Solidarity with South African political prisoners

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Alternative title Notes and Documents - United Nations Centre Against ApartheidNo. 33/75 Author/Creator United Nations Centre against Publisher Department of Political and Security Council Affairs Date 1975-09-00 Resource type Reports Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) Coverage (temporal) 1975 Source Northwestern University Libraries Description APPEAL BY SPECIAL COMMIEEEE AGAINST APARTHEID FOR OBSERVANCE OF DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICAL PRISONERS, 11 OCTOBER 1975. Statement by Acting Chairman of Special Committee, H.E. Mr. Eustace Seignoret (Trinidad and Tobago) on recent detentions and trials in South Africa, 15 August 1975. Statement by Acting Chairman and Rapporteur of the Special Committee, H.E. Mr. Vladimir N. Martynenko (Ukrainian SSR) and Mr. Nicasio G. Valderrama (Philippines) on recent detentions and trials in South Africa, 12 September 1975. Extracts from statements by Mr. Breyten Breytenbach, Afrikaner poet and artist imprisoned in South Africa. Biographical note on Mr. Govan Mbeki, prominent leader of the South African people, now seriously ill in prison. Format extent 17 page(s) (length/size)

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http://www.aluka.org NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* September 1975

NOTES AND DOCUMENTS* September 1975 SOLIDARIT WITH OUTH AFRICAN POLITICAL PRISOERS/ / , Page APPEAL BY SPECIAL 0)I4TEE AGAINST APA PO ANCE OF DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICAL PRISRS, 11 OCTOBER 1975 ...... 1...... 1 Statement by Acting Chairman of Special Committee, H.E.Mr. Eustace Seignoret (Trinidad and Tobago) on recent detentiQ' and trials in South Africa, 15 August 1975 ...... 3 Statement by Acting Chairman and Rapporteur of the Specia-l_Committee, H.E. Mr. Vladimir N. Martynenko (Ukrainian SSR) an-&.. Mr. Nicasio G. Valderrama (Philippines) on recent detentions and trials in South Africa, 12 September 1975 ...... 8 Extracts from statements by Mr. Breyten Breytenbach, Afrikaner poet and artist imprisoned in South Africa ...... 10 Biographical note on Mr. Govan Mbeki, prominent leader of the South African people, now seriously ill in prison ...... 15 ENote: This issue of Notes and Documents is devoted to the Day of Solidarity with South African Political Prisoners on 11 October 1975. In addition to recent statements by the Special Committee against Apartheid, it contains a note on Mr. Breyten Breytenbach, an Afrikaner poet and artist who was recently imprisoned in South Africa. Mr. Breytenbach, an opponent of apartheid, who has lived in exile in Paris for several years, participated in a special session of the Special Committee in London in June 1968 and in a Seminar of the Special Committee in Paris in April-May 1975. Extracts from an article he prepared for the Special Committee in 1970 and from the statement he made at the Seminar of the Special Committee in Paris on 30 April 1975 are reproduced here. This issue also contains a biographical note on Govan Mbeki, a leader of the African National Congress of South Africa, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial in 1964. In a telegram to the United Nations Secretary-General on 5 September, the African National Congress expressed grave concern over the serious illness of Mr. Mbeki, now in the prison, and said: "Barbarous sentences, inhuman prison conditions and treatment in South African jails are direct cause of repeated loss of our incarcerated militants such as Bram Fischer and others. Demand immediate unconditional release of Mbeki and all other political prisoners. "J All material In these notes and documents may be freely reprinted. o Iedemen to her w a cow of the Publication containing the reprint. would be wDr-':ated. No. 33/75

