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JPRS 84579

21 October 1983

Sub-Saharan Africa Report

No. 2861

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JPRS 84579

21 October 1983

Sub-Saharan Africa Report

No. 2861

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JPRS 84579

21 October 1983

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA REPORT

No. 2861

CONTENTS

INTER-AFRICAN AFFAIRS

Central African States Switch Import-Export Shipping-to SA

(Bill Goddard; DAILY DISPATCH, 23 Sep 83)

ANGOLA

ANGOP Reports on Battle of Cangamba, Captured Weapons

(JORNAL DE ANGOLA, 16 Aug 83)

ETHIOPIA

Reportage on Revolutionary Youth Association Congress

(THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD, various dates) 7

Opening Session

Regional Reports Heard

More Reports Read

Joint Statement, Resolution

PMAC Awards Medal, Gives Promotions

(THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD, 11 Sep 83) 22

Eritrean Development Investments Reported

(THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD, 10 Sep 83) 23

Socioeconomic, Political Progress in Gondar Reported

(THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD, 11 Sep 83) 24

Socioeconomic, Political Changes in Wollo Region Reported

(THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD, 15 Sep 83) 26

Tigrai Region Scores Laudable Achievements

(THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD, 15 Sep 83) 29

Sorioeconomic, Political Development of Gamo Goffa Reported

(THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD, 16 Sep 83) 31

-a - [III - NE & A - 120]
Briefs

Jibat-Metcha Co-op 33

Grain Marketing in Shoa 33

Key Bahir Gets Livestock 33

Rain Damage in Assossa 33

Gondar Infrastructures 34

Austrian Donation 34

Defense Squad Certificates 34

Political Cadres Graduate 35

Jijiga Water Storage 35

Jijiga Livestock Project 35

Debre Sina Facilities 36

AEPA Delegation Returns 36

Officers Graduate 36

Political School Graduates 37

GHANA

Briefs

Change in Currency Rate 38

Outgoing Polish Envoy 38

Enin Receives Spanish Ambassador 38

GUINEA

Sekou Toure Interviewed on Summit, Chad, Other Issues

(Ahmed Sekou Toure Interview; Conakry Domestic Service,

7 Oct 83) 39

LESOTHO

Minister Wants Observer at RSA Mine Inquest

(Maseru Domestic Service, 13 Oct 83) 46

King To Open Regional Development Workshop

(Maseru Domestic Service, 13 Oct 83) 47

Briefs

Opposition Leader Issues Appeal 48

LIBERIA

Special Theft Court Sittings Suspended

(Various sources, 9 Sep 83) 49

Judges Suspended

Justice Questioned, Editorial

High School Graduate Discusses Student Unrest

(Robert M. Kesselly; DAILY OBSERVER, 2 Sep 83) 53

Government Receives Apology From WCL Secretary General

(DAILY OBSERVER, 5 Sep 83) 54

- b -
National Port Authority Appeals for Calm in Overtime Issue

(DAILY OBSERVER, 2 Sep 83) 56

De-Monopolization of Oil Imports Examined

(Joseph A. Davies; DAILY OBSERVER, 8 Sep 83) 57

Briefs

Engineering Consultancy Loan Agreement 60

ADB Highway Reconstruction Loan 60

MOZAMBIQUE

Resistance Radio Scores Machel, Mabote's 'Lies'

(Voice of Mozambique National Resistance, 8 Oct 83) 61

Briefs

GDR Camp for Children 62

Soviet Rice for Drought Victims 62

Students Return from Cuba 62

Students Leave for Libya 62

Trade Agreements With Libya 63

Economic Cooperation With Bulgaria 63

Trade Relations With Tanzania 63

Poet Honored in USSR 64

SOMALIA

DFSS Accuses Barre Regime of Poisoning Wells

(Radio Halgan in Somali to Somalia, 10 Oct 83) .......... 65

SOUTH AFRICA

Zulu Chief Buthelezi Interviewed

(Gatsha Buthelezi Interview; AFRIKA-POST, Sep 83) 67

Johannesburg Radio Commentary on 'Group Self-Determination'

