National Ideals Or National Interest: New Zealand And
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NATIONAL IDEALS OR NATIONAL INTEREST: NEW ZEALAND AND SOUTH AFRICA, 1981-1994 By Lauren Peacock A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Victoria University of Wellington 2013 ii iii Abstract “National ideals or National Interest?” examines the making and implementation by successive New Zealand governments of policy toward apartheid South Africa from 1981 to 1994. Its main focus is the contradictory relationship between living up to New Zealand’s ideals against doing what was practicable in the context of the time. The dilemma the apartheid state faced, in trying to solve its internal problems while not imperilling its external security was often not appreciated by the New Zealand government. These misconceptions helped shape New Zealand policy. Ironically once the South African regime began to investigate the possibilities of some sort of political transformation, their New Zealand counterparts were less willing to empathise with the risks involved with such an undertaking than they had been in the 1960s and 1970s. “National Ideals’ also examines the role of civil society and what was often a parallel unofficial foreign policy based around these person -to - person contacts, including the problems posed for the government by the need to persuade groups such as the NZRFU to follow government policy without overstepping what were strongly entrenched principles of individual freedom. The conflicts within the two main political parties of New Zealand were also important in shaping policy, as was the adversarial relationship between the major parties. iv “National Ideals” concluded that more often than not interests came first and indeed that at times policy decisions often to the product of accident and intrigue. v Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. vi Preface ............................................................................................................... viii List of Abbreviations Used in the Text ................................................................... x Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: The 1981 Springbok Tour, its Aftermath, and its Impact on the 1981- 1984 National Government. ................................................................................. 36 Chapter Two: The Botha and Lange Administrations, 1985-1989 ......................... 65 Chapter Three: The Period of the National Government and the End of Apartheid 1990-1994 ........................................................................................................... 95 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 118 vi Acknowledgements There are many who have contributed to this thesis. Among them, my supervisor Malcolm McKinnon, whose patience and astute advice has been an invaluable guide. Neil Robertson of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs was of great assistance in gaining permission for access to a number of files housed at Archives New Zealand without which much of the story would be missing. The staffs of the Victoria University of Wellington History programme has given practical assistance and use of facilities as have the Victoria University Library staff. Archives New Zealand deserve special acknowledgement as this was the first time I have ever made substantial use of their facilities and they were in particular very helpful in giving guidance and assistance in finding restricted material and open access folders. Others who have given advice and direction include Prof. Charlotte MacDonald and Dr Jim McAloon who were both very helpful at the beginning of the project. Tim Bennetts, Daniel Cruden, Andrew Kendall, Roger Mackay, and Sarah Stephenson have all proofread the manuscript at various stages and given comments. Grace Millar and Matthew Vink assisted with formatting. However all mistakes that remain however are my own. On a more personal level I would like to extend my thanks and gratitude to my mother, Gil Peacock, who have not only put up with late nights, irregular sleeping patterns and eating habits, but has also been willing to listen to often vii arcane trivia about South Africa and New Zealand in the 1980s and 1990s, and my opinions about the gremlins of the research process. For her patience and support, both emotional and practical, I am very grateful indeed. My sister Estelle, who while I was working on “National Ideals,” recently completed, and graduated with her Bachelor of Design degree. With its strong practical component, heavy workload, and frequent deadlines this was not only a major achievement for Estelle herself, it has been for me an example of endurance and forbearance under what often seemed, to me personally, impossible conditions. It is her example that I have tried to follow throughout the work on “National Ideals.” viii Preface This thesis seeks to examine the foreign policy decisions of the New Zealand government during the period 1981-1994, in respect of its relations with apartheid South Africa. The period 1981-1994 was selected as this is not as well covered by historians as the 1960s and 1970s. 1981-1994 falls between the 1981 Springbok tour and the 1994 South African election. 1981-1994 therefore is crucial in terms of developments in South Africa. Of equal importance is the wider context of southern Africa, the Commonwealth, and the Cold War. “National Ideals or National Interest?” has been written to try and take into account the historiographical advances that have taken place following the publication of the last major work on the topic Malcolm Templeton’s Human Rights and Sporting Contacts: New Zealand Attitudes to Race Relations in South Africa 1921-1994, published by Auckland University Press in 1998. “National Ideals” incorporates archive material that was under restriction in 1997, and recent research about how the apartheid state in South Africa actually worked. The often contradictory demands of a powerful external security threat frequently conspired in preventing fulsome domestic reform. This dilemma was widely misunderstood not only in New Zealand, but also by much of the rest of the world. The role of the major New Zealand political parties Labour and National, and the conflict within the major parties, is an important part of the approach to ix explaining the formulation of New Zealand foreign policy that has been overlooked by other authors. Civil society groups and the pressure they could wield are also taken into account. Comparisons are made with Australia and Canada as these countries had similar problems and backgrounds to New Zealand. A comparative analysis of New Zealand’s Israel policy has also been included for a sense of wider perspective on the topic, as this international view is often missing. “National Ideals” is by no means a comprehensive investigation, still less a definitive work; it is more a broad interpretation in light of new research and increased historical perspective. All research has been original and my own. All scriptural references have been taken from the Australasian edition of the Good News Bible. x List of Abbreviations Used in the Text ANC - African National Congress; the main anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. ANZUS – Australia, New Zealand, and United States; defence treaty. AZAPO – Azanian People’s Organisation; one of the minor liberation parties. CANZ – Canada, Australia, New Zealand; a UN voting bloc. CER – Closer Economic Relations (also known sometimes as NAFTA); New Zealand’s main economic treaty with Australia. CHOGM – Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. CODESA – Convention for a Democratic South Africa. FPP – “First-Past-the-Post” (also known as Plurality Voting); New Zealand’s voting system prior to 1996. HART – Halt All Racist Tours; New Zealand’s main anti-apartheid organisation. IFP – Inkatha Freedom Party; a conservative Zulu based anti-apartheid party based mostly in KwaZulu – Natal and an opponent of the ANC in the run up to the 1994 election. MP – Member of Parliament. MMP – Mixed Member Proportionate; New Zealand’s voting system after 1996. NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. NGO – Non Governmental Organisation. xi NIBMAR - No Independence Before Majority Rule; the main British policy regarding Rhodesian/Zimbabwean independence in the 1960s. NZIIA – New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. NZRFU – New Zealand Rugby Football Union (known after 2000 as NZRU.) PAC - Pan Africanist Congress, another of the minor liberation parties. SARFU – South African Rugby Football Union. SACP – South African Communist Party. SATO – South Atlantic Treaty Organisation; a hypothetical southern hemisphere equivalent of NATO promoted by the South African government from the 1960s until the 1980s. SEATO – South East Asian Treaty Organisation; multilateral defence treaty that New Zealand was a member of until it was dissolved in 1977. SWAPO – South West African People’s Organisation; the main Namibian liberation party. UDF – United Democratic Front; a legal ANC front organisation in the 1980s UDI – Unilateral Declaration of Independence; Rhodesian declaration of independence, mostly unrecognised internationally,