Sechaba, Vol. 24, No. 9

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Page 1 of 38 Alternative title Sechaba Author/Creator African National Congress (Lusaka, Zambia) Publisher African National Congress (Lusaka, Zambia) Date 1990-09 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 36 page(s) (length/size)

Page 2 of 38 SECHABASEPTEMBER 1990official organ of the african national congress south africaZABALAZA - DAWN OF A NEWSOUTH AFRICAN CULTUREWinds of Change - gospel choir from Soweto

Page 3 of 38 Smhaba and other ANC publications are obtainable from the following ANC addresses:Annual Subscriptions:USA and Canada (air mail only): institutions $30; individuals $25All other countries 12Please make cheques payable to:Sechaba Publications c/o ANC PO Box 38 London Nl 9PRALGERIA FEDERAL REPUBLIC NIGERIA5 Rue Ben M'hidi Larbi OF GERMANY Federal GovernmentAlgiers Postfach 190140 Special Guest HouseANGOLA 5300 Bonn 1 Victoria IslandPO Box 3523 FRANCE Lagos.Luanda 28 Rue des Petites Ecuries NORWAYAUSTRALIA 75010 Paris PO Box 6765St Olavs PlassBox 49 Trades Hall GERMAN DEMOCRATIC N-0130 Oslo 14 Gmlbum Street REPUBLICSydney NW 2000 Angerweg 2 SENEGALBELGIUM -he-.h 26 Avenue Albert SarrautBerlin 1106 PO Box 3420PO Box 137 INDIA Dakar1040 BrusselsCANADA 50KP Thacker Block SWEDENPO Box 302 Asian Games Village Box 6183Siri Fort Road S-102 33Adelaide Postal Station Khel Gaon Marg StockholmToronto New Delhi-110049 TANZANIAOntario M5C-2J4CalB CUBA ITALY PO Box 2239Via S. Prisca 15a Dar es Salaam21A 00153 Rome PO Box 680NR 20617Esquina 214 Atabey J--Havana Havana Square House Shin-Nakano USSRDENMARK Room 105 Konyushkovskaya Street 284-38-16 Honcho -no- Moscow 123242Landgreven 7/3 t.h. Tokyo UNITED KINGDOM1301 Kbh Copenhagen KEGYPT KENYA PO Box 38PO Box 40432 28 Pen- Street5 Ahmad Hismat Street Nairobi London N 1 9PRZamalekCairo MADAGASCAR UNITED STATESETHIOPIA PO Box 80 801 Second AvenueAntananarivo Apt 405PO Box 7483 New York NYC 10017Addis AbabaFINLAND NETHERLANDS ZAMBIAPO Box 336 PO Box 16657 PO Box 3179100531 Helsinki 1001 RD Amsterdam LusakaPublished by the African National Congress of South Africa, PO Box 31971, Lusaka, ZambiaPrinted by the Druckemi 'Erich Weinert' 20011 Neubrmdenburg German Democratic Republic

Page 4 of 38 SOUNDS OF MANNENBURGDelving deeperMillions of milesInto the mines of my mindNostalgicallyI am resurrectedBy the ageless flowOf serene sounds of MannenburgThese sounds remain superiorTo the healing breeze of Indian OceanAtlantic OceanListen to the sounds of Mannenburgsounds of serenitySuch sounds ceaselessly surmountHarangues of herrenvolkismThese sounds sustainThe undying songs of SophiatownDistrict SixKTCsquatter campsThese sounds of MannenburgForever rejuvenate my elderly motherUndoubtedly dancingTo the drums of decolonisationRevving up the rhythms of resistance- Robert Maphumzane Mthembu

Page 5 of 38 SEPTEMBER 1990ISSN:0037-0509 SECHABAVolume 24 No 9CONTENTS:EDITORIAL ...... 1AN ALLIANCE UNSHAKEN ...... 2ZA13ALAZA FESTIVALBy Moira Levy...... 4SOUTH AFRICAN WHITES: TIME TO MAKE A CHOICEBy Jean Middleton...... 8BLACK SASHBy Sara...... 12INKATHA SEEKS TO SPREAD ITS VIOLENCEANC Statement ...... 16MANDELA'S WORLD TOUR ...... 18RELEASE ALL DETAINEESANC Statement ...... 19ECONOMIC BASICS AND BASIC NEEDSBy Ben Fine...... 20EDUCATION IN A NEW SOUTH AFRICABy Xoliswa Skomolo...... 24LETTER TO THE EDITOR ...... 28FILM REVIEW ...... 29BOOK REVIEW ...... 31Graphic design by Patric De GoedeLISTEN TO RADIO FREEDOMVoice of the African National CongressAnd Umkhonto We Sizwe, the People's ArmyRadio LusakaDaily 7.00 pm:Wednesday 10.15-10.45 pm:Thursday 9.30-10.00 pm:Friday 10.15-1045 pm:Short wave 31mb 9505 KHzSunday 8.00-8.45 am:Short wave 25mb 11880 KHzRadio LuandaMonday-Saturday 7.30 pm:Sunday 8.30 pnt:Short wave 31mb 9535 KHzand 25 nibRadio MadagascarMonday-Saturday 7.00-9.00 pm:Sunday 7.00-8.00 pm:Short wave 49mb 6135 KHz.Radio EthiopiaDaily. 9.30-10.00 pm:Short wave 31mb 9595 KHzRadio TanzaniaMonday Wednesday Friday 8.15 pm:Tuesday Thursday Saturday 6.15 am:Short wave 31mb 9750 KHzThe above are South African times

Page 6 of 38 EDITORIALA NEW PHASE IN NEGOTIATING PROCESSThe result of the talks on August 6, between theANC and the Pretoria regime, signalled the endof the phase of 'talks about talks.' The partieson both sides agreed that the road to negotiationsabout a future constitution had been paved.Commitment to the Groote Schuur Minute,resulting from the first encounter in May, wasre-stated by both sides, whilst the report of theWorking Group set up in Groote Schuur was alsoaccepted by both parties. These agreements aresignificant and will take the negotiations processa step further.But whilst we speak about a step forward, wemust also speak about a step backward. Whereasthe ANC agreed to suspend its armed strugglewith the aim of prompting the De Klerk side tospeed up the process of removing the remainingobstacles to negotiations, the De Klerk partyrefused to take responsibility for the fascist ac-tions of its police.De Klerk stressed that his police had beeneven-handed in handling the situation in Nataland elsewhere, but that is not true. He cannotplead ignorance as he has been informed on somany occasions about the evil deeds of his police.Full responsibility must be taken by the SouthAfrican regime for most of the violence that gripsthe country today. The black vigilantes areeverywhere supported by the police, while thewhite right-wing groups enjoy a tolerance thaturges them on to more serious crimes.The very giant step that is required from theSouth African regime is to ensure that it actstogether with the ANC and other peace-seekingforces to remove from the South African scenethe violence that stands in the way of progressand peace.On the issue of the suspension of armed strug-gle by the ANC, it can only be said that the ANCsuccessfully achieved what it sought to do, thatis, to give an impetus to the negotiating process.The ground has been cut off from those whowould have sought to use the logjam in the talksto derail them.The way has been opened for a move towardsthe drafting of a new constitution for SouthAfrica. The task that lies ahead for all patriotsin South Africa today is to work together towardsthe realisation of the idea of a ConstituentAssembly. And, as the Pretoria Minute whichwas issued by both parties at the end of theAugust 6 meeting stated, the parties that met inPretoria do not pretend to be the only parties in-volved in the process of shaping the new SouthAfrica. They know there are other parties com-mitted to peaceful progress, and all can hence-forth walk that road in consultation and co-operation with each other. The Pretoria minutesaid in part:"We call upon all those who have not yetcommitted themselves to peaceful negotiationsto do so now ... Against this background, theway is now open to proceed towards negotia-tions on a constitution."There is need to move forward as speedily aspossible, and, to this end, the Pretoria meetingdecided to open up channels of communication.with due cognisance of the interests, role and involvement of other parties.The struggle continues for a non-racial anddemocratic South Africa. The armed struggle hasplayed its role in putting us wher. we are today.It is not by chance that the ANC is sitting at the"talks" table with the South African regime to-day. The armed struggle and other forms ofstruggle employed by the ANC, built people'sorganisations and gave the people confidence toliberate themselves. This remains our mainstrength. The people are behind the leadershipof the ANC and will give support to its initiativesthrough the negotiating process. They know thatmere posturing against negotiations cannot ad-vance the struggle.

Page 7 of 38 AN ALLIANCE UNSHAKENSome events leave their mark on history by their sheer magnitude, but thereare some, such as the public launch of the South African Communist Partyon July 29, which leave their imprint because of their impact on the courseof history.Comrades Mandela and Slovo at the SACP launchAs the majority of the people in the countryprepared themselves to rejoice and celebrate onJuly 29, some forces of darkness were con-gregating elsewhere and plotting how to discreditthe SACP and present it as being against negotia-tions. The security police of the regime announc-ed that a "red plot" for insurrection had been un-covered. Countrywide arrests were made, andForeign Minister Pik Botha quickly briefed thewestern embassies about the "plot."After much speculation in the press about thefuture of the negotiation process, especially aboutthe participation in that process of Joe Slovo, theGeneral Secretary of the SACP, it came out thatthe security establishment could not substantiatetheir claims, nor make their analysis of the situa-tion acceptable to anyone. Yet again, the inepti-tude of the regime's security forces had been ex-posed. Its anti-communist, anti-democratic andracist attitude had once more shown itself to beas intact as it had ever been.For the ANC, the public launch was as historicas it was a giant political leap. It signified a vic-tory for the democratic forces who had for fortyyears unrelentingly demanded that the com-munists be allowed to express themselves freely.The Deputy-President of the ANC, NelsonMandela, put into perspective this struggle in hisaddress to the rally, in which he said:"Surely, there are today happy smiles on thefaces of the political thinkers who said that,though they might disagree with opposing viewsthat some people might express, they wouldnevertheless defend with their lives thedemocratic right of such opponents to expressthemselves."The ANC is not a communist party. But, asa defender of democracy, it has fought and willcontinue to fight for the right of the CommunistParty to exist. As a movement for national libera-tion, the ANC has no mandate to espouse aMarxist ideology. But as a democratic move-ment, as a parliament of the people of our coun-try, the ANC has defended and will continue todefend the right of any South African to adhereto the Marxist ideology, if that is their wish."Addressing himself to those within the Nation-alist Party who consider themselves to bedemocrats, he said:"They need to learn very quickly. The lessonthey need to learn is that it was fundamentallywrong to have enacted the Suppression of Com-munism Act in 1950. The lesson they need tolearn is that it is fundamentally wrong today toseek to build an atmosphere of democratictolerance of different views by attempting todemonise those who choose to hold communistopinions. Such a posture leads to one thing andone thing only, namely, the denial and suppres-sion of democracy itself."

