Sechaba, Vol. 24, No. 4
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For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org/. Page 1 of 38 Alternative title Sechaba Author/Creator African National Congress (Lusaka, Zambia) Publisher African National Congress (Lusaka, Zambia) Date 1990-04 Resource type Journals (Periodicals) Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa Coverage (temporal) 1990 Source Digital Imaging South Africa (DISA) Rights By kind permission of the African National Congress (ANC). Format extent 35 page(s) (length/size) Page 2 of 38 SECHABAAPRIL 1990official organ of the african national congress south africaMANDELA IN FREE AFRICA Page 3 of 38 Sechaba and other ANC publications are obtainable from the following ANC addresses:ALGERIA FRANCE SENEGAL5 Rue Ben M'hidi Larbi 28 Rue des Petites Ecuries 26 Avenue Albert SarrautAlgiers 75010 Paris PO Box 3420ANGOLA GERMAN DEMOCRATIC DakarPO Box 3523 REPUBLIC SPAINLuanda Angerweg 2 Hermanus Garcia Nobeljas 41AUSTRALIA Wilhelmsruh 8th FloorBerlin 1106 280 37 MADRIDBox 49 Trades Hall INDIA Spain4 Goulburn StreetSydney NSW 2000 50KP Thacker Block SWEDENBELGIUM Asian Games Village Box 6183PO Box 137 Sid Fort Road S-102 331040 Brussels Khel Gaon Marg StockholmNew Delhi-110049CANADA TANZANIAPO Box 302 ITALY PO Box 2239Adelaide Postal Station Via S. Prisca 15a Dar es SalaamToronto ik115; R ~~~~, PO Box 680Ontario M5C-2J4 JAPAN MorogoroSOHYO Building 6F USSRCUBA 3-2-11 Kanda-Surugadai Konyushkovskaya Street 28Calle 21A Chiyoda-Ku Moscow 123242NR 20617 Tokyo 101 UNITED KINGDOMEsquina 214 AtabeyHavana KENYA PO Box 38DENMARK PO Box 40432 28 Penton StreetLandgreven 7/3 t.h. Nairobi London NI 9PR1301 Kbh Copenhagen K MADAGASCAR UNITED STATESEGYPT PO Box 80 801 Second Avenue5 Ahmad Hismat Street Antananarivo Apt 405Zamalek NETHERLANDS New York NYC 10017Cairo PO Box 16657 ZAMBIAETHIOPIA 1001 RD Amsterdam PO Box 31791PO Box 7483 NIGERIA LusakaAddis AbabaFINLAND Federal GovernmentSpecial Guest HousePO Box 336 Victoria Island(X)531 Hekinki Lagos.FEDERAL REPUBLIC NORWAYOF GERMANY PO Box 6765Postfach 19()140 St Olavs Plass53(X) Bonn I N-0130 Oslo IAnnual Subscriptions:USA and Canada (air mail only): $30All other countries: 12Please make cheques payable to:S~haba Publications c/o ANC PO Box 38 London N1 9PRPublished by the African National Congress of tiouth Africa, PO &ix 31971, Lusaka,Zambia Page 4 of 38 THE MANDELA STONEThe back and shoulders of Mandelawere mutelike all the prisoners'when breaking stones.At the end of the dayyou had to have brokenso many buckets of small stonesthat your back and shouldersfelt ready to open mouths.Sweat from pores made the same sound.Sitting cross-legged theybroke stones in the lime quarryfrom morning to night.In the early daystimes were very hard:you had to break up large stonesinto smaller ones and make thosesmaller stilluntil your collectionhad reached the requisite size.On Release Day his speechwas an unbroken stone.- Lauraine Palmeri Page 5 of 38 APRIL 1990ISSN:0037-0509 SECHABA Volume 24 No 4CONTENTS:EDITORIAL .................................................................1FREE AFRICA WELCOMES MANDELA'S RETURNBy a Sechaba correspondent.......................................................3ANC NEC STATEMENT ....................................................5INTERVIEW WITH MEWA RAMGOBIN .................................. 7WHAT IS THE ROLE OF SACTU?By Elijah Barayi................................................................10THE BANTUSTAN QUESTION ............................................ 13PRISONERS CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE ............................... 15CENTRE SPREAD..........................................................16NEGOTIATIONS AND THE ETHICAL DIMENSIONBy John Lamola................................................................18CONFESSIONS OF THE CONDEMNEDBy Clive Leeman...............................................................21INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY BACKS SANCTIONS .................. 27STATEMENTSanctions Have to Be Maintained .................................................. 29LETTER TO THE EDITOR ................................................ 