April 15 , 1994 -- Countdown To Democracy: 12 Days To Go!
CAMPAIGN UPDATE #3
STOP PRESS! A Project of International Mediation Fails To End Buthelezi Election Boycott The Africa Fund
As Election Watch Update went to press a high level team of international mediators, headed by Henry Kissinger and former British Foreign Secretary Lord David Carrington, failed to persuade Kwazulu bantustan chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi to end his election boycott. Despite limited deployment of the South African army in KwaZulu to protect voters from boycott violence, over 200 KwaZu1u residents have been murdered over the past two weeks. Failure of the last-ditch mediation effort sets the stage for massive violence by Buthelezi supporters in the days ahead.
Petitions Delivered -- On April 4 Africa Fund Trustees Chair Dr. Tilden LeMelle, Executive Director Jennifer Davis and national NAACP representative Clifford Collins delivered thousands of signatures on Election Watch petitions to the Clinton Administration. The petitions, from 35 states, called on Washington to speak out more forcefully against election violence and fraud. The delegation met with a high level Administration group headed by senior State Department official Ambassador April Glaspie.
Election Watch Coordinator in South Africa -- Election Watch Campaign coordinator Dumisani Kumalo arrived in South Africa this week as part of The Africa Fund election monitoring team. Dumisani's first report to the Election Watch network is enclosed. Both he and Africa Fund Executive Director Jennifer Davis will be reporting from South Africa next week.
ELECTION DAY EVENTS
In communities throughout the U.S. concerned citizens are preparing to mark South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy. Below are just a few of the activities planned:
Chicago -- The Division for Global Mission and the Southern Africa Network of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have declared Sunday April 24 a day of prayer for free and fair elections in South Africa. Contact Joan Gerig for information: (312) 421-5513 .
San Francisco Bay Area-- The U.S. -South Africa Sister Community Project, the Berkeley Oukasie Sister Community Project and the San Francisco - Mfengu Sister Community Project have arranged with progressive local businesses to donate a portion of proceeds from sales on April 27 to the sister community projects. Call (510) 601-7635 for more information.
Los Angeles -- A coalition of religious, community and civil rights organizations are hosting a series of events in the Los Angeles area under the banner "The Power of the Vote ... From Soweto To South Central." Beginning on South Africa Sunday, April 24 , the Countdown To Freedom Coalition will sponsor community events through April 30. Contact Norma Foster (213) 655-1551 or Estella Holeman (213) 732-6542 for more information.
Newark, New Jersey -- The Presbytery of Newark is conducting ten days of special prayers for South Africa's elections beginning Sunday April 17. Contact Rev. Alfred B. Johnson at (201) 372-8404. 198 Broadway New York, NY 10038 Tel : 212.962.1210 (over) Washington, DC -- The Southern Africa Educational Campaign will sponsor a national press conference in Washington on April 25 to press for continued U.S. support for post-apartheid reconstruction and development. Contact Mike Kiernan at InterAction (202) 667-8227. New York City-- The Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture is sponsoring a series of educational and community programs to highlight South African democracy and links between Africa and African-Americans. Call the Center at (212) 491-2200.
Let us know about election day events in your community for the next Campaign Update.
SOUTH AFRICAN ELECTION WATCH CAMPAIGN MATERIALS
-:-:---,::Vot;ing in t:he Shadow of Apartheid - Quest;ions and .Ansti"ers on t:he Sout:h African E~ect;ion by Elizabeth Landis. 4 pages. The author, an international lawyer who worked on the elections in Namibia, analyzes the threats to free and fair elections. Price: 35 cents each. Over twenty, 20 cents each.
=---=-_The St;rugg~e Cont;inues: Sout:h African Women and t:he Vot;e by Rachel Kagen and Lisa Lippman. 4 pages. A review of the crucial role played by women. Price: 35 cents each. Over twenty, 20 cents each.
Sout:h African E~ect;ion Wat;ch BUTTON. Three colors. Includes the =---Free the Vote logo on this letterhead. Price $1.00 each. Ten or more 75 cents each. Fifty or more 60 cents each. One hundred or more 50 cents each.
=----.-·A Person~ Appe~ by Ne~son lfande~a VIDEO. 14 minutes. ANC President Nelson Mandela makes a personal appeal to the international community to support the elections in South Africa. Price: $10.00.