(Johannesburg Domestic Service; 10 Oct 83) 69

Prime Minister Botha's Term in Office Examined

(Brian Pottinger; SUNDAY TIMES, 25 Sep 83) 71

Top-Level Political Decision-Making System Probed

(Deon Geldenhuys; SUNDAY TIMES, 25 Sep 83) 74

Top ANC Exiles Turn Out for Dadoo Funeral

(THE STAR, 25 Sep 83) 76

SA 'Embellishment' of Orwellian Nightmare Alleged

(Garth King; WEEKEND POST, 24 Sep 83) 77

Shortage of Middle-Management 'Threatens Capitalism' in S. Africa

(Malcolm Fothergill; THE STAR, 29 Sep 83) 79

- c -
Ciskei Plans Youth Service To Beat Dropout Problem

(THE STAR, 27 Sep 83) 80

Analysis of Censorship Trends Shows More Moderation

(Sheryl Raine; THE STAR, 29 Sep 83) ..... 81

Minister Oscar Dhlomo Advocates 'No' Vote

(Khalil Aniff; POST NATAL, 21-24 Sep 83) 83

Indian Boycott of Referendum Considered Unwise

(Pat Poovalingam; POST NATAL, 21-24 Sep 83) 85

Chief Buthelezi Calls for Rejection of Constitution

(Gatsha Buthelezi; THE STAR, 28 Sep 83) 87

Impact of 'No' Vote in Referendum Considered

(Tertius Myburgh; SUNDAY TIMES, 25 Sep 83) 89

Du Toit Sees Afrikanerdom Split on Referendum

(Andre Du Toit; RAND DAILY MAIL, 30 Sep 83) 91

Reformist White Voters in Dilemma on Welfare of Coloureds

(Hermann Giliomee; RAND DAILY MAIL, 1 Oct 83) 93

Changes in Race Relations Noted

(Fleur de Villiers; SUNDAY TIMES, 25 Sep 83) 95

RAPPORT Publishers Convicted of Contravening Secrets Act

(THE CITIZEN, 7 Oct 83) 97

Change in Provinces' Rule Involves Long Study

(THE CITIZEN, 6 Oct 83) 98

Right Wing Scores Victory at Tucsa Conference

(Steven Friedman; RAND DAILY MAIL, 4 Oct 83) 99

Government Seen Curtailing Student Representative Councils

(Marimuthu Subramoney; THE STAR, 3 Oct 83) 101

Reportage on Presbyterian Church General Assembly

(THE STAR, various dates) 102

Gandhi Issue Divisive

Heresy Motion Rejected, by Carina le Grange

Ciskei-Transkei Border Fences To Be Checked

(DAILY DISPATCH, 24 Sep 83) 104

SUNDAY TIMES Literary Award Shared by Nolutshungu, Van Niekerk

(Fleur De Villiers; SUNDAY TIMES, 2 Oct 83) 105

SA Companies Provide Training for Neighboring States

(Lynn Carlisle; INDUSTRIAL.WEEK, 27 Sep 83) 108

- d -
Decline of Labor Productivity Reported

(Sheryl Raine; THE STAR, 3 Oct 83) 109

Pretoria-Mabopane Road Project Stirs Controversy

(THE STAR, 29 Sep 83) 110

Blacks Buying Power Props Up Drooping Car Market

(Priscilla Whyte; RAND DAILY MAIL, 4 Oct 83) Ill

Plan for W. Cape Rail Service Detailed

(THE CAPE TIMES, 24 Sep 83) 113

Drought To Cost SA Billion Rand in Foreign Exchange

(Alex Hogg; SUNDAY TIMES-BUSINESS TIMES, 2 Oct 83) 114

Critical Month for SA as Water Supplies Fail

(Dave Spiro; THE CITIZEN, 6 Oct 83) 116

Briefs

Priority of Farming Community 117

Defense Minister Addresses Meeting 117

Botha on Blacks Sharing Benefits 117

Defense Minister on Escalating 'Onslaught' 118

Papers Urge 'No' Vote 118

TANZANIA

Briefs

EAC Reactivation Interest 119

TOGO

Briefs

Agreement With France 120

- e -
INTER-AFRICAN AFFAIRS

CENTRAL AFRICAN STATES SWITCH IMPORT-EXPORT SHIPPING TO SA

East London DAILY DISPATCH in English 23 Sep 83 p 12

[Article from the "Ships and Shipping" Column by Bill Goddard]

[Text]

The decision of five

central African countries to switch their

import-export shipping business from

Dar-es-Salaam to a

South African harbour

is likely to be a "shot

in the arm" for East

London.