APPEAL BY SPECIAL COMMITTEE AGAINST APARTHEID FOR OBSERVANCE OF DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH SOUTH AFRICAN POLITICAL PRISONERS, 11 OCTOBER 1975 The United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid solemnly appeals to all Governments and organizations to observe 11 October 1975 as the D y of Solidarity with South African Political Prisoners. The Special Committee urges that on this day the entire world community dedicate itself to supporting the just struggle of the oppressed people of South Africa for national liberation and renew its ccmmitment to take concerted action against the apartheid regime and its odious policies. Twelve years ago, on 11 October 1962 - when the Pretoria regime charged , Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and other leaders of the South African people under the "Sabotage Act" - the General Assembly adopted resolution 1881 (XVIII) calling on that regime to release unconditionally all persons imprisoned, interned or subjected to other restrictions for their opposition to apartheid. In that historic resolution, the international community unanimously recognized that the policy of apartheid and the repression against opponents of apartheid have created a serious danger to peace in South Africa. In subsequent years, the General Assembly, the Security Council and other organs of the United Nations have repeatedly called on the South African regime to grant an unconditional amnesty to all persons imprisoned or restricted for their opposition to apartheid or acts arising from such opposition, as well as to political refugees from South Africa. They have affirmed the legitimacy of the struggle of the South African people against apartheid and racial discrimination and declared that the release of the leaders of the oppressed people of South Africa and other opponents of apartheid from imprisonment and other restrictions is a prerequisite for a peaceful solution of the grave situation in South Africa. The South African regime has, however, spurned all the appeals and demands of the international community. As resistance to the crime of apartheid continued unabated, it has enacted even more repressive laws and widened the net of repression. Nelson Mandela and his colleagues were sentenced to life imprisonment and are still confined in the Robben Island prison. Scores of figh7ers against apartheid have been executed, and thousands imprisoned. Hundreds of persons have been subjected to arbitrary and cruel restrictions: these include many former political prisoners, wives of prisoners, student and trade union leaders and churchmen. During the past year, the South African regime resorted to further repression. It arrested many black leaders - students, youth and cultural workers - and held them incommunicado for long periods under the notorious Terrorism Act. A number of these leaders are now being tried under this Act which lays down a minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment and a maximum sentence of death. 75-18679 .. 2 - The actions of the South African regime belie its protestations that it seeks a detente with other States and that it is moving away from discrimination. Its propaganda has indeed become a cover for ruthless repression against the black people and all those who reject and resist apartheid. The Special Committee against Apartheid wishes to emphasize that the international community has a duty to uphold the cause of the South African political prisoners and those subjected to restrictions for their opposition to the criminal racist policies of apartheid. As it declared in an appeal issued on 21 March 1975: "These men and women are the genuine representatives of the great majority of the people of South Africa. They have suffered long years of imprisonment, restrictions and exile because of their natural desire for elementary justice as reflected in their commitment to the principles embodied in the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ... "The international community, for its part, cannot but uphold the cause of the men and women who have been subjected to persecution because of their struggle to live in freedom and equality in their country. It cannot abdicate its responsibility to ensure that the danger of racial conflict is eliminated." The Special Committee appeals to all Governments and organizations to reaffirm their solidarity with the South African political prisoners by stepping up the campaign for an unconditional amnesty for the political prisoners and restrictees, as well as exiles from South Africa; by ensuring the total isolation of the South African regime in accordance with United Nations resolutions; and by rendering effective support to the oppressed people of South Africa and their liberation movements in the legitimate struggle for freedom.

