal Congress. “The respect for the antiapartheid organisations is growing fast, the whites are scared, many are leaving. We all hope for a nonviolent end to it all, but the defence forces continue to mow people down in the townships. Who knows what will happen? Just when one area is quietened down, another explodes.” He predicted that within the next two or three months the state of emergency would be lifted, the defence forces withdrawn from the townships, and aU treason trials disbanded.

Four leading anti-apart-heid figures were still under the charges that were dropped for the 12 others, and another treason trial with 22 defendants was being held in Transvaal. The spokesman said he was impressed with the high level of awareness New Zealanders seemed to have about South African politics.

“Undoubtedly it has much to do with the All Blacks and rugby, but it is encouraging to find a country that is so weU informed about South Africa, as we are something of an isolated dark horse in the world,” he said.