This is the opinion

of the head of South

African harbours, Mr

Pieter de Bruin, who

said most of the

freight could be

moved through the

Buffalo River port-

..."provided the railways can accommodate the additional

volumn of goods traffic."

Mr de Bruin, who is

assistant-general manager of South African

Transport Service and

in charge of harbours,

was commenting on

the announcement

this week that Zambia,

Zaire, Tanzania,

Rwanda and Burundi

have decided to divert

most of their sea-going

trade from Dar-esSalaam because of

large-scale pilfering

in the East African

port.

A joint statement

was released by the

five countries and said

they were obliged to

move their sea-trade

interests to South

African harbours.

It was also the first

time that Tanzanian

authorities have

admitted to a serious

pilferage problem in

Dar-es-Salaam — the

country's main commercial harbour.

The situation is said

to be so bad that many

international shipping

lines refuse to handle

cargo that is to be

loaded or discharged

at Dar-es-Salaam.

Commenting on the

announcement, Mr de

Bruin said that nothing has come

through officially as

yet.

"We have had. no

official approach and

only know what was

broadcast over Radio

Zambia and has

appeared in the

press," he said.

"But, I can tell you

that we'll handle any

new business that is

offered to us."

"East London handles a fairly large

amount of these export shipments and

can quiet easily

accommodate a lot

more," he said.

Mr de Bruin said

East London is ideally

situated to run both

import and export

freight to the five

countries concerned-

. . . but much would

depend on whether

the railway side could

accommodate the upsurge in traffic."

"We will just have to

wait and see what we

are offered and what

we will be called on to

handle," he said.

Mr de Bruin said a

lot will depend on

what type of cargo is to

be moved to the coast

and in what volume.

"East London harbour can handle the

increased volume of

business and could

even be switched onto

a permanent day-night

shift system if things

warranted it."

"This could really

be a shot in the arm

for the port as well as

the town," he said.

The System Manager

of the Eastern Cape,

Mr Louis du Toit, said

he Welcomed the news

of the possibility of

additional work for

the East London harbour and did not

forsee any problems

on the rail movement

side. .

"We are well geared

for a boost like this
Local shipping executives and leaders

of commerce and industry will attend the

function on board the

14 600-ton Frenchflagged ro-ro vessel

Ango in the East London harbour on

Wednesday.

Host and guest

speaker will be the

South African chairman ofthe conference,

Mr Neil Sempill.

The EuropeSouthern Africa conference was formed in

September 1883 when

several shipping lines

— including Union

Line, Clan Line and

Sir Donald Currie's

old Castle Line — got

together and entered

into an agreement to

"work together and

provide a a stable service."

The conference is

made up of 14 European and South African shipping lines.

and should have no

difficulty in dovetailing it into our present operations," he

added.

Conference

centenary

The South and

South-East Africa

Conference — the international maritime

organisation which

has played a significant role in the development and growth

of Southern Africa by

providing a regular

and stable shipping

service to and from

Europe — celebrates

its 100th anniversary

this month and will

mark the East London

connection by holding

a commemorative

lunch in the city next

week.

East London Harbour's container handling capabilities will be greatly

improved next month when three straddle-carriers are put into service. The

giant units, which are being "transferred' from Durban, are designed

specially to move and stack TEU boxes and will enable the container park

capacity to be increased from just over 200 to close to 1 000. Local shipping

authorities ask themselves, however, whether the port will ever get a

quay-side gantry — the enormous units used to load and discharge cellular

box carriers. This photograph was taken in Cape Town's Ben Schoeman

container terminal.