Page 8 of 38 Others would argue that we, as the ANC, hadcause to defend the SACP; after all, they are ourallies, as we have repeatedly emphasised. Buthow and when is an alliance formed, and why?The ANC-SACP-SACTU (now COSATU)alliance came into being in struggle, and was notjust a matter of discussions at leadership levels,but resulted from the dependability of each in thestruggle, and the consistency with which eachally has focused on the common objective of ournational liberation.Throughout the years that this alliance has en-dured, the SACP has recognised that the ANCis an independent body and leads the alliance.In the words of Nelson Mandela:"The Communist Party has understood andrespected the fact that the ANC is an indepen-dent body. They have never sought to transformthe ANC into a tool and a puppet of the Com-munist Party ... They have fought to uphold thecharacter of the ANC as the parliament of theoppressed, containing within it people with dif-ferent views, united by the common perspectiveof national emancipation represented by theFreedom Charter."Despite the meeting between the Deputy Presi-dent of the ANC and Pretoria's President deKlerk on August 1, aimed at clearing the air sur-rounding the allegations made by the racistsecurity forces, much still needs to be done.There is no doubt that the anti-communisthysteria continues, and may well reach newlevels in the near future.Just as the regime blew its horn at full blastwhen the security police's "communist con-spiracy plot" was reported to it, it must now actwith urgency to go to the bottom of the policeplot. They are the ones who want to stand in theway of negotiations, and not the South AfricanCommunist Party.The suggestion that the Communist Party har-bours ideas of unilateral military action againstthe peace process is an insult not only to theSACP but also to the ANC. It is a well-knownfact, repeated many times by even the regime'sstrategists, that the strategic use of the weaponsin the hands of the liberation movement is deter-mined by the ANC. Thus, the regime's anti-communist plot backfired precisely because itwent against the history and principles of ourstruggle.Mac MaharajIn the final analysis, now as in the past, theattack on the SACP will serve to strengthen thealliance and bring more and more people on tothe defence of its existence. On the other hand,the successful public launch of the CommunistParty means that it will become more accessibleto the democratic, oppressed and exploited ma-jority in South Africa.Those who have over the years rejected thecapitalist system, especially after witnessing itsevil super-exploitation of the black people inSouth Africa, will have now found a home in thepublic South African Communist Party.

Page 9 of 38 ZABALAZA FESTIVALTHE VOICE OF SOUTH AFRICANS IN EXILEby Moira LevyZabalaza, the two-week cultural festival held inLondon in July, follows in the tradition ofCulture and Resistance (Gaberone, 1982) andCulture in Another South Africa (Amsterdam,1987). But it represented a significant shift to anew phase of cultural struggle.For one thing it was organised, not by sym-pathisers, but by South Africans - exiles basedin London. Secondly, in their performances, ex-hibitions and workshops, it was not the voicesof the sympathisers that we heard, but the voicesof South Africans themselves.But, more importantly, delegates and organi-sers agreed that what set Zabalaza apart from itspredecessors was its intensive training and work-shop programme. For the first time a SouthAfrican festival went beyond celebrating our peo-ple's culture to make a serious attempt to redressthe legacy of inequality in skills and resourcesthat has always marked our struggle for a post-Sophie Mgcina and Lindiwe Mthembu inperformanceZabalaza set out with two objectives; to pro-vide skill training for the 106 participants fromSouth Africa and ANC missions in exile and tobring the emerging post-apartheid culture to aBritish audience through a multi-venued pro-gramme of plays, exhibitions, gigs, poetryreadings and public debates.Zabalaza achieved some of its objectives, andfailed in others, "but at the very least itdemonstrated, to the the participants and theBritish audiences, a vision of what is possiblein South Africa," said Comrade Wally Serote,one of the festival co-ordinators.Serote concluded that the festival was weak onthe performance side. He cited "huge logisticalcrimes" to do with stage management andtechnical organisation. "We were like firebrigades, constantly rushing out to deal withunexpected emergencies.""However, we achieved most of our major ob-jectives. Participants and co-ordinators seems toagree that Zabalaza made some contributiontowards imparting skills, expertise and culturalempowerment to our people."Serote said the presence of Deputy PresidentNelson Mandela in England at the start of thefestival "helped create the right political andcultural climate."The participants - who were "fortunately allpolitical activists as well as cultural workers" -were able to take the political debates about sanc-tions,the cultural boycott and the need to main-tain pressure on De Klerk government into thehomes of their British hosts. "They were ableto explain that political change is on the agenda,but that nothing has changed politically."Serote said one of the highlights of the festivalwas the opportunity for delegates to visit Presi-dent Oliver Tambo. Group visits were arrangedwhere participants "were able to brief Tambo onevents in their part of the country."

Page 10 of 38 He said the discussions between participants,most of whom had never met, give them an op-portunity to learn about developments, politicaland cultural, in other parts of South Africa."And it helped those of us in exile to locateourselves in South Africa, giving us a freshunderstanding of our expectations and the prob-lems we face."TrainingFor months before, training collectives in all theart forms devised tailor-made programmes foreach discipline in consultation with cultural struc-tures in South Africa.Scene from the play, Bainbu'The delegations took part in an intensive pro-gramme of workshops, seminars, discussionsand lectures. Training centred in Shadwell, aninstitute for adult education in south London,where up to 50 South African cultural workersmet for classes each day.Writers, led by a lecturer in literature, LizGunner, and ANC writer, Gillian Slovo, spenttwo weeks in workshops on the novel, shortstory, editing and desk-top publishing.Wanjiro Kihoro and Pat Bardill ran an inten-sive two-week programme for cultural ad-ministrators, using participatory educationmodels that participants can translate into prac-tice in their work at home.The photographers' training, co-ordinated byBeverley Friedman, included a round of visitsto London's leading and less-knownphotographic institutes and exhibitions, with lec-tures by leading British photographers.John Matshikiza, South African actor exiledin London, led the performers in sessions onmake-up, mime, story-telling and radio skills,at London's National Theatre.Film-makers stayed on in London after thefestival for an intensive six-week training pro-gramme on video production.At the start, there was concern that two weekswould not be long enough. By the final Assess-ment Session, participants were confident thatthey had gained sufficient skills to contribute tocultural development on their return.Said one delegate, "this has become theZabalaza chorus; the festival was a resoundingsuccess."Said another: "Zabalaza has given us a walk-ing stick. Now we are on our feet, the next stepwill be to remove that stick and walk forward."A writer from the Eastern Cape added: "ourworkshop started off with minimum participa-tion. But by the end we were all joining in. Wetook this as proof of the literary maturity wereached through Zabalaza."We came to London with very limited, verySouth African perspectives. But I think we areleaving with much broader perspectives. Wehave learned that writing is not only a SouthAfrican experience, it is a universal one."The consensus was summed up by one partici-pant: "Today we know what we did not knowbefore. This has been an eye-opener."Discussion and debateA high point of Zabalaza was the Talks seriesheld at the Institute of Contemporary Arts open-5

Page 11 of 38 ed by Winnie Mandela with a strong call to theBritish public to maintain the cultural boycott.Much of the debate took as its starting pointAlbie Sachs' argument on the role of culture asa weapon of struggle. The Talks opened with apanel discussion in which the Congress of SouthAfrican Writers' Nadine Gordimer and JunaidAhmed reiterated calls for a culture that is bothpohitically directed and aesthetically advanced.Gordimer, quoting Berthold Brecht's line, "tospeak of trees is treason," said: "We owe a greatdeal to the changing times. Now we can speakof trees, we can speak of human beings and alltheir faults, we can write about the totality ofhuman nature. That is what Albie Sachs is call-ing for and that is what we all want. So manystories are untold, the fullness of life is untold."Staffrider's Andries Olifant reminded the au-dience of the need to mobilise all culturalworkers in the forging of a new national culturalidentity."We must tolerate the scribbleralongside the craftsman. We must cultivate aculture where all streams, including settler andindigenous, are freed from the fetters ofdominance and arrogance."We must keep in mind that the history ofdominance and subordination will not disappearunder majority rule. Democracy cannot bedeclared or promulgated. It has to be struggledfor."He pointed to a need to "develop a more sub-jective, humanist perspective in our writing.""There is a tendency to stress the external con-ditions responsible for the oppression of apart-heid. We must delve into the minds of SouthAfricans and explore how apartheid has settledin our consciousness."He said there was also a need to develop acomic literature: "we South Africans are not ahumourless people. We have always been ableto see the absurdity of apartheid bureaucracy."Speakers focused on the need for cultural -in particular language - diversity. BenMokoena, of the ANC's Department of Arts andCulture, outlined a post-apartheid languagepolicy under the ANC that would practise affir-mative action, "deliberately developing the in-digenous languages and reducing the dominanceof the language of the oppressor group."In the spirit of forging a common nationalidentity, all South Africans will be encouragedto master at least one indigenous language."Mandla Langa, the ANC's cultural attache inLondon, identified the need for writers to trainand perfect their skill. "Since the written wordis a vehicle, the interlocutors need to know howto drive."He emphasised the need to move beyond pro-test culture - "where we have to write aboutAK47s and Nelson Mandela" - to draw on therichness of indigenous culture: its myths,legends, language. "Let us look deep down intothe resources of our own culture."Apartheid is dying. If we become overlypreoccupied with it we run the risk of inheritingthe stench of a corpse."PerformancesZabalaza peaked at the final week-end with thefirst London appearance of Brenda Fassie.Dressed in skin-tight black, green and gold, shedrew the audience to its feet with a dramatic ren-dition of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. The Fassie com-bination of street pop - "Weekend Special" -and political pop - "My Black President" -kept it on its feet and dancing.Earlier in the week, the audience at London'sRiverside Theatre heard Mswakhe Mbuli per-form his poetry in a telephone link-up with hisSoweto home, after being denied a passport. Inthe telephonic question-and-answer session, hesaid: "I would not be using the telephone if thingswere really changing in South Africa.""Blood is still being spilled in our country, thepolice are still arresting our people, the army isstill patrolling the townships, whatever is hap-pening at the top, life on the ground is stillterrible."The festival opened with a sell-out concert withSakhile topping the bill. The British publicqueued to hear the band last heard at Wembley.A photographic exhibition - featuring thework of experienced photographers SantuMofokeng, Rashid Lombard and Paul Weinbergalongside that of unknown photographers - alsoopened that night.6

Page 12 of 38 Participants at the festival discuss the training programneComrade Hilda Bernstein opened an exhibi-tion of the drawings and paintings of three SouthAfricans - Dumile Feni, exiled in USA, LouisMaqhubela, exiled in London, and DavidKoloane, a participant from South Africa - wholast worked together at home in the seventies.Music events, plays, poetry readings and ex-hibitions took place at different venues in andaround London and Oxford.Cultural boycottZabalaza translated into practice the principle andpolicy of cultural boycott. President Oliver Tam-bo said in 1987 that apartheid culture must beisolated at the same time as the people's cultureis strengthened, supported and nurtured.Through its training programmes, workshops,performances, debates, even its informal discus-sions, Zabalaza did just that. It produced a coregroup of cultural workers trained and ready toredistribute their newly-acquired skills and ex-pertise, through their local community andcultural structures, to a broad mass of activists.It also brought to a world stage the cultural pro-ducts and creativity of our people.Comrade Serote said that Zabalaza provideda forum where cultural workers could effective-ly articulate the role of the cultural movementin relation to political struggle. And it went fur-ther to pose the question: can South Africanculture stand on its own anywhere in the world?"Zabalaza looked at how South Africancultural workers will contribute to world culture,and to an international civilisation that toleratesand celebrates cultural differences," he said.