-3- STATEMENT BY ACTING CHAIRMAN OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE, H.E.MR. EUSTACE SEIGNORET (TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO) ON RECENT DETENTIONS AND TRIALS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 15 AUGUST 1975 The Special Committee against Apartheid expresses its indignation and grave concern at the detention and persecution of large numbers of young black leaders and other opponents of apartheid by the racist regime of South Africa. Soon after the establishment of a provisional government in Mozambique in September 1974 under the leadership of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), which was greeted with widespread enthusiasm by the black people of South Africa, the Pretoria r6gime launched nation-wide arrests of young black leaders of the South African Student Organization and the Black People's Convention, as well as cultural groups associated with the "Black consciousness movement", such as the Theatre Council of Nata-l and the People's Experimental Theatre in Johannesburg. Further arrests were made in November 1974, and between January and March 1975. Those detained in February 1975 included several leaders of the South African Student Movement, a high school body, and of the "Anti-CRC Front" or AFRO, a group advocating the boycott of the Coloured Persons Representative Council, an apartheid institution established by the regime. The Pretoria regime has refused to provide any particulars on the persons detained or even the numbers detained. From press reports, it appears that at least 50 persons have been detained. Only 13 of these were charged in court in February, under the notorious Terrorism Act which provides for a minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment and a maximum penalty of death. Despite assaults in prison and the threat of savage sentences, they defiantly sang freedom songs during their appearances in court and were joined by many spectators. The Pretoria Supreme Court quashed the indictments on 23 June, but 11 of the accused were kept in detention and again charged on 27 June. Some of the other detainees were released, without any charges, after long periods of detention extending up to 270 days, after being warned that they may be subpoenaed to give evidence against their colleagues. Fiilure to give evidence is subject to a penalty of 12 months' imprisonment, renewable indefinitely. Over 50 members of the black organizations are reported to have fled from South Africa to escape detention and to avoid being forced to give evidence against their colleagues. According to available information, at least 26 persons are now in detention, in addition to the 11 persons charged. Many of them have been detained incommunicado for several months, without access to family or counsel. Several have been subjected to assaults and brutal ill-treatment by the Security Police. Available particulars on the detainees are set out in an annex.

-4 -- In addition, 18 persons have been charged, under the Riotous Assemblies Act, for attending a banned meeting on the FRELIMO Anniversary, and are awaiting trial. The Special Committee declares that the actions of the racist Pretoria regime belie its protestations that it seeks peace. They show that the r4gime is obliged constantly to escalate repression in its desperate effort to impose its criminal policy of apartheid. It has resorted to ruthless repression against the black consciousness movement because this movement has frustrated its manoeuvres to divide the oppressed people of South Africa, exposed the fraud of Bantustans and other apartheid institutions, denounced the so-called leaders of these institutions, and called for an end to foreign investment in South Africa and a total isolation of the racist minority regime. The Special Committee applauds the courage and steadfastness of these young black leaders of South Africa. It calls on all Governments and organizations to demonstrate their solidarity with them and with the other political prisoners in South Africa by total isolation of the racist minority regime, the denunciation of its collaboratcrs in apartheid institutions, and firm support to the liberation movement. ANNEX Particulars On Detainees Abbreviations SASO BPC TECON South African Students Organization Black People's Convention Theatre Council of Natal, Persons Awaiting Trial Absolom Zithulele CINDI Sathasivan ("Saths") COOPER 25. Secretary-General of BPC. Detained on 7 November 1974. 22. Expelled from University for Indians, Durban, for opposition to apartheid. Was Public Relations Officer of BPC and South African Black Theatre Union, associate editor of Black Gold Publications, and organizer for Black Arts Studios, member of TECON at time of banning. Married. Frequently harassed by Special Branch. Convicted on charge of assault of a Security Policeman: appeal pending. Served with 5-year banning orders, under the Suppression of Communism Act in 1973. Restricted to Durban. His wife, Vinoo Cooper, was also detained for several weeks.