CSO: 3400/65
ANGOLA

ANGOP REPORTS ON BATTLE OF CANGAMBA, CAPTURED WEAPONS

Luanda JORNAL DE ANGOLA in Portuguese 16 Aug 83 pp 1, 2

[Text] Cangamba (ANGOP)—For many, the name of this little town in Moxico

Province will not call forth any particular memory. But it is very much the

symbol of many things that are yet to germinate. The South African racists

know it well. This explains why they attacked that settlement so violently

on Saturday 13 August with planes from their base in the north of occupied

Namibia. According to military sources, this was to prevent the FAPLA from

consolidating its victory in Cangamba. The South Africans thus hope to

bottle up the Angolan troops and cut off their pursuit of the enemy which

was thrown against Cangamba. For that purpose, Pretoria unleashed at one

fell swoop all the propaganda orchestrated up to now to try to justify its

aggressive policy against the People's Republic of Angola, specifically the

presence in Angola of the so-called "sanctuary" for SWAPO. What guerrilla

base could possible be located in Cangamba, more than 600 kms from the Namibian border?

First Lt Paulino Ngola Joao, 29 years old, from Lumbala Nguimbo, also in Moxico

Province, is one of those who wrote the history of the defeat of the "kwachas"

in Cangamba. Unfolding a map, he traces for us the flight path we are following. From Luanda he moves quickly to Luena, more than 1,000 kms by air. Now

we come down a little more slowly by helicopter toward Cangamba, 218 kms from

the capital of Moxico Province. This brings us to Cangamba, seat of the county

of the same name. Looking down from the helicopter, we see a small collection

of built-up houses, strung out along the town's only street worthy of the

name. A little farther toward the southeast are the huts of the people. The

Kalilongue creek runs along in the same direction, joining the Cubangui River,

a branch of the Cuando, about 1 km to the north.

Pointing to Cangamba on the map, the chief of the village defense brigade reminds us that it was the birthplace of Comandante "Dangereux," a martyr of

the revolution, this by way of leading into his next statement that the masters of- the puppet forces would have had their minions believe that this year

they would take Moxico.

Located at an important highway junction, as a look at the road map readily

shows, Cangamba is linked to Cangombe (93 kms) and Lupire (153 kms) to the

south, to Sessa and Lumbala Nguimbo (formerly Gago Coutinho), 350 kms to the
east. Control of the triangle formed by Cangamba, Lupire, and Lumbala

Nguimbo, along the corridor due south of Lupire and parallel to our eastern

border, from the enemy's viewpoint would afford him the possibility of attacking more important positions, including his active presence in the Cazombo

salient; in a word, to cut off the east from the western part of the People's

Republic of Angola. Only the objective of consummating this diabolical plan

can explain the importance of the material and human resources used by the

enemy for eight consecutive days in his attempt to occupy Cangamba.

Use of Mercenaries

According to the FAPLA brigade commander, the enemy attacked the town from

the end of July to 8 Aug with 6 battalions, reinforced by heavy artillery

detachments, totalling at least 3,000 men. Not feeling secure enough, they

even made use of mercenaries. The FAPLA fighters say that the subversion

techniques of the puppets are very characteristic of them. The introduction

of sophisticated aiming devices into these fights on a massive scale by the

puppets does not mean an improvement in the quality of the "Kwachas" but

rather a recourse to "prostitutes of war."

Wouldn't the troops dropped off near Cangamba on 3 Aug by a South African

helicopter have to be mercenaries? Or was that machine carrying South African

regulars? Both hypotheses are conceivable, according to what the local FAPLA

brigade leaders in Cangamba told us.

Placed about 10 kms from our positions, the 60, 75, 81, 82, and 120 mm cannons

and mortars practically devastated the settlement, not sparing the people at

all. According to municipal commissar Jose Maria Nihanga, the fire was directed not just at the FAPLA but also at the civilians, who had to flee into

the forests while the fighting lasted. There are many casualties among the

civilian population, in spite of all the precautions that have been taken.

Several months ago the municipal commissar, in coordination with the military

command, had already instructed the populace in how to build their own underground shelters. After they later had to flee into the forests, the displaced

civilians were mobilized by political activists and leaders of the municipal

committee of the party, who had retreated with them.