Page 13 of 38 SOUTH AFRICAN WHITESTIME TO MAKE A CHOICEBy Jean MiddletonHistory is catching up with South African whites. Many are turning to facetheir destiny, to consider what their place will be in our new society, and whatcontribution they can make to building it. Whites cannot go it alone, and theywill survive only if they co-operate with other groups.In the past, there were always a few whites inSouth Africa who refused to accept racism, andcommitted themselves wholeheartedly to thecause of democracy. They were very few, andthere were not many organisations they couldbelong to. The Communist Party of South Africawas the first political organisation open to whitesto stand firmly for democracy and an end to racediscrimination; so, in the 1930s and 1940s, pro-gressive whites joined it. There, together withmembers from other racial groups, they foundan alternative to the segregated life that, aswhites, they would otherwise have been oblig-ed to lead. They also acquired a political train-ing and a political understanding they could nothave found anywhere else.After World War II, white ex-soldiers in theParty succeeded for some time in mobilisingother white ex-soldiers in the Springbok Legion,on the grounds that soldiers who had foughtfascism overseas should be prepared to fight itat home. Their most important campaign wasthat in opposition to the removal of Colouredvoters from what was called the 'common voters'roll' (though this was a misnomer, for the rollhad been common only to whites and Coloureds,and Africans and Indians had never had a placeon it).Those years came to an end. The Nationalistgovernment came to power, Coloured voterswere removed from the roll, the Communist Par-ty was banned.A stream of propaganda from the regimepresented communism as evil, and identified ascommunist any talk of democratic rights for allSouth Africans. Whites who had been in the Par-ty were isolated from most other whites, whofeared the law; and they had no political home.They filled the gap in 1952, when, in consulta-tion with the ANC and the Indian Congress,some of them became the founder members ofthe Congress of Democrats (COD). COD wastiny, but it took its place in the CongressAlliance, and helped to organise the Congressof the People at Kliptown. Some of its nationaland local officials were among the 156 peoplearrested in 1956 and brought to court in theTreason Trial, in which the regime attempted invain to prove that the Freedom Charter was'communist' and therefore 'treasonable.'The brief of COD was to present the princi-ple of one person one vote to whites, to inter-pret for them the policy of the other Congressorganisations, and to involve them in Congresscampaigns. The task exposed members to policeharassment and brought few rewards, but dur-ing its life the COD brought out innumerablestatements, articles, leaflets, posters, directed atwhites. Activists pushed slogans in reponse toevents of the time: "No passes for Africanwomen" - "Vote no for a Verwoerd Republic"- "Do you want a fascist education for yourchild?"As the first-generation members, one by one,were served with banning orders that preventedtheir taking part in the organisation, the CODcontinued to attract a small but steady trickle ofenthusiastic new members, who kept it going tillit was banned in 1962, under the Suppression ofCommunism Act.Illegal slogan-painting continued for a time(Apartheid is the killer" and "Hang Vorster"

Page 14 of 38 were responses to the Sabotage Act) but all at-tempts members of COD made to found newwhite organisations failed. The new organisationsdidn't get off the ground. "I am ashamed of myfellow whites," a comrade who had been in CODtold the court in 1965, before she was sentencedto two years for illegal political activity. Thatmust have been the general feeling at that time,among former members.What had made the Congress of Democratsunique was its relationship with the CongressAlliance. Through it, whites could become partof the mass movement, informed and led, asdemocrats should be, by the wishes and aspira-tions of the majority. When COD was banned,the ANC was underground, and other Congressorganisations were soon effectively disabled bybanning and general harassment of individuals.There was no legal mass organisation left thatwas able to speak for the mass of the people, andWhite democrats, who wanted open political ac-tivity and believed that the will of the peopleshould direct it, were in a vacuum.Some found their place in the undergroundCommunist Party. The membership of the Par-ty came from all race groups, the Party hadalways given unequivocal support to the Con-gress movement, and in its ranks the voice ofthe people might still be heard, though quietly,and in secret. Later, when membership becameopen to them, some joined the ANCunderground.There was only one other non-racial organisa-tion, the Liberal Party, which continued to existuntil the late 1960s. Those who had been in orclose to COD, however, found the Liberal Par-ty an uneasy place to try and make a politicalhome in, for it had been divided over the ques-tions of universal franchise and of support forthe ANC.Those were arid years. There was only onewhite organisation in that time whose numbersgrew and whose policy developed. It was theBlack Sash, a women's organisation. It hadbegun in the 1950s as a band of white womenprotesting against repressive legislation; it grewinto an active, campaigning body which is nowaffiliated to the Federation of Transvaal Womenand the Federation of South African Women.In the 1980s. the changes that took place inSouth African politics were so wide-reaching andso profound that political analysts and historianswill be discussing them for a long time to come.There was a corresponding change in white at-titudes. We can speculate about the conditionsand events that forced this change.There were the pressures from overseascriticism of apartheid. Whites found the political,cultural and sporting isolation of South Africaburdensome. The sports boycott in particulartouched them where it hurt, and the rows oversuch matters as the rebel cricket tours and ZolaBudd's attempts to evade the boycott must haveserved as an example to many ambitious youngwhite South Africans who were hoping to get intointernational sport.Whites in general knew that in the outsideworld Nelson Mandela was praised everywherewhile they, as the beneficiaries of apartheid,were regarded in many quarters with contemptand dislike. Their South African passports, andeven their distinctive accents, had long been asource of embarrassment for them when travell-ing overseas. Many began to wonder whether theprivileges they enjoyed were worth all this.Most important, perhaps, was the fact that theysaw the international campaign for sanctions anddisinvestment contributing to the collapse of theSouth African economy, in which they were allinvolved.The emergence of a new generation had some-thing to do with it. Like the French in Algeriaand the United States in Vietnam, South Africafound its colonial wars undermined by disaffec-tion among conscripts and their families. TheEnd Conscription Campaign provided a focus ofprotest. It also began to organise friendly socialcontact between young whites and young blacks.The organisers believed that white boys who hadtaken part in 'fun runs' and other such enjoyableactivities with black kids would later be reluc-tant to go into the townships as soldiers and op-press black kids there.When they found themselves involved, orabout to become involved, in fighting againstAngolan villagers and the people of the SouthAfrican townships, some young conscriptsrebelled, and resisted taking part in something9

Page 15 of 38 they believed to be morally indefensible. Someof them left the country; some stood up andrefused to fight; some went absent without leave.Their parents were dismayed, and joined thecampaign, and white mothers demonstratedagainst compulsory military service and againstthe war itself. There was objection to the war,too, on grounds other than moral grounds: forpeople in general began to perceive it as yetanother drain on the failing strength of theeconomy.Some fears whites had for the future weredispelled as they began to find out about therealities of the ANC and ANC policy. In discus-sion throughout the country, the terms of theFreedom Charter were becoming known. Underthe auspices of IDASA, numbers left for 'talks'with members of the ANC, and returned toreport on fruitful discussions. Quite a numberof whites must have heard and pondered over thewords addressed to them in the January 8thMessages of 1986 and 1987, in which the ANCcalled on whites to join the democratic struggle,and added words of praise for young armyrefusers.Most important of all in changing white at-titudes was the protest and resistance of the op-pressed people themselves.Whites with decent feelings were disturbed atthe unrest of 1984-1986, and greatly shocked bythe brutality used against it by the state. Whennew mass organisations like the UDF andCOSATU came into being, their spectaculargrowth, their tremendous power, was clear fromall reports. White shopkeepers and shop-ownersaffected by consumer boycotts made represen-tations to Pretoria to meet the boycott demands.They began thinking about how to ensure )eirfuture by having a better relationship with theconsumers, and they saw the example of the Wat-son brothers, who continued to do a thrivingtrade because they were known to have previous-ly shown loyal friendship to people of otherraces. Strikes, particularly the SATS and NUMstrikes, shook the economy of the country andthe equanimity of the privileged.Many whites began to accept then that therewas no stopping the march to freedom. Whenall the mass action culminated in the great De-fiance Campaign of 1989, many joined it.The UDF provided a point of affiliation fora wide range of organisations. White organisa-tions that accepted the principle of one personone vote were able to affiliate. Thus, after morethan 20 years, white democrats were again ableto be part of the main political thrust in theircountry, take part in discussions on the FreedomCharter, take their place in the general strugglefor freedom.In the sixties, there was only one whiteorganisation that was part of the liberation move-ment. Now there are several.The Johannesburg Democratic Action Com-mittee (JODAC), launched in February 1984,with sister organisations in Cape Town and Dur-ban, was the first. It said in a statement:"While some whites are involved in a numberof non-racial affiliates of the UDF, JODACis the only affiliate organising whites quawhites. We believe that this is a crucial con-tribution to the achievement of a peaceful andjust society in South Africa.JODACdoes not represent 'white interests'in the UDF- rather we try to represent theUDF in the white community. "Over the years, JODAC held a number of suc-cessful and well-attended public meetings. (Themost recent was held earlier this year in the GreatHall at the University of the Witwatersrand, andwas addressed by Walter Sisulu.) Nevertheless,members of JODAC began to feel that otherorganisations - notably the Five FreedomsForum - were doing a better job than they wereof organising whites into the mass democraticmovement. "FFF was holding good meetings,too," says one JODAC activist. "People werecoming to our meetings, but they weren't sign-ing up." In May 1990, JODAC took a decisionto dissolve itself. It decided that its membersshould join the ANC and work to spread the in-fluence of the ANC among whites.Besides the Five Freedoms Forum, there areother white UDF affiliates, doing more specialis-ed educating and mobilising work. The AfrikaansDemokrate, a small but enthusiastic organisationworking among Afrikaners, showed its supportfor the ANC when it took its banner to the Soc-10