Please indicate the quantity desired on the line before item. Add 15% postage and handling. (Foreign postage extra.)
Enclose is $ towards costs of being a Sout;h African E~ect;ion Wat;cher.
$ for materials marked above
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$ Total enclosed. Name Address------Organization------city______state ______Zip______A Letter from Johannesburg ... From Dumisani s. Kumalo Date: April 14, 1994
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER HOPE CRUSHED ...
I should have known better. But sometimes hope can spring eternal, and that in South Africa these days is very dangerous. When I arrived in Johannesburg last Tuesday, I brought more than my luggage which is supposed to last me for a month. I came bearing gifts for my family and hope in my heart. But as I said, the gifts are fine, but hope is a dangerous thing to have in South Africa. These days, the most favorite "emotional sport" here seems to be crushing people's hopes. Mine were no exception.
I felt the impact deep down in my bones less than an hour ago after listening to a radio report on a press conference held at the Carlton Hotel. Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State, Lord Carrington, Britain's former Foreign Minister, Judge Leon Higginbotham, retired u.s. Federal Judge, and four other international jurists announced that they were packing their bags and leaving for their countries because the mediation talks between the African National Congress, Inkatha Freedom Party and the ruling Nationalist Party had collapsed before they started.
I don't know whether it is because Kissinger came on the same plane with me. Or that Judge Higginbotham is such a powerful and nice man who once took about an hour from his judicial duties to talk to my son about becoming a lawyer for the poor people. Whatever it was, the arrival of these men and women gave me hope that something was going to happen.
At the same time, I knew that no serious negotiation could happen in such a short time. In fact, a few weeks ago when I was in South Africa with Bill Lynch, former Deputy Mayor of New York, we spent an afternoon with Walter Sisulu, Deputy President of the ANC, and one of South Africa's wise old men. This was before the mediators had been even named.
Mr. Sisulu told us then that the mediation was doomed to fail. "The problem is that Chief Buthelezi does not want an election to take place. He is against democracy. His role is that of a spoiler. This whole mediation tactic which he has proposed is yet another attempt by him to stop the election. I think the ANC should not have agreed to join in this mediation. However, I understand the need for us to be open as possible to any kind of dialogue. The only thing is that we can't change the date of the election. We can't allow that to happen. The election is the last hope people have and we will keep it," said Mr. Sisulu. Kissinger and the other mediators said they were giving up on the mediation because Chief Buthelezi wanted them to mediate on the date of the election. "The date of the election is an internal South African matter. No one can expect us seven foreigners to come and mediate on this date," said Kissinger on behalf of the mediators.
Nelson Mandela agreed, saying, "The date of the elections is sacrosanct."
Even State President F.W. de Klerk was firm. "The changing of the date of the election will not serve the interest of South Africans, including those in Kwazulu/Natal," he said.
Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of Inkhatha said that if the date could not be on the agenda for mediation, there was no point in meeting.
Once again, the hopes of millions of South Africans, Black and white, Zulus and non-Zulus, crashed.
I think I know why my hopes were hurt in spite of my knowing better.
After fourteen years of exile in the u.s., I returned to South Africa for the first time nine days after Mandela was released. It was the most hopeful time e~er known in South Africa. Since then I have returned many times. Each time I've stayed at the same hotel in Johannesburg and got to know the staff, including the cooks, cleaners and other workers.
Whenever I carne back, I always asked these people if they were ready for a "new South Africa," said here tongue-in-cheek since everyone knows the old South Africa is still alive and kicking, albeit with a fainter punch. These people were always up and hopeful. This time, however, there was a tinge of fear and sadness in everybody. "We are ready to vote for our leader Mandela, but we don't know about Buthelezi," they said unanimously.
Last night, I carne across Rev. Sipho Mzirnela, one of Chief Buthelezi's advisers during the non-mediation meetings. As expected he was pessimistic. In fact, he was very angry. "I don't know what the ANC is thinking. They think they can hold this election without us. We won't allow that to happen." Mzirnela said angrily.