The fighting was therefore very hard. Initially, counting on the superiority

that they had won through the previous concentration of about 3,000 men, including mercenaries and the massive use of heavy artillery, the enemy broke

through the first lines of defense around the town. Attacking simultaneously

southeast and southwest along the landing strip, the puppet and mercenary bands

still met with great resistance from the FAPLA fighters. At the same time,

they shelled the residential neighborhoods and plundered their crops and granaries. Even now, the people do not have any more massambala or monioc, their

staple foods. Honey has to be gathered from farther out, but the roads are

mined.

But in spite of all this, 90 of the puppets were felled on the first day, 2

August of very bitter fighting, because our air force intervened and inflicted

casualties on the bandits.

h
Resist to the Last Man

Having seized some sectors of our southeast advance defense lines, the enemy

moves in all his forces. He occupies the water intake area on the Kalilongue

creek. He tries to break us through thrist. The daily ration of the fighters

is a handful of uncooked rice with sugar. Supplies are sent to us by air.

Then fighting breaks out for the supplies dropped by parachute. We win. Tormented by thirst, however, the fighters resort to "pepsodent," dabbing toothpast on their tongues to create a sensation of coolness, which fools the thirst

for a few moments. Others prefer to break off and suck on pieces from the

trunks of banana plants. That seems to help. Two fighters die of thirst. But

the resistance goes on.

The enemy encirclement tightens. There are comrades who have to fight with

two weapons, their own and that of their fallen comrade. The bombings by the

Migs multiply. The small groves of eucalyptus trees along the main street

of the town, where the "kwachas" are trying to dig in, are now only a memory.

The fragrance of eucalyptus leaves mixed with the smell of gunpowder almost

leaves us drunk.

The enemy dies by the hundreds. That's war. We are in the sixth day of the

slaughter. The enemy is 20 m from our trenches, near the brigade command

post, where all the fighting is concentrated. We are now using hand granades.

The order was to resist to the last man, recalls Capt Arguinaldo Venancio

"Free Angola," 35, brigade chief of staff.

So close were the "kwachas" and mercenaries to our positions that it was already too risky for them to call in their artillery. Cheated of the victory

that they could already taste, the puppetmasters drive us through the mine

fields protecting our rear. Hundreds died there. Over the bodies of those

who fell first came those who tried to follow. But who ever said that a

"kwacha" who has stepped on a live mine will walk away in one piece. Not even

dust is left of him Those who came after met the same fate. They paid for

their crimes. Finally the enemy had to give up the idea. Fanatical Iranian

"revolutionary guards" are one thing, puppets are another.

By now the "kwachas" are surrounded. Expected reinforcements land. They already lost more than 1,100 men, but they tried yet another diversionary tactic.

Four whites, certainly mercenaries, waved two flags, one of the People's Republic of Angola, the other of Cuba. They say they are internationalists and

they have come to our aid. The trick doesn't work. The mercenaries have to

give up quickly, or else.

The War Is Still Not Over

By now it is 8 August. The enemy withdraws. The ground is littered with

bodies. Of the more than 1,000 enemy killed, we bury 277. Not a single

prisoner is taken. Our troops had practiced target shooting intensively for

days beforehand, with results that you can now see. The enemy attack plan

is recovered. Much war materiel is also recovered (see box). The battle is

won. The rest of the enemy flees in disarray. The fighters hug each other

joyfully.
The war is not over, to be sure. But it is undeniable that the puppets and

mercenaries have learned a lesson, as Capt "Free Angola" tells us. He

joined the National Liberation struggle in 1968 right here in the third

region, and in 1976 fought against the defunct FNLA in Malanje. Later, he

attended the "Nicolau Gomes Spencer" officers school in Huambo, after which

he was appointed chief of staff of the 22nd light infantry brigade. Today

he is in Cangamba. He knows whereof he speaks when he warns us of the enemy's

plans.

Thus before we even have time to begin repairing the damages caused by the

enemy, the South Africans savagely bomb the town of Cangamba, with airplanes

this time, deep into national territory. A squadron of Mirages and Canberra

bombers are thrown against our positions. The roaring failure of the puppet

hordes is followed by the direct and massive intervention of the South African

air force. As if that were not enough, they double their forces in Cunene and

in Kuando-Kubango, unleashing attacks on our positions. They seek to generalize the war on all fronts, to stop us from striking the mortal blow against

UNITA, to dislodge it from national territory.