Page 16 of 38 cer City rally in October. In Johannesburg, Jewsfor Social Justice and, in Cape Town, Jews forJustice, work in the Jewish community; bothreport successful meetings with new faces, andinterested enquiries.Whites are not all moving towards thedemocratic camp, of course. The full picture isone of increasing polarisation. Isolated and alonein a population that calls for peace, the whiteright wing speaks increasingly of conflict andphysical violence.The National Party itself experienced theupheavals of polarisation when the ConservativeParty broke away. At a rally in May at the Voor-trekker Monument, Andries Treurnicht of theConservative Party defied De Klerk's policies,said the third war of Afrikaner freedom hadbegun, and spoke in defence of right-wingvigilantes.The Afrikaner Weerstandbeweging has as itsleader the notorious Eugene Terre'Blanche, whomakes public statements urging whites to carryarms. Another group, the Wit Wolwe, is typifiedby the mass murderer, Barend Strydom. Thereare reports of a proliferation of organisations.One, founded by a former member of the HitlerYouth, is for children; at least one claims inter-national connections; some are openly vigilantegroups formed to "guard white property" and to"prevent crime."Somewhere in these ranks, and undoubtedlyconnected with members of the strangely-namedand recently disbanded Civil Co-operationBureau, are those shadowy figures who attackactivists in the democratic movement withbullets, petrol bombs and letter bombs; whoroam the streets of small towns at night lookingfor blacks and murdering those they find. It canindeed be said of them, as Moses Mabhida saidof the anonymous killers of Ruth First, that they"live in secrecy and will die in shame."The fact that they hope to achieve their bizarreobjectives shows how out of touch they are withreality. Even the most exaggerated notion of theirown superiority cannot lead them to suppose thatthey are capable of subjugating the whole SouthAfrican nation by force. Demographers nowclaim that, in 20 years' time, whites will formonly 10% of the population of South Africa, andAfrikaners 5.8%. These right-wing white killers,whose political thinking is all in terms of blood-shed and threats and intimidation, are thereforethe minority of a minority. Brutal as they are,murderous and unscrupulous as they are, theycan never be a significant force in the future ofSouth Africa. The mass democratic movementcan deal with them, and it will.Many whites are still sitting on the fence, im-mobilised by fear and doubt. History is not go-ing to wait for them. They should decide nowto join, as equals and countrymen, in buildingour common future in South Africa. Democracyand peace should hold no terrors for them.(Acknowledgements for the help of veterandemocratic activist Esther Barsel and SADFre fuser Morris Zwi, in preparing this article.)"... our white compatriots should make a clean break with thepast and themselves declare war on racism as the enemy of allthe people of our country ...The call of the day is that black and white should come togetherin a massive democratic coalition to oppose the racists and tostruggle, side by side, as equals, for the birth of a new SouthAfrica. "- ANC January 8 Message, 1987

Page 17 of 38 BLACK SASH -FRIEND AND ALLYOF THE OPPRESSED PEOPLEBy SaraBlack Sash has waged a bitter and non-violentstruggle for the past 35 years against the SouthAfrican racist regime. Founded in May 1955,Black Sash still continues to function despiteunbelievably appalling pressures on its members.Initially a group of six middle-class, middle-agedwhite women decided to protest against a lawwhich was to remove Coloured (people of mix-ed race) voters from the electoral roll. Althoughthey lost that case, they have never faltered intheir aspiration to broaden their campaign to ex-tend civil rights to all the disenfranchised blackpeople of South Africa.Despite all the cosmetic government changessince then, they maintain that there was muchmore freedom to demonstrate in 1955 than thereis now. At that time mass marches and country-wide protests were held whenever the law allow-ed them. Members used to hold vigils in thepublic gallery of the House of Assembly in CapeTown. They stood in dignified silence in publicplaces - always dressed in white with a blacksash draped diagonally from one shoulder.Since 1976 the Riotous Assemblies Act hasprevented them from protesting in groups. Thegovernment banned all outdoor gatherings: a"gathering" means more than one person. Inresponse Black Sash members have stood alonewith posters or carrying placards of protest, outof sight of each other. They became easy targetsfor the upholders of the apartheid system whoabused and harassed them. They have refusedto give in to the endless strategies of intimida-tion against them.Indomitable freedom fightersWe wish to honour and pay tribute to thesegallant, courageous, indomitable freedomfighters for campaigning against all evil racistlaws, homelessness, lack of pension rights andmany more abuses. Above all we salute them fortheir struggle to restore the dignity of the blackmajority of South Africa."With each major blow to human rights, eachassault on the rule of law, and each erosionof racial justice over the past 28 years in SouthAfrica, they have stood by to mourn the oc-casion, " wrote an Argus newspaper cor-respondent on December 19 1983.Initially membership was opened only to womenvoters who, by definition are white in SouthAfrica. Subsequently all women could join. Thefirst group of women came from the United Par-ty, which was defeated in 1948.Since 1988 more and more career women havebeen drawn into the movement, wanting to con-tribute to the inevitable political changes that aretaking place. Although its membership is about20 000, it has tremendous influence on thepolitical climate. Women need to participate inpublic life and Black Sash plays an important rolein giving them the support and encouragementthey need. Mrs Burton, the National Presidentof the Black Sash said:"Black Sash is the first step to changing one'swhole perception of what apartheid means topeople in South Africa. The more one knows,the more impossible it is not to contribute. "(Star, 19.3.88)One of the Sash's policies is to inform people,(particularly the majority of the whites who stillsupport the apartheid system) of the plight of theAfrican people. Many white people simply donot see the violence perpetrated by the securityforces in the black townships. Another major fac-tor is the censorship on the press, and the SouthAfrican Broadcasting Corporation's one-sidedreporting. Therefore, many South African whites12

Page 18 of 38 in general are not aware of the many atrocities.They do not live with the obligation of havingto carry passes or identity cards on them all thetime for fear of arrest. African people cannot liveas free men and women in the country of theirbirth, for civil liberties and human rights aredenied to them by law.Mrs Sheena Duncan former President of theSash, who had taken over from her mother, MrsJean Sinclair, a founder member, spoke at oneof their annual conferences of the atrocities com-mitted by the army during the State of Emergen-cy in 1985. The South African governmentbrought the army into the townships to controlthe civilians. They raided Duduza township onthe East hand where parents of young sonsdisguised them as girls in order to escape thepolice. This was during the height of the stone-throwing allegations when thousands of children,10 to 15 years old courted imprisonment. Sheenasaid:"It reminds me of nothing so much as the Nazioccupation of Europe and the hiding of Jewishpeople. "Another distinguished Sash member MollyBlackburn, was killed in a car accident in 1986.When 20 000 Africans turned up for her funeralto display their affection the South Africanauthories banned the memorial service sayingthat it posed a danger to public peace. When ask-ed once what motivated her, Blackburn hadreplied, "I don't like bullies."The courageous women of the Black Sash helda week-long vigil in 1983 to mourn the 70th an-niversary of the Land Act of 1913. This Actdeprives the Africans of owning a piece of landand living where they wish. It has actually con-tributed to the current situation in South Africawhere tens of thousands of "cardboard box"dwellings are springing up in and around the ma-jor cities. Owing to mechanisation in farming,workers and their families are flooding into theurban areas in search of work. These downtrod-den people are desperately seeking employmentand homes.The whole concept of law is against the blackpeople of South Africa; its laws in fact oppressthem rather than protect them. The SouthAfrican racist government uses the legal systemto prevent legitimate opposition by making lawswhich deprive people of their citizenship, theirland, and their family life.Apartheid supporters on the other hand arecritical of Black Sash, maintaining that their con-cern for blacks is cosmetic. They have beenlabelled communists and agents working for theAfrican National Congress. Black Sash membershave been subjected to death threats. The houses13

Page 19 of 38 and offices of some of the senior officials havebeen raided. Some years ago, their main officein Johannesburg was bombed. An advisory of-fice in Port Elizabeth was burnt down, after asix month long campaign of terror and intimida-tion, by unknown arsonists and right-wingers.Regardless of the abuses and harassment againstthem however, they carried on steadfastly, pro-testing, advising and acting as the conscience ofall South Africans who felt shame at what wasbeing done in their name. They have consistent-ly refused to give in to the relentless campaignof police harassment against them.Moira Henderson of the Black Sash workedwith a section of the organisation which lookedafter prisoners' children. Observing the plightof prisoners, she became a frequent visitor toRobben Island and found that the prisoners werenot allowed access to newspapers. She succeed-ed in ensuring that they did receive them. "Thedifference this made to them was satisfactionenough for me," she said.Basically a humanitarian organisation and arespected protest group, the Black Sash is nowhaving to play a wider role because of the cur-rent developments in seeking a non-racialdemocratic alternative for South Africa. It in-tends to continue as an independent body sup-porting issues rather than parties. That positionwas made clear at its annual conference this year- that it would retain its independent roleregardless of any political changes thus far. Pro-test action has always been an integral part ofthe Sash's policy, while another primary aim isalso to keep people informed through their ad-visory offices and publications.Invaluable researchIn 1982, Black Sash produced an 18-page bookletwhich became a best seller. It advised the Africanpeople who qualified for Section 10 rights to app-ly for them before The Orderly Movement andSettlement of Black Persons Bill became law.They then brought the situation to the attentionof various employers, community organisationsand trade unions and asked them to inform theworkers about this booklet. It explained that allthose who did not already have these rightsrecorded in their reference books should applyimmediately, as people who had not been for-mally granted their rights could find themselvespermanently displaced if the Bill became law.Invaluable and meticulous research of thisnature, published by Black Sash, has becomecompulsive reading for the public and for someorganisations which depend on their accurateresearch and reports; for example the Instituteof Race Relations, as well as the US Monitor-ing Group and the Ford Foundation rely on thisservice which helps to meet the costs of runningThe Black SashDedicationIn pride and humbleness we declare our devotion tothe land of South Africa; we dedicate ourselves to theservice of our country. We pledge ourselves to upholdthe ideals of mutual trust and forehearance, ol sanctityof word, of courage for the f uture, and of peace andjustice f or all persons and peoples. We pledgeourselves to resist any dirninishntent of these,confident that this duty is required of us, and thathistory and our children will defend us. So help us,God, in whose strength we trust.