I tried to joke about me being hopeful that an agreement may be reached so that I can return t0 run for public office in Johannesburg. In a sarcastic and angry tone, Rev. Mzirnela quipped, "That is if there is still a Johannesburg left ... "
One thing I know is that there are 22 million voters ready to go to the polls against all odds on April 27. I know that nothing will stop these people from casting their vote. And there lies my next hope ... Army treads warily into KwaZulu
A Project of The Africa Fund flashpoints
By Alec Rus~QII lll,>KwaMashu township THE South African army As an initial column of 10 took 11 softly·!loitly appr(lach armoured vehiclee moved as it began d.;ploying yester· into Nata] . front the neigh. day in Natai·Kwa7,ulu t\nd~r bouring Transvaal province the state of em~rgency yesterday, senior police, it~lposed·on Thursday. arn1y and KwaZ•.1h.1 police Just a few hund:rc:d sol· officers met in Durban to dis· dien were sent to trouble cuss strategy. spots. but a full-scale deplOf· A key item on the agenda 1\l~nt .will take place th1s was the future position of the w~ekend . KwaZulu police, who have Natal tvas relatively calnt, been implicated in hit·squad hut at the fla:>ht:•Oints assassinations of ANC b.:tween foiiO\v~rs of the memb~rs. African National Congress Mr Nelson Mandela, tht .,.. and th'l ~ainly-Zulu Inl-:atha ANC leader, said on Thursday ~ fHt~dom Party, there was .1 police should be tonfined to ~ feelin: that it was the lull bamJcks, but anny command· D.. -~ before the storm: en at~ beli~v~d to be keen to < government theit 0:: ~ ·, The .l)ublished secure to.operatlon to 0 0.: details of the wide-ranging avoid confrontation. ~ - powers that will allow the In th~ Yenta l t~ pt,a .., u ~t ce l •"i ~ we li ce mbu 1olikht!tn.ko Kha "' ha •t• l~ s """ I )O plun d:~~ ha duna•no lin• ¥h1 lt hetha El'ldl a mfun&ho t! (lhelo ka , andh l ~t ri u rl hh-u l ~lo: a Y Bay:a l~tu h w ao 10 Iebar: ana It lt koko b t ~ l" Oweb1 uph awu , ,Udu lenl eti,edul c. k w•nht11 n &:~no oylkh•thayo . Venn upha .... u la Ho ~t duu n~t hl :ll n J :II n o oyikhethJI..o PAN AFRICANIST CONGRESS OF AlANIA SPORTS ORGANISATION FOR COllECTIVE CONTRIBUTIONS AND EQUAL RIGHTS THE KEEP IT STRAIGHT ANU SIMPLE PARTY VRYHEIDSFRONT • FREEDOM FRONT WOMEN'S RIGHTS PEACE PARTY WORKERS' LIST PARTY i i r------~------~~~i-----~ 1 i XIMOKO PROGRESSIVE PARll I ..__.,._.._..! AFRICA MUSLIM PARTY I "'----1----t ! AFRICAN CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT AFRICAN MODERATES CONGRESS PARTY AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS DEMOCRATIC PARTY · DEMOKRATIESE PARTY DIKWANKWETLA PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA i FEDERAL PARTY lUSO • SOUTH AFRICAN PARTY MINORITY FRONT NATIONAL PARTY • NASIONALE PARTY Presented by the Voter Education Programme of the lnclepenclent Electoral Commission. "'"'-~;: NEW YORK NEWSDAY, SUNDAY, APRIL 10, 1994 A Project of The Africa Fund He reportedly spiked his lectures to Tanzania President Julius Nyerere, one of the world's foremost statesmen, with references to Shakespeare. In time, Nyerere let the Eurocentric professor in on the fact that he himself, was a Shakespearean scholar. He had tr~lated the "Merchant ofVenice" and other of the bard's works into Swahili. Kissinger's chief contribution to African policy stems from his 1969 recommendation in the notori ous National Security Study Memorandum 39. Dubbed the "Tar Baby option," this hypocritical Kissinger:.Wrong policy, which Nixon approved, urged support for apartheid Rhodesia and South Africa because "the whites are here to stay and the only way that con Mal} for the Job structive change can come about is through them . . . We woulGerald Ford, he set what the dinning room is going to smell like?" about to undo the very U.S. policy he had championed Throughout the Nigerian civil war, Kissinger as Richard Nixon's national security adviser. In his maintained in his tight intelligence circles that the biography, "Kissinger," Walter Isaacson wrote: lbos were necessarily