5 . Rubin HARE Mosiuao LEKOTA Aubrey MOKOAPE Strinivasb ("Strini") MOODLEY Muntu MYEZA Pandelani Jeremiah NEFOLOVHODWE ("Nef") Nkwenkwe Vincent NKOMO 20. Vice.President of SASO. Detained in Cape Town on 7 November 1974. 28. Final year B.Sc. student and a leader of SASO branch at University of the North (Turfloop). Was elected Permanent Organizer of SASO in 1973. Detained on 25 September 1974 at the SASO head office in Durban. Married with one child. 29. Medical doctor. Founding member of both BPC and SASO. Convicted under Racial Hostilities Act: fined R75 or 75 days' imprisonment. Head of Black Community Programmes in Johannesburg. Organizer of the Home Education Scheme which runs classes for adults. Detained on 11 October 1974 at King Edward Hospital in Durban. Married With one child. Wife was expecting second child at time of detention. Banned until 31 October 1978. 28. Playwright and poet. Employee of an insurance company. Expelled in 1967 from University College for Indians in Durban for producing a political satire entitled "Black on White". Publications Director and Editor of SASO newsletter in 1971.-1972. Administrative assistant of SASO from 1972 until banned in February 1973. Foundirgmember, director and producer of TECON. In July 1972, elected Director of South African Black Theatre Union, of which he was a founding member. Served with fiveyear banning orders in 1973. In 1974, found guilty of two contraventions of banning order and sentenced to a week's imprisonment, suspended conditionally for a year. Married with one child. Wife also banned. Detained on 11 October 1974. 23. Secretary-General of SASO inDurban. Former president of SASO. Studies for B.A. degree at University of Zululand. 25. Former president of Students' Representative Council at University of the North (Turfloop). Elected President of SASO in July 1974. Final year B.Sc. student at Turfloop. 24. Member of Daveyton (Benoni) Branch of BPC. Was elected National Organizer in 1973. Studying law at time of arrest on 7 October 1974. Married with one child.

Gilbert Kaborane SEDIBE Sadecque VARIAVA* 24. President of the Students' Representative Council at University of the North (Turfloop). Arrested at university on 25 September 1974. 25. Member of SASO and leader of Peoples' Excperimental Theatre, Johannesburg. Arrested on 26 January 1975. Persons Still Under Detention Ahmed BAWA Bernard Trevor BLOEM Raymond BURGERS Weizman HAMILTON 21. Member of BPC. Student at Medical School, University of Natal (Black Section). Arrested at SASO head office in Durban on 25 September 1974. 21. Arrested at Johannesburg airport on 6 February 1975 on return from visit to Denmark. 21. Detained on 18 February 1975. 21. Teacher, Brother of Clarence Hamilton, 18, who was recently convicted on charge of writing pamphlet and poems calling for violent revolution. Detained on 15 February 1975. Lawrence KUNY Danile LANDINGWE 27. Regional Secretary for SASO in Cape. An official of National Youth Detained on 11 October 1974. Western Organization. Benjamin J. LANGA Patric MACGIJWA Phillip MASIA Rev. Mashwabada MAYATJIA 30. SASO Local Chairman at University of Fort Hare in 1971. Left university during Black student protest in 1972. Publications Director and Secretary.General of SASO from 1972 to 1974 when he was elected Director of CULCOM - the Cultural Commission of SASO. Served with five-year banning orders in 1973. Detained on 11 October 1974. 23. Detained on 14 February 1975. 48. Lutheran priest. Final-year student at the Lutheran Theological College of Maphumulo. Founding member of the BPC. Elected BPC Chairman in 1973. Arrested on 25 September 1974 at the SASO head office in Durban. Married with five children. * Mr. Variava has recently been released on bail. ** Mr. Bloem has been charged since this statement was issued.

