i. d. a.! news notes Published by the United States Committee of the International Defense and Aid Fund for Southern Africa P.o. Box 17, Cambridge, MA 02138 April 1986, Issue No. 26 Telephone (617) 491-8343 Report from South Africa A talk with Saki Macozoma On April 15, 1986, lOAF interviewed Saki Macozoma, a native ofKwaZakele make their stance clear on the Kairos Document. I think it's the first church near Port Elizabeth, who worked for the Dependents' Conference ofthe South to make a pronouncement. But he also said that the Church has already African Council of Churches from 1982 to 1984. Mr. Macozoma returned in "accepted the challenge of the Kairos Document;' mid-March from a three-month visit to South Africa. He is currently writing his What can you tell us about government actions against church people? master's thesis for Boston University's School ofJournalism. One significant story in the Eastern Cape is that of Hamilton Dondala, the One of the things that really struck me, having been away from home for deputy secretary ofthe N\ethodist Conference ofSouthern Africa, who was almost two years, was that the struggle was no longer confined to the one ofthe first people to be picked up under the State ofEmergency. In fact, so-called youth, as the press in this country seems to imply in almost every report. Two years ago, the tendency was for activists to talk to themselves, with very little contact between the activist "When the Methodist minister is to be assaulted they community and the local older generation, but no bring in all the Presbyterians and Anglicans:' longer. The second thing was that the struggle was not confined to the city. There were small little towns there were several ministers picked up in the Port Elizabeth area. One of that you never see on the map: places like them was DeVilliers Soga, the President ofthe Interdenominational African Warmbaths, Leandra, Steynsburg, Cradock-of Ministers' Association, and several others. The sad thing is that these course, Cradock had a history-and De Aar. There was so much going on that the only way the (continued on page 2) press could report this was to have what they called the "unrest map;' like the weather charts, New Publications where they put all these little dots. The repression in the smaller areas was much more intense than in the cities because the Available from lOAF/USA people have muscle, people can refuse to consume. In some little places Part ofMy Soul Went With Him by Winnie Mandela. The life of they would cut offthe electricity, they would cut offtelephones, they would black nationalist leader Winnie Mandela through interviews, letters, threaten to cut off water. It was a very difficult struggle in many of these and narrative. (WW. Norton, 1986, 269 pp., illus.) $5.95. places. I went to a conference in late February in Durban of the SACC Nelson Mandela: The Man and the Movement by Mary Benson. Dependents' Conference, where various regions were reporting. The A biography of the imprisoned leader of the African National reports said things like, ''The local prosecutor is an interrogator by night and Congress. (WW. Norton, 1986, 124 pp., illus.) $7.95 a prosecutor during the day": all kinds of ridiculous irregularities, even by South African law. The Roots ofCrisis in Southern Africa by Ann Seidman. A study One important thing that has come out of the repression is the setting up of apartheid's impact on Southern Africa, and the role of foreign ofstreet committees, the argument being that making apartheid ungovern­ investments and u.s. government policy. (Africa World Press, 1985, able isn't an end in itself. We need to substitute local authorities. In Port 209 pp.) $8.95 Elizabeth you have a street committee at the lowest level where all Namibian Independence: A Global Responsibility by AW. households send their representative, and representatives of the street are Singham and Shirley Hune. A timely examination of the efforts to chosen to go to the area committee. The area committees are tied to the bring independence to South Africa's captive territory. (Lawrence civic organization, which is PEBCO [port Elizabeth Black Civic Hill, 1986, 124 pp.) $7.95 Organization]. Through this method the people can make decisions at a level where they can speak a language they are familiar with. It also,ties the The Kairos Document. A grassroots document by South African activists with people at the lowest level. People are already talking about theologians, both lay and professional. A devastating theological "liberated areas;' critique ofthe apartheid system, and a call for Christians to resist it. Within the church there is also an exciting movement with the adoption (Theology in a Global Context, 1985,29 pp.) $1.50 of the Kairos Document. What