Who can deny that the "Kwachas" and South Africans work hand in glove?

Captured Weapons

The artillery pieces and sundry weapons, ammunition and grenades recovered

from the enemy in this battle of Cangamba must weigh many tons. As might be

expected from the types of weapons and their origin, the nature of the puppets'

suppliers can be easily determined. In few battles have our armed forces captured so much war materiel from the puppet bands. This fact alone demonstrates

the magnitude of the fights that have been staged in Cangamba. It is easy to

imagine how heavy the defeat was for the Angolan traitors and mercenaries.

Our armed forces captured the following:

2 light machine guns/RPD-2

4 heavy machine guns, HK-21

52 G3 assault rifles

49 AK-T47 assault rifles

9 Mauser assault rifles

9 carbines of various make

2 PPCH

4 60 mm mortars

6 RPG7

385 60 mm mortar shells

18 81 mm mortar shells

20 82 mm projectiles

127,975 cartridges, model 1908 NATO

16 antipersonnel mines

23 antitank mines

103 P67B rockets

83 P67B antipersonnel rockets

137 hand grenades

129 P67B charges

3,200 model 43 cartridges

12430

CS0: 3442/328
ETHIOPIA

REPORTAGE ON REVOLUTIONARY YOUTH ASSOCIATION CONGRESS

Opening Session

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 8 Sep 83 pp 1, 4, 5

[Text] The Second Congress of the Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth Association

(REYA) opened here yesterday at the assembly hall of the Grand Palace with a

key-note address by Comrade Chairman Mengistu Haile-Mariam.

Addressing the Congress in which 1,110 youth participants from all over the

country are taking part, Comrade Mengistu Haile-Mariam, Chairman of the PMAC

and of COPWE and Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, said

that the country's youth have rendered invaluable contributions in the political and armed struggle and in the economic and cultural spheres.

Although the youth have contributed immensely to the revolutionary struggle

in general in the different fields in which they are engaged and particularly

to the literacy campaign, there are yet numerous functions to be accomplished

by them, said Comrade Chairman Mengistu, urging them that they should accordingly exert considerable efforts in future.

In the course of its deliberations, the Second REYA Congress will review the

activities and accomplishments of the Ethiopian youth in the past three years

since the formation of REYA and will review strong and weak points so that

Ethiopian youth through their organization will enhance their contributions and

accomplish their duties more effectively.

Present at the opening ceremony were Comrade Fikre-Selassie Wogderess, PMAC

Secretary-General, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and COPWE

Executive Committee member, PMAC Standing Committee and COPWE Executive Committee members, ministers, COPWE Central Committee members and commissioners.

Comrade Legesse Asfaw, PMAC Standing Committee and COPWE Executive Committee

member and head of COPWE Organizational Department, gave a report at the opening ceremony on the activities undertaken to strengthen REYA and the achievements scored in this area.

Earlier, the procedures, rules and regulations, and programme of REYA together

with a report on REYA's activities in the past three years presented by Comrade

Hailu Tujuba, Chairman of the REYA, were approved by the Congress.
Comrade Chairman Mengistu Haile-Mariam said that if REYA with its present membership of over 3 million mobilizes its full force, its role in social life

would undoubtedly be significant and certainly more prominent than it is at

present.

REYA until now has not been successful in shouldering to the full the arduous

responsibility vested on youth, Comrade Chairman noted and stressed that the

active cooperation of government agencies and the broad masses of the people

as a whole was crucial.

Comrade Chairman Mengistu pointed out that youth should translate into deeds

the directives of COPWE and that government agencies should encourage them to

participate fully in the execution of national socio-economic plans.

Comrade Chairman Mengistu further noted that REYA's relationship with international democratic and socialist youth associations would help enhance solidarity with socialist forces, liberation movements, peace and democratic

forces.

Comrade Chairman Mengistu lauded the active role of revolutionary Ethiopia

students associations under the umbrella of REYA in foreign countries.