Hector MBAU , Eric MOLUBI Franh MOLUBI Yugen NAIDOO Tula Wilfred NKOSI Xola NUSE Molefi Phineas PHETO Monamodi RADEBE Cyril RAMPHOSA Johnny RAMROCK 23. Detained on 10 February 1975. Detained on 20 February 1975. 24. Active member of the SASO Durban.-Uestville Branch in 1971. Elected Chairman of Chatsworth branch of BPC in 1973. Arrested at the SASO head office in Durban on 25 September 1974. Member of Peoples? Experimental Thestre, Johannesburg. A leader of South African Student Movement, a high school body. Student at University of South Africa. Employed at a store in Johannesburg Detained on 4 February 1975. Organizer of MEHLOTI -- a Black cultural group which arranges poetry, art and drama festivals in Johannesburg's African locations. Detained on 5 March 1975. High school teacher. Former leader of South African Student Movement. Detained on 4 February 1975. SASO Local Chairman at University of the North (Turfloop). Detained on 25 September 3-974. 1 23. Detained on 15 February 1975. Miss Jennifer ROXBURGH Vuyisile SELANTO ** Harri SINGH 28. Chairman of the Overport BPC branch since 1972. Elected Public Relations Officer of BPC in January 1974. In 1973, found guilty, with Dr. Aubrey Mokoapa, of inciting racial hostility. Arrested at home on 25 September 1974 outside the Durban courts. Married. His sick wife is under constant treatment from doctor. Mahlomola SKOSANA Regional Secretary of BPC on East Rand. Detained on 7 October 3-974. Married with two children. Raymond STUTTNER Christopher ITEIMERS Mr. Molubi and Mr. Stuttner have been charged since the statement was issued. Mr. Harri Singh has been released and called as State witness in the trial of SASO members. r, STATEMENT BY ACTING CHAIRMAN AND RAPPORTEUR OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE, H.E.MR. VLADIMIR N. MARTYNENKO (UKRAINIAN SSR) AND MR. NICASIO G. VALDERRAMA (PHILIPPINES) ON RECENT DETENTIONS PND TRIALS IN SOUTH AFRICA, 12 SEPTEMBER 1975 On behalf of the Special Cornittee against kp arthe id, we wish to draw the urgent attention of Governments and organizations to the recent wove of detentions and trials in South Africa under the notorious Terrorism Act enacted by the South African regime in 1967. This Act provides for the indefinite detention of any person without access to family or counsel; and lays down a minimum sentence of five years' imprisonment and a maximum penalty of death. Since the enactment of this Act, over a score of detainees have died in prison and many others brutally tortured. Since 19 August 1975, according to press reports, the South African racist regime has detained: Karel TIP President of the National Union of South Africcn Students (NUSAS); Gerry MARE Executive member of NUSAS: Glen MOSS Former President of the Students' Representative Council at the University of Witwatersrand; James POLLEY Senior lecturer at the University of Capetown; Miss Megan RILEY Graduate of the University of Capetown; Breyten BREYTENBACH A prominentAfrikaner poet and painter; Mrs. Clara ROHM A housewife. It was also reported in the South African press that nine black students have been detained and would be charged under the Terrorism Act, but no details are available. Full particulars on the detentions are not known, as the racist regime refuses to divulge even the number of those detained. From press reports, it appears that at least 50 persons are now in detention under the Terrorism Act; some have been in jail for several months. Mr. Breytenbach, who has been living for several years in exile in Paris, is a well- known opponents of the inhuman policy of apartheid. He has been a consultant to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and attended the Special Committee's Seminar on South Africa at the UNESCO headquarters from 28 April to 2 May 1975. Two young coloured leaders - Bernard Trevor Bloem and Eric Molubi - have been charged under the Terrorism Act in Johannesburg.

. 9 - Raymond Suttner, a young Natal University lecturer in Irv, has been charged in connexion with the nation, wide distribution of pamphlets of the African National Congress of South Africa; he is due to stand trial on 30 September. The trial of nine leaders of the black South African Student Organization, and allied groups, under the Terrorism Act, is continuing in Pretoria, while the trials of two of their colleagues are due to begin soon. These detentions and trials coincide with the detentions of scores of persons in Namibia by the South African racist regime. Meanwhile, the Special Committee has received a telegram from Alfred Nzo, Secretary-General of the African National Congress of South Africa, expressing grave concern over the serious illness of Govan Mveki, a prominent leader of the oppressed people of South Africa, in the Robben Island prison. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 in the Rivonia Trial which was condemned by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council, and by numerous Governments and organizations. These events indicate once again that the racist regime, faced with continuing and increasing resistance by the oppressed people, is resorting to brutal repression against all opponents of apartheid. They stress the urgent need for a world-wide campaign for the liberation of South African political prisoners and for decisive action to suppress and punish the crime of apartheid. Student and academic organizations all over the world, in particular, should demonstrate their solidarity with the students and professors who have been subjected to persecution by the Vorster regime. As the Special Committee has repeatedly pointed out, the protestations by the Vorster regime of its desire for peace are matched with brutal repression of all opponents of racism in South Africa. The National Union of South African Students said in a circular letter of 23 August: "In terms of the Terrorism Act, it is an offence to call on, incite, suggest, prejudice, etc. any persons or organization to commit any act ihich could prejudice the maintenance of law and order in South Africa. We are thus unable to make any suggestions for you to act upon. We wish merely to inform you of the position. "The major point to which we would like to draw your attention concerns the recent detente manoeuvres initiated by Prime Minister Vorster. Since Mr. Vorster made his statement of intention to 'change South Africa' in October 1974, repression and oppression have been maintained and indeed extended in South Africa. "Because we work fervently for the establishment of a free and just South Africa, we believe that changes in South Africa's relations with the rest of the world must be matched with changes within South Africa ... We would like to take this opportunity to appeal again to Governments and organizations for the widest and most effective observance of the Dcy of Solidarity with the South African Political Prisoners on 11 October 1975.