the Kairos Document says is, ''This state is Orders may be placed by mail ortelephone. Discounts are available illegitimate and until these people confess and repent there is no way there for bookstores, distributors, and anti-apartheid organizations. First can be reconciliation;' The Catholic Church, according to [Archbishop] orders must be prepaid. Denis Hurley, has a meeting scheduled for May when they are going to MACOZOMA, continued from page 1 imposed, even the police reports that were issued every day started drying ministers have people in the security police who know them, so when the up. For instance, they would say 20 people died last night, five were killed Ntethodist minister is to be assaulted they bring in all the Presbyterians and by the police, the rest were killed by other blacks. They wouldn't say where, the Anglicans and all the other people, and hide all the Ntethodists. Then they wouldn't say how, they wouldn't give any details whatsoever about it, "_.:!lltlJt'DIl:E!llEI~[illij_1IIIIIII they assault him or make him frog-jump or sing or dance, and once they so that significantly affects the kinds finish with that they bring in all the Ntethodists. offigures we get. People believe this The tendency for these people [black police] is to become very violent. enables the police to kill blacks, Ithink it's a kind ofexternalization ofthe inner conflict that they have. Most including giving them the necklace treatment, and then attribute the people in detention would rather be assaulted by a white person that they crimes to anti-apartheid activists. don't know, rather than a black person who may feel and know that he's Do you think the government got doing something wrong. what it wanted by imposing the It's been said that the police-informer network has been broken. State of Emergency? I think so. I think the cost of being an informer is too much for many No, because what it wanted was unconditional pacification. There people. The usual South African police informer is not motivated by any -~.~. -~.--:'---1 ideological affinities with the system. It is usually a mercenary case: I take was a sense of futility in the L...._. _--:',,;.' the money, that's it. So when the cost is increased there is nothing that drives government about its own direction ~~i~~! .~~~=£.;-; and its own policies. When they &__• .1. ., ... •• _ them to continue. Consequently there are fewer reports of informers being ~~':.;;.;'::;';''::':';:j::::::::::::'::::"-:,,,; killed, because basically the network has crumbled. In all the cases that came up with the new Constitution have come up recently, most of the evidence has been presented by ~~:Jg~~t~e~~~~~~~~I,t:t:~~~~: ia~;t~'!,~~f~~ policemen using videocameras and things like that. It's no more a question of, "We'll bring 55 Mr. X's;' because there aren't Mr. X's to be found ~~~n~f ~~~~~~~U~~~ 3:;~~~ti~ ~~liU: ~hip~~~;s~~n anymore. was impossible to do that. I think the IIRU h~~.:'f~r~'''~kllli for . People in this country don't understand that casualty figures come from State of Emergency's main purpose This "unrest map" summarizes protest in the Public Relations Directorate of the South African police, and it's was to crush the UDF. They didn't Zwide, Soweto, Atleridgeville, Steynville, want to ban it because ofthe kind of Touws River, Athlone, Elsie's River, Man- therefore by definition a public-relations exercise. enberg, Ravensmead, Steenberg, Retreat, Even if press conditions in South Africa were ideal, the media in South image that would have abroad, espe- Kraaifontein, Grassy Park, Bellville South, Africa have never been equipped to cover the country as awhole. There's cially because the UDF is peaceful. Amalinda, Sydenham, and Britstown. no one in the Ciskei, the Transkei, or Bophuthatswana, no one in Lebowa, Another reason is that the State of Emergency provided the government or the Karoo, or the Midlands, or the Lowveld. It's even worse with the with sufficient powers to do practically anything they wanted to do. It assaults on the press through subpoenas to give evidence against activists, legitimized the use of the army, the railway police, the municipal police, and the use of Section 28 of the Police Act, which says, ''You may not and thereby put the whole weight of the state security apparatus on the publish until we have confirmed this, and if we refuse to confirm you may people. And now all that continues, even though the Emergency is not publish at all:' Over and above this, as soon as the press ban was supposed to have been lifted. D Southern Africa News Calendar February and March 1986 The following news items are based primarily on shortwave broadcasts by the British held in Angola, as well as Soviet dissidents Andrei Sakharov and Anatoly Shcharansky.