30ATHOL FUGARDBy Kader Asmal................................................................31Graphic design by Hylton AlcockLISTEN TO RADIO FREEDOMVoice of the African National CongressAnd Umkhonto We Sizwe, the People's ArmyRadio Lusaka Radio MadagascarDaily 7.00 pm: Monday-Saturday 7.00-9.00 pm:Wednesday 10.15-10.45 pm: Sunday 7.00-8.00 pm:Thursday 9.30-10.00 pm: Short wave 49mb 6135 KHzFriday 10.15-1045 pm:Short wave 31mb 9505 KHzSunday 8.00-8.45 am:Short wave 25mb 11880 KHzRadio EthiopiaDaily, 9.30-10.00 pm:Short wave 3lmb 9595 KHzRadio TanzaniaMonday Wednesday Friday 8.Tuesday Thursday Saturday 6.Short wave 31mb 9750 KHzRadio LuandaMonday-Saturday 7.30 pm:Sunday 8.30 pm:Short wave 31mb 9535 KHzand 25 mb15 pm:15 am:The above are South African times Page 6 of 38 EDITORIAL21ST MARCH WITH AN ADDED SIGNIFICANCEThirty years ago, on March 21st, a despicableand brutal event took place in South Africa.Sixty-nine people were murdered and scores ofothers injured by Verwoerd's trigger-happypolice. The world was shocked into the realisa-tion that what had seemed like mere racism wassomething immensely different. The true face ofthe apartheid system had emerged.From this background Sharpeville Day wasborn and, with it, a commitment by the peace-loving forces of the world to unite for the totalelimination of racism and discrimination in theworld. The day was later to be marked as theInternational Day for the Elimination of Racism.And, in 1978, the United Nations Year for theElimination of Racism was declared, startingfrom March 21st 1978 to March 21st 1979.This day has therefore always been very im-portant for our struggle - not only because itsobservation throughout the world brought moreand more people into the anti-apartheid fold butalso because it remained as a constant pointaround which we rededicated ourselves to musterall our forces to get rid of the racist scourge fromour country and everywhere else in the world.In 1990 it assumes an even added dimension.It finds us in a totally new situation. Thirty-yearsago it heralded the banning of the ANC and otherorganisations and the period of extreme repres-sion that followed, especially after the leader-ship was arrested at Rivonia. Today it coincideswith the unbanning of the ANC, the release ofits leaders and prospects for a negotiated settle-ment looming on the horizon.But as Africans, committed to the total libera-tion of Africa, the most important factor aboutthis day, this year is the independence ofNamibia. Whether it was by coincidence ordesign that Namibia, which has been brutallysubjugated by the South African racists, accordsto its independence on this date does not matter.What matters is that it has happened on this dateand, in that, signifies a further victory over theracist system in Namibia, South Africa andeverywhere else in the world.The racist regime tried, and will never ceaseto try, to portray the victory of the Namibianpeople as goodwill and commitment to peacefulsolution of problems on its side. Although wehave done it every time, we need to emphasisethat the victory in Namibia belongs to the Nami-bian people themselves, led by SWAPO. Wecannot forget the innummerable hurdles, in-cluding the near invasion at the time of the elec-tions, that the independence process in Namibiahas gone through. Yet SWAPO continued to han-dle matters skillfully, in conditions of peace, inthe same manner that it had conducted a suc-cessful armed struggle before the New Yorkagreements in December 1988.Now that independence has come to Namibiaand it is clear that SWAPO, which won the elec-tions, is clearly not bent on retribution and blackdomination, we may ask of the racist regimewhat the fear is in setting in motion the same pro-cess in South Africa. It is often said by DeKlerk's friends who want to apologise for himfor not going the whole way in order to removeobstacles to negotiations, that he has to look overhis shoulder at the reaction of the right-wing. Weare told that if he moves too fast the reaction ofthe right-wing will be vicious. But when we lookat Namibia, we find that it was the regime itselfwhich was responsible for the destabilisation ofthe political process rather than the right-wing.Actually, if the right-wing had started violent actswhich the regime disapproved of, such actswould have been put down easily by the regime.Revelations of the activities of the Civil Co-operation Bureau show to what extent the Botha,Malan regime (of which De Klerk was part) wasprepared to derail