Page 20 of 38 Black Sash's seven regional offices. When HelenSuzman, former MP for Houghton was com-mended at the Sash's 35th birthday celebrationsfor her efforts in Parliament to improve the liv-ing conditions of the displaced and homelessblack people she said:"Without the statistics provided by the BlackSash, 1 would not have had the strength tofight those issues in Parliament like 1 did. "Dr Beyers Naude, an ANC delegate in the re-cent ANC-South African government talks, wasanother guest speaker, at the celebration. He paidtribute to the Black Sash for their outstandingcontribution. He went on to say:"Women can be the most powerful bloc. WhenI was a committed member of the Broeder-bond in 1958, we regarded the Black Sash asthe most formidable threat to South Africa. "Herald (21/5/90).He further said that three outstanding perspec-tives characterised the Black Sash:ik The power of women.* The power of committed women.The power of liberated women.We say the sacrifices and contributions made bythe Black Sash are not in vain. The long queuesat their advisory centres no doubt show howmuch their aid means to all the helpless Africanpeople who seek their advice daily. There is still,however, a tremendous amount of work to bedone to undo the damage and suffering broughtabout by the apartheid system. Sechaba appealsto the white community to stand with the BlackSash in bringing about a speedy end to that evilapartheid system which is still in place despitethe unbanning of the ANC. As Black Sash is alltoo aware, many problems still exist and muchhas yet to be done before South Africa becomesa truly non-racial democratic country.15

Page 21 of 38 ANC STATEMENTINKATHA SEEKS TO SPREADITS VIOLENCE BEYOND NATALToday, 26th July 1990, an Inkatha leader ad-dressed a meeting at Unit Number 1 of JabulaniHostel. During the course of his address, it isreported that he incited his audience to launchphysical attacks on persons wearing or display-ing the hammer and sickle insignia or otheremblems associated with the South African Com-munist Party.On the same day, reports reaching us indicatethat, at Jeppe hostel, other spokesmen for Inkathaare organising Inkatha sympathisers for a secondattack on Sebokeng township on August 4th. Itis alleged that the police are deeply embroiledin these preparations and have assisted in arm-ing the hostel dwellers for this second attack.Further reports allege that the residents ofhostels in Soweto are being mobilised to launchattacks on anyone opposed to Inkatha or who ap-pears not to support it. There are also chargesthat people are being forcibly enrolled asmembers of Inkatha in both the Soweto hostelsand those in Jeppe.The ANC is particularly alarmed by thesereports and wishes to bring them to publicattention.As the criminal actions of vigilantes inSebokeng this weekend demonstrate, there is asinister and well-orchestrated campaign afoot tospread the violence that has plagued Natalbeyond that province. The persons behind thisplot are receiving active assistance from elementsin the police. The purpose of this unholy allianceis to terrorise the people in the most militanttownships into submission, destroy and disruptthe people's organisations, and to undermine theprospects of the forthcoming meeting of August6th.It should be a matter of grave concern thatwhile the South African government speaks ofpeace to the peoples of the world, inside SouthAfrica elements of its security services are deeplyimplicated in fomenting violence and par-ticipating in carnage.The charges of police involvement with In-katha vigilantes are too numerous to be ignored.Thus far no action has been taken against thecriminals who caused such mayhem in Sebokengon Sunday July 22nd. After repeated warningsthat violence was imminent, instead of disarm-ing the Inkatha supporters, the vast majority ofwhom were bussed in from outside Sebokeng,the police escorted them to their rally andthrough the township. Rather than subduing theattackers, the action of the police targetedresidents of Sebokeng who tried to defendthemselves.Despite the fact that the police had every op-portunity to identify the perpetrators of thisviolence, not a single person has yet been ar-rested or charged for the crimes committed inSebokeng this weekend.Emboldened by such inaction, the Inkatha vigi-lantes yesterday attacked a trainload of com-muters, resulting in the hospitalisation of at leasttwenty. Again, the police had been warned inadvance that these attacks were imminent. Thereports of today's activities indicate that furtherattacks are being planned even at this moment.The inaction of the police in Sebokeng; theiralleged involvement in the incidents in Jeppe;their demonstrable unwillingness to arrest andprosecute the warlords and inciters of violence,are of a pattern with those of Natal.Under the prevailing circumstances the peo-ple must reserve their inalienable right to defendthemselves when attacked. The responsibility forany violence that ensues, as a result, devolvessquarely on the police.The African National Congress demands thatPresident de Klerk take immediate steps to put16

Page 22 of 38 SADF troops deployed in SebokengProtest in Johannesburg against the war in Natalan end to the violence by:* Ordering the arrest and prosecution of theperpetrators of the Sebokeng massacre;* Ordering the immediate suspension of thepolice officers who stood by while the vigilantesattacked people in Sebokeng;* Taking action against those fomentingviolence in the PWV area;* Instituting an independent inquiry to in-vestigate the violence of the weekend and the at-tempts to spread the violence beyond Natal.African National CongressDepartment of Information and PublicityJohannesburgJuly 26, 1990

Page 23 of 38 MANDELA'S WORLD TOUR:A RESOUNDING SUCCESSMayibuye, the journal of the ANC inside South Africa, has surfaced. For about ten years it wasproduced and distributed underground in the country, but at the end of July this year, it hit thestreets of South Africa, continuing the work it had been doing all along.One of the major stories that the first issue of thisnew Mayibuye carried is an interview with ThaboMbeki, ANC Secretary for International Affairs,on the highly successful trip of the Deputy-President of the ANC, Nelson Mandela, to 14countries.Because of the importance of that tour, and theneed to inform the world about the ANC's appraisalof the trip, we produce, below, a summary of theinterview.The delegation was able to visit all the majorwestern countries and in all these countries meteither heads of state or government. One of theprincipal results of these visits is that these powersnow accept the centrality of the ANC to the pro-cesses leading to the emergence of a democraticSouth Africa.The fundamental implication of these successesis that communication has been established and willbe maintained. Further, the South African govern-ment can no longer present its foreign policy ob-jectives as it used to, and be assured that these willbe accepted without finding out how the ANC feelsand thinks about them.Concerning the issues raised above, but takingBritain specifically, the message that came acrossfrom Mrs Thatcher and her Foreign Secretary wasquite clear: first of all, a very strong statementagainst apartheid and in favour of a speedy aboli-tion of this system; secondly, a very strong state-ment towards making some contribution by theBritish government to the process of ending apart-heid; and finally, a statement that to achieve thatpurpose, the British government would be verykeen to have close communication with the ANC.The way that the Deputy-President was receiv-ed was an extraordinary thing. The mass of or-dinary people were deeply moved: Everywhere thedelegation went, in public meetings, people wouldactually break down and cry. This is because theyunderstood the suffering that he and other politicalprisoners had gone through. They appreciated theabsence of bitterness, a very generous attitudetowards FW de Klerk and his colleagues and theconstructive attitude towards the problems facingour country.In all the encouraging support the ANC receiv-ed, an important point was made throughout thevisit: that one of the aims of our struggle is to en-sure that the people of South Africa have a rightand possibility to determine their own destiny. Andto the extent that people supported the struggleagainst apartheid, they were supporting us infighting for the exercise of that right to determineour own destiny.A question that was raised a number of times isthe formulation that appears in the UN Declarationon South Africa: that sanctions will only be review-ed when profound and irreversible changes havetaken place in South Africa. People then ask thequestion: specifically what is meant by these pro-found and irreversible changes!In the Harare Declaration that definition has beengiven: that sanctions will only be lifted at the pointwhen a democratic constitution has been agreedupon. The UN Declaration puts it in the broadercontext. Our response to this question is based onthe Harare Declaration.The point has to be made all the time that sanc-tions were imposed in order to put pressure so thatwe get rid of the apartheid system. That was thepurpose of sanctions. And they remain a valid in-strument for the attainment of that objective.If we said we shall address the issue of sanctionswhen we have reached stage so and so in ourdiscussions with the government and yet the follow-ing day there was an intervention from the armedright-wing, which reverses this whole process; ob-viously it would have been wrong to have takena decision to get rid of sanctions.Therefore it has to be a political decision whichmust be based on a sound, serious assessment ofwhere the political process has reached. The ANCitself is very interested in ending sanctions as quick-ly as possible. We are by no means after thedestruction of the South African economy. Butsanctions must end as a consequence of progressachieved in ending the apartheid system. We wantto move quickly on the issue of ending apartheidso that we can move quickly on the issue of en-ding sanctions.18

Page 24 of 38 RELEASE ALL DETAINEESDOWN WITH REPRESSIVE LAWSThe Internal Security Act is one of the obstacles to free political activity.But detentions continue ...Section 29 is still being used to silence opposition to the government. The detention, underthis law, of Mac Maharaj, National Executive Committee member of the ANC, and manyothers goes against the spirit of Groote Schuur and the commitment to remove obstacles.The detention of activists has been roundly condemned throughout the period in which thismeasure has been used. Repressive laws stifle democratic activity and cause untold sufferingto the families of detainees. They are used to silence our people, to destroy and weaken ourorganisations.FIGHT AGAINST DETENTIONSWe cannot allow the government to continue acting in this way. Our voices must be heard,our organisations allowed to operate freely - without fear of harassment, proscription ordetention of activists.The ANC calls upon every democrat to condemn this attack on fundamental freedoms. De-mand the scrapping of the Internal Security Act. Join the national campaign demanding therelease of all detainees.Our actions must be felt.THE ANC DEMANDS:Release Mac Maharajand all political detaineesANCJohannesburgAmong other measures we strongly recommend the following for activists outside South Africa:,t Picket South African embassies, consulates and trade missionsit Pressurise your government to intervene to secure the release of all the detainees Urge political parties, trade unions, parliamentarians and other public figures to putpressure on your government and the South African regime* Mobilise individual members of the anti-apartheid and solidarity movement to write let-ters of protest to the embassy and/or phone to demand their release.

Page 25 of 38 ECONOMIC BASICSAND BASIC NEEDSBy Ben FineThe question of a mixed economy in post-apartheid South Africa, and thebalance between public and private ownership, is one of great importance andurgency. It is at present being extensively discussed in the ranks of our move-ment, both inside and outside the country. The article below puts a point ofview on the question. The writer is a member of Economic Research on SouthAfrica (EROSA) and works in the ANC economic unit in London.Between April 28 and May 1, an unprecedentedmeeting was held in Harare, which broughttogether economists from COSATU and theANC to discuss policy for post-apartheid SouthAfrica. No fewer than fifty papers werepresented, each rich in empirical detail and eachimaginative in policy perspectives. Summaryproposals from the conference have been madewidely available.Certainly, there were many differencesamongst the participants. But what all shared incommon was a commitment to the mixedeconomy as the vehicle through which to meetthe basic needs of the people and through whicha fundamental shift in the distribution of wealth,income, power and control could be effected.There are, of course, those who do not sharethis framework and these objectives. But as theapartheid regime crumbles politically, only anincreasingly marginalised right-wing minorityfeels able to defend the leaving of apartheid'seconomic structures intact. There are others,though, who more cleverly seek to retain theeconomic privileges, and even practices, ofapartheid whilst pretending that its politicalcounterpart can be discarded. In other words, letthe politics of apartheid go but let its economicsremain essentially untouched.Such a strict division between economics andpolitics is not so simple - access to jobs andplaces to live and work, after all, have aneconomic and a political component. But whatis intended and pretended by those who seekbusiness as usual is that such a separation isrealisable post-apartheid by commitment to apure market economy run by private capital withsome sort of democratic state standing idly byas far as the economy is concerned.The arguments put forward to support this ap-proach are entirely spurious, however much theymay have been bolstered by Thatcherism andReaganism. More significantly, they are de-liberately misleading. For whilst the intent is topreserve and consolidate the economic privilegesbuilt up under apartheid, it is pretended that op-position to meeting basic needs and shiftingeconomic resources to the majority is not somuch a matter of principle as of pragmatism. Itcannot be done, much though this is desirable,because the market won't stand for it and thestate will muck it up.Such, in a nutshell, is the considered responseon July 1 to the Harare conference by City Press.They have found an "expert," Luis Emiliano, tosay so. Let us examine his expertise a little close-ly. His views are based on three principles -the "basics," the headline screeches, that theANC ignores.First principle: "Do not transfer resourcesfrom those who produce to those who consume. "This is utter nonsense. Every economy in theworld makes provision for thse who do not pro-duce - for children, for those in education, forthose who have retired or are ill, and so on.Where Emiliano does have a point, clearlyunintended, is with the military and the police.20