- 1.0 - EXTRACTS FROM STATEMENTS BY MR. BREYTEN BREYTENBACH AFRIKANER POET AND ARTIST IMPRISONED IN SOUTH AFRICA I An Afrikaner against Apartheid: Ex'tracts from an article prepared for the Unit on Apartheid in 1970 South Africa is undoubtedly a racist state - maybe the first one in history, and certainly the only present one, which vas born out of and founded on racial discrimination, with racial discrimination as the bedrock of its constitution, striving for an increasing racial discrimination. Just as undoubtedly the government in power is supported by the quasi-totality of the white minority on its race policies. I am convinced that racism itself, can only be eradicated once those who practise it, have been denied the power and the means of doing so. Apartheid is not simply an illogical system of racial discrimination based on the fear which is generated by it, operating in a far-off "trouble spot"; it is the natural outcome and fulfilment of a particular economic and political system: the concentration of all power in the hands of a distinct, fairly homogeneous minority - in this case the South African whites and the Afrikaners in particular. It exists because the world allows it to. It flourishes - accepted, supported, fed, armed, saved if necessary - because it works to the profit of South Africa's trading partners and foreign investors. It is white power in action - the grip of the leech. In its present state, South Africa is a colonialist (ahd colonizing) outpost, an abberation. Geographically, culturally and by its population, it is part of Africa and the Third World, with which it must te integrated, economically first of all. As long as she is protected militarily and sucked white economically by the capitalist powers, all racial unrest can only be to their advantage. Racial unrest creates the conditions for oppression and it is exactly the oppressed slave labour that provides the animating force of the South African economy. When the West doesn't smell the death coming out of South Africa, it is because it is also the odour of a profitable turnover of investments. Inescapable truths Some unpalatable, but inescapable truths will have to be faced: crushing apartheid means destroying the South African whites as a class. Destroying them as a class means the destruction of their power, their isolation, their State. It means the destruction of their usefulness to the W-est. There is no other way. There can be no possible co-existence with apartheid. To kill the Afrikaner as a white, will only be an attack on the image of his system; it will leave the roots intact.