less "gifted and accomplished" "This chameleon-like ability to embrace views that because they were more "NeW,oid" than the other, first seemed alien to him testifies to his cleverness." more "Semitic," tribes of Nigeria. Duplicitous, not clever, was how African l~~rs In mediating the South African impasse, determin perceived Kissinger during his 1976 shuttle VISits. ing the relative "Negroid" quotient df lnkatha mem They accused him of saying one thing to the president bers vs. Mandela supporters may well be Kissinger's of Kenya and the opposite to, say, the president of first official act. · Tanzania They also sensed in the Great One a conde scension, tinged with racism. 198 Broadway New York, NY 10038 Tel : 212.962.1210 'IHE GUARDIAN Saturday April 9 1994 ----~---:--~ ·--- ~ Crisis grows THE DAILY TELEGRAPH. as talks stall SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1994 onKwaZulu MiJJions ntay wall standing by h~ nepht~w , O•vld S.(a$1(Jrd In lltubza Chief Buthelezi, in his ref'nsal to Uke p3rt in the April ~7 boycott poll HE political crisis in election. South Mica over the The chltf later told the sunl· overrlskof future of KwaZulu and mit m~ting in a t~repared mem· T Nat~\ deepened last otandum. that argurnentll that reprisals night after Che country'& main his .Jnkathll organlsatiolt did political leader$ falled to make not enjoy sientncant pop,u!ar By Christopher Munnlon uignincant progress at an emer· suppOrt. were "dangE:rouJ; •. In· In Johannesbur' gency sununit, ka.tha's c:rttic~ would hav~ to The African National Con· fa~e the truth th.at "resistance UP TO 38 per ctnt of South ~ess leader. Nebon Mandela, is a far moro effective arbiter of . Africa's 23 million voters tnay and President F. W. de Klerk who is right and WhO is wrong stay away from the ~oils in the emerged fr"m thdr daY·long than tl\e ball(lt box". country's first democratic n1eeting with the Zulu king, A key elemel\t in the s~f\~ eltctions· in three weeks' Ooodwill Zwelithini. and tbe In· oC both Zulu leaders was their tltne, a report $aid yesterday. katha £-'reedon\ Party leader, ttl>eated references to the According to the Human Chtef M~ngosutlm Butholezi. at re<:ent musacre or •nkatha sup- Sciences Research Council a·tame lodge nf.W' ·thf! 'M07Jl11t·· ·pOrt~s otJ.tside'the' ANC's hear:\ survey, millioM of black vot· biqlle bQrder, havint qual'ters ln JohannesbUl'i• and era were concerned about apparently failed to agree on Mr MMdeta's subsequent veto politlta) violence and were demands for Zulu ~vereiJnty . on pollee tnveatigating claims uncertain. of complete coM\· In a joint statement tM four that th~ ANC was mponslble. dentiallty inpolllng booth&. said they had agreed that " in· Oemanding that the A~O eo· ••It is not apathy," said one temational mediation should o~rate with the police investi researcher. " The grtat maj· proceed ill order to seek a eon· gation, King Zwelitltini s~id: ority of bJack peo~le have stltutlonal settlement and pOlit· "Until and unl&$s you l~r&on · been caught In the crossfire ica! reconciliation. Urgent na- ally distance yourself frt)m the of politic41 battles and are gotlation$ .should take plllce to shedding o! the innocent blood genuinely'ffl$htened that the reach a~eement on the tenns of my father' a people by ~ very act of votlne will mean of reference and the procedures of your pel'S()t\al initiative lead· they are seen to take sides." to be followed." ing tAl the convict~n of those Millions of pounds are 'rhey said that they planned a who are guilty of this Cll·ime, being poured into voter edu· meoeti..ng ~te next w@(!k to ~Js. ou.i:' dl.alogue will r~tnatn dlffi· cation. Radio stations and cuss the progres$ beln8 made in cult. if Mt impOS&lble." ttlevision networks are negotia.tiol\8, The kir\g also focused his broadcasting instructions on The talks saw a detennined, attack on the ANC's responsl· how to vote, emphasising blll seeminsJy unsuecee$tul at- bility, with the government, for that the poll is sec-r~t. tompt by Mt Mandel.a to bring the lntr