Page 26 of 38 They consume vast resources but producenothing other than oppression. Certainly noresources should be transferred to them.And then there are those living on stocks andshares and property income - consumers but notproducers. By all means let us transfer resourcesaway from them and increase the wages of theproducers. This is not, of course, what our ex-pert has in mind either. He has carelessly in-vented a principle to cut and constrain welfareexpenditure designed to meet basic needs. But,properly applied, this principle is remarkablyclose to Marx's dictum for socialism - "fromeach according to ability, to each according towork. "The kernel of worth in our expert's proposal,however, is that meeting basic needs may in partbe achieved by welfare programmes that generatework through economic linkages (such as co-operatives) rather than simply depending uponincome supplement to fund consumption. But thisis precisely an initiative to be found in the Harareproposals.Second principle: "Do not try to replicate themarket mechanism of demand, supply and pricewith central planning." I know of no economictheory or policy that has ever tried to do this,since it would be pointless to set about accomp-lishing with planning what the market wouldachieve in any case. But then a subsidiary propo-sition is slipped in: "The market has proved tobe the most efficient mechanism to signal to pro-ducers what and how much to produce and toconsumers what and how much to consume. "I imagine there are quite a few capitalists whohave found themselves in the bankruptcy courtswho might disagree with this. But again thereis absolutely no basis in economic theory or prac-tice for this assertion to be made without suchdeep qualifications and reservations as render itredundant. Even Adam Smith, revered founderof the theory of the invisible hand operatingthrough the laissez-faire market, never went asfar as this.More significantly, Lionel Robbins put for-ward a similar view by defining economics asthe science of the allocation of scarce resourcesbetween competing ends. The irony is that he didso in Britain in the midst of the Great Depres-sion in the early 1930s, when massive un-employment and excess capacity meant thatscarce resources were the least of the economy'sproblems. By the same token, it is the failure ofthe market system to produce anything at all asfar as the mass of unemployed in South Africaare concerned, rather than what and how to pro-duce. And we all know what consumers want -jobs, houses, food, clothing, etc. The more thebetter.Again the Harare conference broached theseissues with some sophistication. In much ofSouth Africa (as in the rural areas), the marketscarcely exists at all because of the lack ofresources and infrastructure. There is no marketmechanism upon which to rely. Consequently,the very success of the market (and the mixedeconomy) depends upon state intervention tobring about income transfers and the provisionof infrastructure in order that production andconsumption can flourish. The market is not justa price system based on private ownership - itis a set of resources and institutions, transportsystems for example, that have most often beenset up through the state, which can continue toplay a major part in their development and use.Third principle: "A successful long-term dealbetween capital and labour has to be based ona win-win situation." Essentially, this promises21

Page 27 of 38 all and delivers nothing. It means that labour canonly be allowed to "win" (presumably gain wageincreases) if profits increase as well. Thinly veil-ed, this means no redistribution in favour oflabour - all must share equally in future pro-gress, with the result that existing inequalitiesare preserved. Moreover, the experience of sucheconomic compromises has always meant inpractice a prior commitment to profitability overwages should the win-win scenario proveelusive. In short, this is a claim for guaranteedprofits even at the expense of those yet able toearn a living wage.JSF_ and"wkrr on 'rr1ke:mold, gwrtSo much for our expert's principles. Whatabout his general empirical knowledge? We cangive him full marks for dogma. He appeals tothe experience of Latin America and of EasternEurope to assert that state economic interventionand ownership do not work. He claims thatprivate works better than public enterprise. Thisis simply false, as many studies have shown forexample that public utilities such as electricityoi telecommunications work as well if not bet-ter under public ownership. Much more impor-tant is how they are run and for what purpose.This proved the starting point for the Harareconference with public ownership as the meansof guaranteeing economic objectives as and whenit proves necessary. This is not to suggest thatwe are unable to learn from the experience offailure and success in other economies. But thiscannot be done through crude identification ofsuccess or failure with public or private enter-prise (or vice versa, depending upon yourideological commitment). And the framework ofmixed economy is one in which public andprivate enterprise are to co-exist in mutual sup-port rather than antagonism - though thebalance between the two is a matter for dispute.It is as well to recognise that the twentieth cen-tury successes of the capitalist world, such asJapan and South Korea, have relied heavily uponthe role of state economic intervention.Not surprisingly, then, our expert is particular-ly perturbed at the proposal to renationaliserecently privatised corporations. Why should thisbe done? Say in the case of ESKOM, should thishave been privatised? The matter is simple.ESKOM has the ability to extend electricity tothe mass of the people, with consequent long-term economic and social benefits that are highlypositive but not all of which accrue to ESKOMitself as a private company. As such, it wouldprefer to gain secure, possibly short-term, pro-fits through investments outside South Africa -much as Anglo-American has acted as a majorconduit for investment abroad. As a result,reprivatisation is not some act of revenge norsome ideological dogma; it is a sensible, thought-out policy for simultaneously extending electrici-ty to the energy poor and retaining and shiftingpower within South Africa.The more our expert moves away from falseprinciples and false empirical generalisations,even further still - impossible as it may seem- he departs from reality. He objects to thepolicy of exploring the break-up of conglom-erates on the grounds that "in an open economicsystem, the market should determine the op-timum size of an industry." But conglomeratepolicy has nothing to do with the optimum sizeof an industry. It is a matter of whether a singlecompany should simultaneously command theeconomic resources in a huge number of separateindustries - mining, banking, brewing and soon. This conglomeration is possibly more ad-vanced in South Africa than in any othereconomy and it is a source of overwhelming22

Page 28 of 38 economic power - at the expense of both effi-ciency and equity. It must be tackled, and hasbeen, however effectively, in the United Statesfor example, as a matter of economic principleand practice for almost a century.This is not to leave, however, the issue of firmsize untouched other than through the marketmechanism. At times the market leaves industryinefficiently fragmented - the South Africanmotor industry is a good example, with manymodels each being produced in too few numbersto cover fixed costs adequately. On the otherhand, large-scale capital can also confine itselfto mass production in huge plants that only serveconcentrated urban markets, and such technologywill be inappropriate to serve the fragmented anddispersed needs of the rural population. The statewill have a crucial role to play in developing andintroducing appropriate methods of productionin the post-apartheid economy.And when it comes to agriculture, our expertpatronisingly warns agains "taking away landfrom productive owners to give to less produc-tive farmers." He seems totally unaware that alarge tranche of South African white farming onlarge estates has long been teetering on the brinkof disaster, insolvent and unprofitable but for theinterest-free loans or other subsidies that haveforestalled bankruptcy. As experience has provedthroughout the world, and as is recognised bythe Development Bank of Southern Africa,smaller-scale farming and initiatives with pro-ducer/owners are potentially of much greaterbenefit by a whole range of criteria. Yet we aretold to "forget about ... formation of ruralco-operatives and so-called grassrootsparticipation."Moreover, on the large-scale farms that canbe run successfully, it is also more a matter ofproducing food for the majority and serving theneeds of the rural population, especially women,than of seeking out the maximum commercialreturn at the expense of ecological decay andwith no sensitivity to the land issue which re-quires redressing the historic and continuingviolation of the rights of the people to land.To conclude, the rantings of this expert wouldnot be deserving of such close attention if theywere but an isolated example of the response tothe sorts of economic policies being debated forpost-apartheid South Africa by ANC/COSATU.Unfortunately, such ill-considered dogma is alltoo common, shrouded as it is in principles andconventional wisdoms that have no foundationin theory or fact. As already indicated, our posi-tion is clear - the framework of the mixedeconomy within which to achieve the objectivesof meeting basic needs and of shifting thedistribution of economic wealth, income, powerand control. These are the parameters withinwhich debate must proceed, and indeed policyfought for now as well as in planning for thefuture.Super-industry: who benefits?Those, whether commentators, advisors ornegotiators, who genuinely seek to witness theend of apartheid and its heritage as an ex-ploitative economic system, must engage indebate on these terms - within which there isconsiderable grounds for disagreement as to ob-jectives, priorities and means. Those that do notaccept these terms, usually by appeal to anabstract philosophy in exclusive support ofprivate capital and the market mechanism, mustbe considered as the bantering apologists of en-trenched economic privilege. Currently, apart-heid big business and the state are still postur-ing along the lines that profit and property aresacrosanct, pretending that this is a matter ofeconomic efficiency rather than of self-interest.The sooner they respond seriously toANC/COSATU proposals, rather than fobbingthem off with jesters and gesturing, the soonerthe post-apartheid economy can become a reality.23

Page 29 of 38 THOUGHTS ON EDUCATIONIN A NEW SOUTH AFRICABy Xoliswa SkomoloIt was the deliberate policy of the racist lawmakers and planners in South Africa to give aninferior education to blacks. The result was a tragic waste of black minds and black talents.This article discusses some strategies for redressing the situation in a post-apartheid SouthAfrica.The deliberate creation of a 'permanent under-class' composed of the non-white racial groupsin South Africa was propagated and perpetratedby the white minority ruling class through,among other things, education. From the CapeSchool Board Act of 1905, which establishedseparate schools for the different racial groups,through to the Bantu Education Act of 1953, upto the bill that led to the Soweto riots of 1976,Act after Act was promulgated to entrench avicious circle of educational deprivation for themajority of the South African population. Thiswas done for the purpose of creating andperpetually maintaining a privileged whiteminority class whose assumed superiority andsupremacy over the other racial groups would,as such, be unquestioned.Needless to go into the unsavoury history ofeducation in South Africa, but suffice to presentthe educational social spectrum consequently ex-isting in the South Africa of today, in the formof the pyramid shown here:A. A small, highly privileged and over-pampered class composed of whites only. Allmembers of this class have as their specialprerogative full educational opportunities andsuperfluous educational facilities. Education hasbeen free and compulsory for them up to the ageof 18 years since 1923. Out of the 16 univer-sities supported by the government, 11 cater ex-clusively for this class. Observers express thefeelings that these white universities rank closeto the best anywhere in the world.B. A small class of Asians and some privilegedColoureds. Though educational facilities aresparse for them, their affluence enables them topay for the education of their children.C. A relatively small class composed of Asians,Coloureds and upper-class Africans. This classalso pays to a great extent for the education oftheir children.D. A large class which could be referred to as'the wretched of the South African earth,' mainlycomposed of blacks. This class is characterisedby a 'blockade' of educational opportunities andlack of educational facilities, poverty andunemployment, frustration and desperationwhich often explodes into violence, deprivationand strangulated aspirations which result in a lifeof emptiness, devoid of educational motivation.Talking about a new South Africa of the im-minent tomorrow which will be non-racial,democratic and reconciliatory, it becomes per-tinent to mention that the avoidance of delvinginto the unpleasantness of the past will be thebeginning of wisdom for all those entrusted withthe task of building the new nation. It is,24