-. 11 - Apartheid will not be cracked from the inside by whites With changed hearts. The hyena will not disgorge his plunder -- he will die with the meat in his jaws first. At present, humanistic dissent within the community is stifled. To the extent that dissent invigorates any community it can ultimately be accommodated to the satisfaction of the sensitive - who in any case are becoming less so, since apartheid is also supposed to tahe the poor out of sight. If liberalism were to prevail in South Africa, it would only modify the present setup, in that it would be better adjusted to the needs of the same powers who profit from the situation now. At most, this will hide the true face of apartheid behind a more humane mask. The only people who can affect a radical change are the oppressed ones themselves: the black and brown South Africans. To be oppressed and exploited does not mean that one will, therefore, find the just way of throwing off the chains. The first prerequisite for this is a clear identification of the enemy. The struggle is against a class which embodies a particular kind of system, which is in turn an outgrowth of a particular set of attitudes and assumptions: free enterprise, the profit motive, exploitation etc. - the attitudes which spawned colonialism and imperialism. This class can only be fought with an alternative to their power, to their system - to my mind the only possible one: a revolution towards socialism ... Let major powers declare their hands It can only to be our advantage to have the major powers declare their hands frankly. In trying to use powerful, but insincere allies, we are allowing ourselves to be manoeuvred by them and for their purposes. One doesntt steer a tiger ... These States - and others - may split hairs about offensive and defensive weapons, about the possible internal and external uses thereof, but it all comes down to the arming and the reinforcement of the white man's existence in southern Africa and he conceives of this existence only at the expense of the non-European. These States may split hairs; down there, their foremen and overseers are splitting a country and its peoples; they are quite literally splitting heads. These States are South Africa's certificates of respectability, her lifelines, but, however long and golden their spoons may be, they're still supping with the devil. The lives of the men and women sacrificed to beat back Nazism and fascism, not so long ago, have not authorized their governments to hawk the implements of death to the South African racists. Some say that we should point out to these powers that they are backing a losing horse, at peril to their markets one day. We should reject this argument. The South African people are not up for sale or barter ... Those in Africa who collaborate with the supporters of w7hite South Africa, must realize that they are compromising their own freedom. Apartheid is a constant aggression, undermining Africa, coarsening and brutalizing human relationships everywhere ...

- 12 .. I am an Afrikaner against Apartheid At a time when South Africans are once again on trial for their lives in Pretoria -- because they couldn't conceive of their lives as those of dogs and slaves -- and it is the imperative of freedom itself, which is being tried; when the people are daily being uprooted, hounded and shuffled, as if they were units on the monopoly board; ot a time when white soldiers and pilots and sailors, after having been trained by European experts, are doing their dirty killing far beyond South Africa's borders * and are actually covered by those pink hands thrown up in mock horror at apartheid, in international councils; ot a time when South Africa's premier and ministers can visit Europe with impunity, while South Africa continues sitting in the United Nations; at a time when newly disguised colonialist pow1ers reassert their hold over Africa - at such a time, it ought not to be necessary to affirm one's opposition to apartheid. I am a South African w White and speaking, it's true - and like the majority of my compatriots, against apartheid, against the Afrihaners as the ruling, capitalistic, elitist and racist class.

13 - II Statement at Seminar in Paris, 30 April 1975 The struggle against apartheid, that is, the struggle against discrimination exploitation and oppression, is a very complex one; it is a struggle for national liberation, and ultimately a struggle for socialism. However confusing the issues may appear to be at times, the fact remains that in South Africa we are confronted With conflicting irreconcilable interests. In fact, the struggle against apartheid is a War which started a long time ago. One is at times astonished to hear that South Africa is a threat to peace. Are we not forgctting that a war is being waged internally against the black people of South Africa? Are we not also forgetting that South African forces are fighting outside South Africa's borders? It is of necessity a protracted struggle against a terrorist State and against an illegal r6gime which represents only a small minority of the South African people. In the conte.x.,t of this war, three points should be made: 1. The policies of "dialogue" and "detente" are tactics in the same way as the "open arms" campaign and the campaign for "the hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people and just as these, they will ultimately fail. Behind this dialogue, the same blueprint is found: that of a South African State as representative of imperialism and as a sub-imperialist power in its own right, determined to penetrate Africa, and to create client-states. This is clearly what Mr. Vorster means when he strives for the creation of a poter bloc in southern Africa. For this goal to be achieved, national consciousness within South Africa's borders must be destroyed and South Africa must be balkanized. Repression against opponents of apartheid inside the country must be intensified as evidenced by the numerous recent arrests and trials. The second objective pursued by the South African regime is the destruction of all external manifestations of the liberation movement. War is at the same time simple an6 complex. Apartheid is many things to many people but all of it is unacceptable to us. There is no way to my mind, in which one can "harmonize" the oppressed and the oppressors; there is no way in which apartheid can be "humanized".

