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For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org/. Page 1 of 29 Alternative title Sechaba Author/Creator African National Congress (ANC) Contributor Naicker, M. P. Publisher African National Congress (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) Date 1969-08-00 Resource type Journals (Periodicals) Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1969 Source Digital Imaging South Africa (DISA) Rights By kind permission of the African National Congress (ANC). Format extent 24 page(s) (length/size) Page 2 of 29 the official or an of the of rican na~ianal congress south of ricaOUR SOUTH AFRIEN11 WOMEni's any nuG.9 Page 3 of 29 ZIMBABWEAN APARTHEID STATEAfter many promises and four years of propaganda, the Smith regime has unveiled its new constitution. This has been endorsed by the White electorate in the recent Referendum. Delicate as on old maid, the Front has not yet exposed the full details - or its further intentions - to world scrutiny. What is nevertheless apparent is that the proposols to set up separate Block and White provincial "parliaments", with segregated voters' rolls, are a major step towards on ostensible theory of geopolitical separation of the country which matches the Bantustan bluff in its rank impudence.This is not a reversal of policy, as many 'in Britain would like to believe, but a full-blooded resumption of o trend which despite delays and checks has moved white otitudes from the early days of rule by the British South Africa Company. White Rhodesians, 5 per cent of the population, are determined to barricade"'ith eirwealth and status behind race lows, and bulldoze away the remnants of multirasm introduced during federation. White violence, rather than popular democracy, stands out as the sanction for rule. So much is clear. The question now arises; how for along the road to apartheid hove Zimbabwe's white intruders travelled?GenocideApartheid is more than mere racial discrimination, or the casual exploitation of one group by another. It is o strict ideology of white supremocy and racial segregation whose logical end, genocide, is tempered by the need to feed off block labour.The rise of apartheid in South Africa took place through an alliance between White workers and White nationalists. White workers saw o chance of escoping the worst excesses of capitalist exploitation by climbing on the backs of Coloured, Indian and African workers. Afrikoner nationalists hammered out boaskap, a traditional compound of race prejudice and exploitation, into an articulated theory of White power which swept the political boa rds.Consolidated behind o barrage of industrial legislation, the White nationalists attempted to make apartheid pervasive in jobs, residence, education, travel, birth, death, and even love. The dynamo of apartheid was the hard core of White nationalist ideology, and the current of its ideas flowed easily amongst the White population.The existence of racialism in Zimbabwe from the first days ofWhite invasion is manifest. The white f ioneer Cof mythicallyrevered by the settlers, was the most savage of the looting tribesto enter ot's, Central Africa. Setting up their. conquest state byforce of arms, they tried to prevent the emergence of any commonsociety with master and servant laws, the notorious Immoralityand Indecency Suppression Act, of 1903 (forbidding sex acrossthe colour line), and segregated land holding.Dispossessed of LandFinding but little gold, the invaders sought recompense by 'dispossessing the inhabitants of lond, marking off huge fertile tracts for sale to future White immigrants. From this basic division in the primary means of production, land, flowed the body ofdiscriminatory rules with regard to transport, public facilities. liquor, and passes. To this was added settler conventions; a minimum of social contact and deference enforced by the sjambok. Africans were assaulted for walking on pavements in White villages, for 'threatening' White women, and turned out of skilled jobs.This 'krogdod-igheid' of the British colonials remained, rough and unformed during the stagnant inter-war years. Their fierce jingo loyalties kept them from a frank formulation of racism, even though segregation was repeatedly advocated in the settler parliament. For an influential section of Rhodesian Whites could be regarded as external capitalists gentlemen former, civil servants who regarded England as home, agents of British companies.It was this White elite which saw in federation the chance of amassing power and status. A conspiracy between White racists and on unreluctont British (not her first or last such sell-out) ushered in federation, talk of partnership, and a massive policy of expansion.Two Divergent TendenciesTwo divergent tendencies con be clearly seen in federation. This was o period of tremendoulsly rapid growth; the income from Zambia's copper, and a new invasion of White immigrants (20,000 o year) boosted the tempo of political change. A small liberal element tried to give some legislative substance to the much-vaunted talk of portnership by relaxing discrimination ~n certain public facilities such os swimming baths, hotels and clubs. White Rhodesia could tolerate this, believing it to be in the interest of hoodwinking the outside world thot a new era inaac relations was under way.But when Garfield Todd began to believe the propaganda and attempted to allow mixed marriages, reforming the land low and the franchise, .the White voters threw him out. Though content to see the federal government play around with multi-racialism of o kind, they insisted that on entrenchment of White supremacy was necessary for their existence. It was out of this crisis of federation that the White Rhodesian ideology of race began to grow; restrictive race practices were justified on the grounds of 'protecting civilisation' and 'fighting communism'.Police StateApartheid is the ideology and practice of White domination. With the upsurge of African nationalism in the 1950's White Rhodesia suddenly realised how threadbare its traditional policy of racialism was when faced with a militant chollenge. With the revulsion against Todd, and the break-up of federation imminent, the settlers began to transform the country into a police state, with repressive laws even more vicious than their South African counterparts. It is at this stage that one might say that Rhodesian apartheid came to be formulated.Its architects were the small farmers, White workers, Afrikaner communities and settler nationolists who gained control of the state by their promise to fight off the African demand for entry into a common society. Yet Apartheid is not limited to the techniques of isolating and subjugating an African majority to a23 Page 4 of 29 White minority. We have seen that a pervasive theory of White power must cover every ,sped of rote.The settlers followed up broad theory of 'civilised standards' with the more explicitly racial idea of community devolopment. This justification for segregation and a separate 'bontu culture' was a necessary ideological step in the construction of Rhodesian apartheid. The White notion lists were not able to forge ahead with the full implementation of their scheme, however. Allowance had to be mode for the remnants of multi-racial practice from federation, the 'old gang' of federationists, and the hostility of Britain in its new-found righteousness to an apartheid state under the Union Jack. _These checks in the growth of Rhodesian apartheid are important, since they underline its weakness, and its need to move ahead slowly and deviously. Smith with his sudden declaration of UDI gave notice to the world - and not least to his own White bourgeoisie - that apartheid was structurally necessary for the maintenance of White wealth and status. Any compromise such os the 1961 constitution (which looked forward to a repeal of the Land Apportionment Act) was out. So was aJoshua Nkomo, President of ZAPUsettlement with Britain which would curtail the further extension of the new ideology. Perhaps Smith's strange cavortings over Tiger and Fearless can be explained by his wanting to give the impression of a state looking for a settlement, while in fact playing the game of a racist whose only concern was to sabotage a deal restrictive on his ideological plans.Affront to MankindMuch of Rhodesian apartheid is still on the drawing board, as the new proposals make clear. Rhodesia's White nationalists ore not as strong as their South African counterparts in relation to the rest of the White population; yet there is a passive -and increasing - acceptance of their ideas. The relative weakness of Rhodesia, internally, and internationally, forces its leaders to seek their fraudulent, racist utopia in devious ways. But the people of Zimbabwe are now suffering under an indisputable apartheid state. This is an affront to mankind, and must be eradicated.Stop PressTHE Boss - A NEW THREAT TO FREEDOMAt the time of going to press the Vorster regime was pressing ahead with legislation to give sweeping authoritarian powers to the Bureau of State Security already dubbed BOSS by South Africans.The powers are similar in many respects to the powers vested in the S.S.