Page 30 of 38 however, important also to point out that, sincethe educationally disadvantaged class forms thevast majority of the nation, the new nation-builders should have a vivid and uncamouflag-ed view of the Herculean task facing them in theremoval of educational inequities that have beeninstitutionalised for so many decades.This article therefore is a modest contributiontowards this end. It is a brief expression of avision which may complement or contribute tothe ideas of the various committees that arealready attending to the education problem ofblacks in South Africa.Powerful potential of educationI shall start by sharing an excerpt from the Reportof the Education Commission of the Study Pro-ject on Christianity in Apartheid (1971):"Education which helps to realise the poten-tial of every individual plays an important partin creating an acceptable society. Such educa-tion serves society by making available to itevery person's gifts and labours. "There is no doubt that the powers which havebeen ruling South Africa over the past centurieswell understood the powerful potential of educa-tion in enriching man and his environment. It isfor this reason that they made sure that educa-tion for themselves was in accordance with theprinciple expressed in the above quotation. Itwas, however, profitable for them to withholdthis kind of education from a class they intend-ed to perpetually keep as "hewers of wood anddrawers of water."The task at hand now is to bring that understan-ding and that awareness of the powerful poten-tial of education to the same class which has beeneducationally deprived, and to equip its leaderswith the tools that will break the barriers whichhave stood so formidably against the acquisitionof education by the people. These are barrierssuch as:* Inadequate basic educational and personaldevelopment of young blacks - includingmotivation - in the elementary and high schools:* Gross inadequacy of educational facilities forBlacks at all levels of education.* Limited educational opportunities open toblacks in the training of both middle-level andhigh-level manpower.* Lack of incentives and counselling for bothblack learners and black teachers.* The poor quality of public education generally(Bantu Education) which blacks have beenreceiving since 1953.The educational constraints listed above haveresulted in a tragic waste of the black mind andtalent. What must be well appreciated is that thequality of public school education one receivesdetermines to a very large extent the kind ofhigher education one pursues, one's life careerand one's contribution to society. It is from thisconsideration that a clear understanding of thepowerful potential of education is of highsignificance in every attempt that will be madeto redress the situation of the enormous wasteof the black mind and talent which has prevail-ed in our country for such a long time.It is not a task to be undertaken by slaves ofelitist educational orthodoxy, but a role to beassumed with a revolutionary approach, whichat the same time comes to grips with the recon-ciliatory reconstruction of the nation. As such,care should be taken not to take drastic measuresthat may arouse the fears of the privileged classeswhich our leaders have allayed, even though theydefinitely will lose some of their privileges.Strategies for a redressIn a progressive approach to solving this prob-lem, educational rhetorics, abstract political ideasand philosophical questions must give way toeducational practices, concrete ideas that cancrystallise into actions, and practical questionswhich can be answered practically. We findourselves faced with a population majority thathas inherited years of cultural deprivation, educa-tional retardation and personality devaluation. Assuch, we need to ask very salient questions,whose answers, we hope, may direct, dictatewhat actions to be taken, and give the insight,the knowledge and the ability to tackle the prob-25

Page 31 of 38 lem. These are questions of the following nature:1. What are the problems - psychological,social and economic - that prevail in thetownships and the rural areas which create aneducational drawback? What is the nature andmagnitude of those problems? How can rural andurban schools be made to be responsive to theseproblems?2. What special educational problems aregenerated by life in ghetto communities, and howcan they be solved?3. What special counselling is needed forchildren from seriously disadvantaged educa-tional and economic backgrounds and where inthe educational process should it begin?4. How can educational motivation and 'self-concept' be developed among black youth, andwhat structure of education will encouragemotivation and enhance 'self-concept'?5. What financial aid or financial aid program-mes are needed to reduce the financial barriersto higher education?6. What are the specific barriers that keep blacksfrom admission into universities and from suc-cessful pursuit of professional studies?7. What incentives in terms of continuing educa-tion and remuneration are needed for the uplift-ment, encouragement and professional growthof black teachers?Two forms of action are prescribed for the in-itial revolutionisation of education as a measurefor redressing educational inequity. These are:1. The enactment of an education policy for theimmediate restructuring of primary and secon-dary education in particular, and tertiary educa-tion if need be. The new structure must be broad-based, multi-comprehensive and motivational,especially at the secondary level.2. The establishment of a National Institute ofEducation which could be an affiliate of eitherthe University of South Africa or WitwatersrandUniversity, with a branch in each of the threeother provinces - Orange Free State, Natal andthe CapeAND/ORThe establishment of an Educational ResearchFoundation which could be sponsored by thebusiness sector. It would operate on the samemodalities as an institute, or collaborate with theInstitute if both Foundation and Institute areestablished.The new structure of educationAn education structure of the model below isprescribed.PrimaryBroad-basedSecondaryTertiaryApprenticeshipHigh levelManpowertraining26

Page 32 of 38 A. Primary education to be broad-based anddirected towards proficiency in literacy andnumeracy.B. Secondary education to be multi-comprehensive - that is, catering for theabilities, talents and intellectual aptitude of pupilsfrom all social classes. Also to be motivational- that is, incorporating pupils' various talentsinto the school curriculum so that they are madeexamination subjects instead of being extra-curricular activities.This simply means that, at secondary level,pupils will take the conventional subjects, whichare: English, a second language, Mathematics,Social Studies and Integrated Science. In addi-tion to these five, they then take two subjects in-their area of interest (talent) to make seven sub-jects in all. The components of the areas are asfollows (see diagram on page 26):Academic: Languages, History, Geography,Economics, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistryand Biology.Agricultural: Soil Science and Animal Science.Technical and Commercial: Business andCommercial Studies, Home Economics,Dressmaking/Tailoring, Catering, and so on.Trade studies, for example, motor mechanics,carpentry, welding, and so on.Cultural: Music, Theatre Art (acting and dan-cing), Games (sports, athletics, acrobatics, andso on), Fine Arts, Crafts and so on.A secondary education curriculum of the abovemodel will certainly be highly motivational, asit will remove the 'intellectual mysticism' thatis associated with Matriculation. Every child ofaverage intelligence is capable of completinghigh school education and obtaining a goodmatriculation certificate, as long as the educa-tion he or she receives is in line with his or hertalents. Whether secondary education would besingle-tiered or double-tiered would depend onthe duration of primary education.C. Tertiary education to concentrate on thetraining of manpower, especially middle levelmanpower professionals. This would mean an in-tensification in the development and establish-ment of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education(teacher training institutions).The National Institute of Education, or theEducational Research Foundation would becharged with the duty of seeking answers to ques-tions posed by fundamental problems and prob-lems that crop up from time to time in the pro-cess of uplifitng the educationally disadvantag-ed - questions such as the seven problems tobe redressed, raised earlier in this article. Thiswould be done through the following methods:* Intensive research work in the form ofsurveys, educational experiments, relationshipstudies, curriculum research studies, tests andmeasurement of prescribed remedies, and so on.and giving reports with facts and figures as tothe nature, the magnitude and the dimensions ofproblems and effectiveness of remedialprogrammes.* Developing and running educational program-mes such as continuing education centres, educa-tional counselling centres, holiday and refreshercourses for teachers, teacher resource centres,workshops, schools'competitions, and so on.* Liaising with and advising the GovernmentDepartment of Education on crucial matters thataffect the education of the South Africanpopulace.In the new South Africa, it is hoped that peo-ple will not only 'hear' their freedom but 'feel'it as well. We have lessons to learn from manyan independent country of our continent wherethe people have only 'heard' their independencefrom colonial rule, but never 'felt' it. This shouldnot be allowed to occur in our land. The libera-tion of South Africa, for which our people havefought for centuries will not be complete if it isnot accompanied by the obliteration of theatrocities of inequity which the forces of oppres-sion have perpetrated on the people. The libera-tion of our people, therefore, must be viewednow, from the start, as a phenomenon that goesfar beyond the abrogation of apartheid laws.27

Page 33 of 38 LETTER TO THE EDITORDear EditorIn a future democratic and non-racial South Africa,the ANC government would establish an economicstructure on which would arise a political and legalsystem, accountable to the people as a whole.In practical terms such a structure would entailthe nationalisation of monopoly industries andbanks. Without bridling these monopoly sectors ofthe economy, the future democratic state would notbe in a position to implement social policies thatcould enhance the welfare of the people andguarantee the economic and political independenceof South Africa.Opponents of nationalisation often argue aboutthe "inability" of a nationalisation policy to pro-duce the desired results. Attempts are made to forcepeople to believe that the spontaneous operation ofeconomic laws inherent in a monopoly capitalisteconomy are efficacious. Certainly, individualeconomic units under capitalism are highly organis-ed! It is only on a macro-economic scale thatcapitalism experiences chaos. A mixed economywould at least reduce this anarchy of production.Most important, the economic sectors which arenationalised will include those which are going tosatisfy the basic needs of the society as a whole.A democratic state must redress the balance inorder to meet the needs of its population. To beable to do so, it must have resources - it must con-trol banks and other businesses. Then the statewould not be faced with problems of allocation -especially when it comes to granting the necessaryassistance to strategic industries.In redressing inequalities creasted by apartheid,the democratic state will, as one of the measures,have to embark on an urgent programme of hous-ing the millions who are without shelter. On theone hand, such a tremendous project would ob-viously require a large outlay, and on the otherhand, people would be expected to pay lower rentas part of raising their standard of living.This means that, once implemented, such a hous-ing policy would certainly require a lengthy periodof recoupment. Given these conditions, a capitalistmotivated solely by profit would not venture to in-vest in a scheme which does not promise goodreturns, to say nothing of super-profits. Implemen-tation of such a housing policy would be successfulonly when the state nationalises key sectors of theeconomy.A mixed economy with a people's governmentin control can somehow ensure environmental pro-tection and minimise an ecological crisis. Marketforces on their own cannot tackle these problems,which gravely affect mankind. Even though acapitalist government can introduce taxes, rates andother prohibitive measures, these cannot sufficesince they would be overwhelmed by profit-seekingefforts. In South Africa, certain species of faunaand flora are endangered, and the Pretoria regimeis importing huge amounts of toxic waste material.We need to build an economic model which isprogressive. For such a model not to remain a pipe-dream, all people should participate in it - theyshould create material values. Preconditions for fullparticipation include among others, the creation ofnew jobs and the eradication of illiteracy. Only aplanned and balanced economy can eradicateunemployment and effectively combat illiteracy.Only a people's government can pour adequatefinancial resources into these social schemes.Nationalisation is an indispensable condition forthe realisation of the ideals enshrined in theFreedom Charter.The Charter is not a blueprint for socialism. Itsimply calls for, among other things, the applica-tion of justice to all aspects of life in South Africa.The wealth of the country is one of these aspects.It calls for the emancipation of blacks, especiallythe Africans, and the social emancipation of allSouth Africans, black and white.Nationalisation means equitably redistributingour country's wealth. In no way does this implythe introduction of socialism; nor would it be cor-rect to reduce socialist principles to such a relativelynarrow politico-economic view as elaborated in theFreedom Charter. Nationalisation would, ofcourse, deal a fatal blow to both financial and in-dustrial monopoly capital.BMPeople's Republic of Angola