As the struggle unfolds, many forces of change, some of which unknown to us now, will manifest themselves. The struggle against apartheid is international in scope, anti imperialist in charccter. Support should come not only frtm anti apartheid organizations, but from all progressive forces and movements in other countries. This ever-more committed support should go to the liberation movement of South Africa and to all authentic organizations representing the South African people. In conclusion I would like to pay homage to Bram Fischer, a great South African who devoted his life to the struggle against apartheid. I am doing so not as a fellow Afrihaner but as a South African patriot. My homage goes through Bram Fischer, to all political prisoners, and people in exile or in hiding inside South Africa iTho are suffering one way or another for carrying on the struggle against racism and exploitation.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON MR. GOVAN MBEKI PROMINENT LEADER OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN PEOPLE NOW SERIOUSLY ILL IN PRISON Mr. Govan MBEKI, a leader of the African National Congress of South Africa, (ANC), was sentenced - along with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and other leaders of the liberation movement - in June 1964 to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial which was condemned by the United Nations and the international community. During that trial, Mr. Mbeki declared that he was a member of the High Command of the underground Umkonto We Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation"), and had taken part in the activities listed in the indictment. But he was not prepared to plead guilty as he did not feel any moral guilt attached to his actions. Mr. Mbeki was born in July 1910 in the Nqamakwe district of the Transkei. His father was a Chief but was deposed by the Government. He had become a cattle farmer with sizeable flocks aof sheep, goats and horses, and a substantial house; he had sufficient means to provide his children with the best education available to them. The boyys interest in politics was aroused in his teens when the location where he lived was visited by an African minister who was an early member of the ANC. Later, in 1933, while at the Fort Hare University College, he was impressed by a meeting with the late Dr. Edward Roux, and began to look upon the African problem not only as a problem of colour, but of class. The enactment of the Hertzog Bills in 1935, and with them the passing away of all hope of the extension of franchise to the Africans, led him to join the ANC and participate actively in politics. He graduated from Fort Hare in 1936 with a B.A. degree, majoring in politics and psychology, and a Diploma in Education. He also obtained B.Econ. by private study. He taught at a secondary school in Durban and then at Adams College. In his free time he investigated among African workers in Durban and began to do some political journalism. His essays were published in 1939 under the title The Transkei in the MalIg.

His speeJal interest in his home district continued and in 1940, he was elected to the Transkei Territorial General Council. In 1941 he became secretary of the Transkei African Voters' Association, whose object was to restore the African voters to the common roll. He was General Secretary of the Transkei Organized Bodies from 1943 to 1948. This broadly-based organization of peasants and others drew up a charter of denands of the Trauskei people, particularly with regard to land. Meanwhile, in 1943, Mr. Mbeki was co-author of the policy document drawn up for the ANC, "The African ClaiwF." In 1944, he was elected by the former students of Fort Hare as their first representative on the Governing Council. In 1946, he published a booklet on co-operatives, LetTs Do It Together. During the fifties he ran a small shcp to support his wife and four children, and also worked as a journalist. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Guardian and Port Elizabeth editor of New Age and Sp before these papers were banned. He went back to teaching in 1954 but was dismissed because of his hostility to Government policies. He then devoted much of his attention to building up the organization of the ANC in the African reserves. He was recognized as an expert on rural problems, particularly those of the Transkei. (His book, South Africa: The PeasantsT Revolt, was published by Penguin African Library in 1964.) Mr. Mbeki was the leader of the ANC in the Eastern Cape from 1955 and became national chairman of the ANC in 1956. He was a member of the joint committee of the Congress Alliance which organized the "Congress of the People" in 1955. He was detained for five months during the State of Emergency in 1960. Arrested s&:n in December 1961 on charges under the Explosives Act, he was acquitted after several months in jail. He was served with banning orders and placed under house arrest in April 1963. He then went underground and was appointed to the High Command of Umkonto We Sizwe. While serving the sentence of life imprisonment imposed in the Rivonia Trial, Mr. Mbeki appeared as a witness in the trial of Mr. Strachan in November 1965. He told the court that he still felt as ardently about his political beliefs as before being sentenced to life imprisonment. The paramount thing for him was the plight of the African people. He would willingly have sacrificed his life to achieve his political ends.