Page 34 of 38 REVIEW OF VIVA MANDELANELSON MANDELA was released from 27years' imprisonment on February 11, a Sundaythat changed the perceptions of a large sectionof world humanity. For almost three decades ofincarceration, volumes of text, thousands of feetof film, innumerable songs and poems were com-posed, published and exhibited in Mandela'shonour. Some of the cultural products saw thelight of day via vehicles that bespoke skill andcraftsmanship, magnificent tributes by the worldcommunity to a truly great man who has becomea legend in his lifetime. Others, of course - thisworld having its fair share of hustlers andglorymongers - were occasioned by, in Kgosit-sle's words, "dollar-green eyes" focused on thefast buck.VIVA MANDELA is a two-hour video byRobert Lemkin, Paul Snell, Shaun Fenton, JaneJackson, Andrew Hunt and ChristopherStylianou. It was produced for the Canon Col-lins Educational Trust for Southern Africa. Theblurb on the cover tells us that this video "wasspecially commissioned by the (Trust) and spansthe years from 1918 to February 11 1990. " Thenarration is by President Kenneth Kaunda ofZambia.The video, however, begins, as it were, at thestart of formal dispossession of African people,the 1913 Land Act. Here - punctuated by haun-ting music that evokes a mixture of sadness andanger - the viewer is taken on a tour into thekind of past that still reverberates today. The im-age of landless people who have to eke out ameagre living on postage-stamp-sized plots im-mediately rules out any argument against thefreedom struggle.One's rage heightens in this informal historylesson, when South Africa dispenses withpretences, when naked oppression is unleashedon already dispossessed people. The tired landmakes it automatic for the men to go to the minesin the Transvaal where they are penned, likeanimals with no name, in single-sex hostels.Their sole function? To generate wealth for themasters of the land. Here, as in almost allliterature on South Africa, there is the ubiquitouscoal train that transports the nameless to theplateax of dreams. Hugh Masekela sings"Stimela." The song is delivered with barely-suppressed violence, the words hurled like aninsult:Sihlezi njengezinja we mame!EmigodiniSikhal'abafazi bethu.(Oh, we are living like dogs, Down in the mines.We miss our wives,) and the viewer is taken tothe 1946 Great Miners' Strike and people arereminded about the men who were shot dead inthat show of resistance.The Nationalist Party comes into power in1948; Verwoerd, looking incredibly smug andself-satisfied, assures the white electorate that ithas nothing to fear, everything is under control.The black children will get the kind of educa-tion that won't threaten the citadels of Pretoriaand Cape Town. But then, Verwoerd hadn'ttaken into account what happens when peoplestart demanding what is truly theirs.There are scenes of volunteers during the De-fiance Campaign of 1952 and this reviewer waschilled when he realised that, in those days, blacklives counted for nought. It will be interesting,in the near future, when all those unmarkedgraves and unremembered names are unearthedand the people are given the voice to ask thequestion: What happened?Because, men and women were thrown intopolice waggons, singing, their fists raised. Theysang through the blasphemed years of theFreedom Charter to the salvo that echoed throughthe world in Sharpeville. There is here an indeli-ble image of a youth and a girl running with thelifeless body of a young one who has been punc-tured by police bullets. That image recurs inSoweto in 1976; this is a savage comment onwhat happens in South Africa to this day.VIVA MANDELA is, however, a celebrationof the human spirit; it is an eloquent comment29

Page 35 of 38 failure of the Pretoria regime to mouldITrcssed in its own image. It is a catalogueodes and skirmishes, of men and women~~ 1-ought and died and infused in the younger~!nerations a spirit of resistance. Umkhonto WeSi/\1e comes into growth in 1961 after the bannings of liberation movements, there is the longscream of 1976. There follows a silence whichi , shattered by operations such as the bombingof Sasol and Voortrekkerhoogte and the coun-try is in an irreversible path towards change.The music in the film plays an important part,acting as an indicator, signalling a transition fromone level of intensity of struggle to another. Onehas to admire the producers of VIVAMANDELA for their selection of songs and ar-chival footage. Even though music has playedsuch an inspiring role in our struggle, this is oneinstance where it is both celebratory and actingas a chronicle. There is the acapella ,"Sicathamiya," of Ladysmith Black Mambazo;Bob Marley, Black Uhuru, Amandla, LatinQuarter. There are too many groups and in-dividuals to mention.The video, however, omitted one of the mostimportant developments of the struggle, theWomen's March. One was also watching out forthat timeless scene where women armed withknobkerries and cudgels chase men out ofbeerhalls. This does not mean that the film iswithout its humour. There is a poster of onewoman Nationalist Party candidate who looks asif a spider is crawling up her trouser leg and shecan't scream because she's on television.Finally, the film will become an importantmilestone; it will be a record for the cominggenerations. They will possibly wonder what allthis was about. People must buy VIVAMANDELA, look at it and be educated. Someof us might even buy it just for the music.- Mandla Lingo30

Page 36 of 38 BOOK REVIEWLauretta Ngcobo: And They Didn't Die, ViragoPress, London, 1990. - Patric De GoedeMy first thoughts when being asked to reviewLauretta Ngcobo's book And They Didn't Die,was to think, "But this is another one of thosewomen's books; why don't they ask a womanto review it?" My own gut difficulties pigeon-holed the book as one of those books for womenby a woman. I wonder how many times men missout on reading a good book and broadening theirunderstanding of what is, for them, unplumbedrealms.This book, indeed, was a woman's story,which furthermore did keep me thinking aboutgender issues throughout. But it was much morethan a woman's story as such. It was a storyabout South African rural people, focusing in onone individual's struggle through life underapartheid. in the context of her dispossessedcommunity, Lauretta Ngcobo takes us on ajourney through the life of Jezile from the earlydays of her one month-a-year marriage to Siyalo,a migrant labourer, through to mature mother-hood where her life's experiences are again thrustupon her, through the sufferings of her now adultchildren.The book is an unfolding story of pain,humiliation, bravery and toughness. At times Iwas saying to myself, "Wait a minute. Thiswoman is suffering every conceivable problemthat one can imagine. It's unreal. Surely theauthor should spread it around a little." Then Iremembered my own single mother, an urbanfactory worker since she was 13, and her pain-ful life. How many times, in relating her story,did people not say the same thing to me. Whenyou really think about it, human suffering inSouth Africa does come in large doses.After reading And They Didn't Die, I under-stood the title thoroughly, realising that for blackrural people, women in particular, it was noteven a question of huge doses of suffering; lifewas just one great dose of pain. But the title saysit all. The book is not just about suffering. It'sabout surviving, fighting, and rising above it all.It's about strength.Jezile lives a hard life, coping with a myriadof traditions, some enhancing, and some anassault on her confidence and individuality. She,along with her in-laws and community, eke outa living from a barren land and starved cattle,weighed down by oppressive laws, harassed andwatched by the apartheid authorities. Theneighbouring white farmers create paradisefarms under Jezile's nose, through state subsidy,irrigation schemes and cheap black labour. In themidst of this, Jezile stands tall. She knows whatshe wants and she goes for it. Her dignity, andthat of her community, is paramount. In stan-ding her ground, she has to pay one high priceafter another.Lauretta Ngcobo's book is probably unique inits thoroughness, through the novel form, in por-traying the scourge of apartheid South Africa.Certainly, the life of South African dispossess-ed rural people has not been so precisely por-trayed in literature. It is indeed a book whichhighlights exactly what is meant by the oft-quotedphrase, "the triple oppression of South Africanblack women."The book vividly portrays this oppression,which encompasses race, class and gender, butgoes further to suggest that a gulf often existsbetween the city women and the rural women,and the book shows just how much at the bot-tom of the pile in the oppression pyramid is therural woman. Jezile ventures out from the ruralarea at different times in her life; once to getsome extra time with her husband in Durban,another time to join other delegations of womenin mass protests, and yet again to work as adomestic worker. Each occasion unravelsanother facet of apartheid oppression, and ex-acts a price from her. She experiences degrada-tion, violence, imprisonment and rape. She bearsthe child of her white rapist employer, and seesher marriage disintegrate. Still, she stands tall.Jezile rears her three children, and LaurettaNgcobo graphically portrays that struggle in all31

Page 37 of 38 its dimensions. When her children grow up, shewatches them go through what she went through.Her son, whom she is forced to think of as'coloured,' is maimed by a soldier's bullet in ademonstration at school, and one of her daugh-ters goes off to become a guerrilla soldier. WhenJezile is faced with the rape of her other daughterby a white soldier, she steps in and reacts withall the force that the years of built-up pain havecreated, and kills the perpetrator. This protectsher daughter and exacts a revenge of sorts, butfor killing a white man Jezile and her householdwill once more be the victims. Regardless ofeverything that is thrown against her, Jezile em-bodies what is meant by the old song:When you have touched the womenyou have struck a rockyou dislodge a boulderwhich will crush you.The weakness of the book is that, periodicallythroughout, the novel form gives way to thepolitical tract or academic study form. Thereader becomes disoriented from the drama ofJezile's story, which stands on its own power-fully and satisfactorily, without long explanationsof the apartheid system. There are many non-fiction books on the various forms of apartheidoppression. On the other hand, there are feweasily read stories, which give the human faceto the academic study. Fact and fiction mix easilyin South African literature, but we must becareful to keep some demarcation in approach.The ultimate value of Jezile's story will ap-pear when it can be read by the average ruraland urban South African. How fantastic it wouldbe for such a book to be used for comprehen-sion exercises in high school, for instance. Thestruggling women of South Africa would benefitgreatly from the power mirrored by this book.South African men would learn a great deal aboutthe strength and spirit of our sisters. Urbandwellers would find the book enlightening anda useful tool to bridge the gulf of ignorance andarrogance which sometimes separates us fromour rural compatriots. Statistics show us that bythe year 2 000 most of the populations of ourcities will have doubled. Such a speedy comingtogether of rural and urban people, in a situa-tion of high unemployment, housing and educa-tion crisis, requires of us that we take more carein getting to know each other and breaking downbarriers. A book like And They Didn't Die willcontribute positively to this process.32

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