Comrade Chairman Mengistu noted that the youth should be the linchpin of all

national endeavours, including the creation of the Marxist-Leninist party, the

building of a strong national economy and as well as reliable national defence

force.

The Chairman stressed that the youth were expected to play a vanguard role in

the implementation of the Proclamations on the National Military Service and

the People's Territorial Militia. He underlined the fact that responsibility

for the defence of the Motherland was the national duty of all citizens.

Comrade Chairman Mengistu added that the initiative towards the implementation

process of the National Military Service should be borne by youth. He expressed strong conviction that the illustrious example of the forebears will

be carried aloft by the young revolutionary generation in fulfilling the

present national call.

Comrade Legesse Asfaw, PMAC Standing Committee and COPWE Executive Committee

member, read out to the Congress REYA's performance report in which it has

been indicated that noteworthy accomplishments were made in permeating the

REYA spirit among the rank and file of Ethiopia youth.

Comrade Legesse noted in his report that the Revolutionary Government had

given all-round assistance and encouragement towards the establishment of

REYA in recognition of the role the youth play in the on-going popular struggle

to bring about socio-economic equity.

The report also underscored that the creation of REYA was not an end in itself and that its membership should relentlessly promote the cause of the Revolution and the Motherland. He thus reminded REYA of its duty in rallying the

youth behind national revolutionary causes.
Comrade Legesse stressed the need for strengthening REYA at all levels and

noted the initiatives that ought to be taken in this regard. The guidance and

leadership provided by COPWE's Central Committee in efforts towards the realization of this objective were likewise emphasized.

The major aim of REYA's Second Congress, it was noted, should go beyond electing new executive committee and control committee leadership and include that

of the no less urgent task of devising measures for the enrolment of more

membership and the strengthening of constructive relations between youth and

the rest of the society. He pointed out that the importance of militant activity in this area of endeavour assumes particular significance in view of

the fact that Ethiopia is now poised on the threshold of the establishment of

the working people's party.

REYA Chairman Hailu Tujuba submitted the report of the Central Committee to

the Congress. The report covered in detail the accomplishments of REYA both at

local and international fora.

According to the Central Committee report, REYA has substantially contributed

towards the realization of national objectives and has been actively involved

in international dialogues during the last three years of its existence.

The Central Committee derived a sense of activement from the successful undertakings taken up in integrating the youth in ideological, economic and

social areas of endeavour.

The present REYA membership stands at 3,624,625 organized under 20,775 REYA

chapters and units in peasant associations, urban centres and schools and industrial quarters. The structural set up of REYA covers 14 regions, Addis

Ababa and Assab, 102 provinces, 13 urban centres and 111 localities. Over

400,000 youth are giving leadership at grassroots level and transmitting

central directives through appropriate channels.

The report disclosed that preliminary preparations have been made to organize

under REYA youth serving in the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

It was pointed out that REYA's structural body comprised Ethiopian students

associations in Europe, North America and Cuba and that encouraging results

have been achieved in orienting the youth with ideological teachings of similar degree.

Due reference was also made in the report to REYA's solidarity and relationship with youth associations in socialist countries, progressive and democratic forces, and regional and international youth organizations.

The report stressed the need to maintain integrity and sense of duty among

leadership bodies and warned that those who fail their duties should not keep

executive posts.

According to the report, youth representatives have been sponsored through

REYA for higher studies abroad and it was suggested that political training at
home would also help REYA office-bearers in the discharge of their duties.

The report commended the youth in rural parts of the country for having shown

exemplary participation and involvement in REYA's activities.

The report conveyed the Central Committee's gratitude to the Revolutionary Government for the unfailing assistance given to REYA including a subsidy of 1,401,761

birr. Membership fees and other funds amounted to 795,531 birr, it was also

disclosed.

The report on ideological and political activities noted the dissemination work

carried out among the youth throughout the country through the distribution of

Marxist-Leninist literatures and other educational materials and by organizing

discussion forums.

So far, 7,004 youth artistic groups, 19,840 study circles and 6,936 sports

teams have been set up among REYA members.

The report reiterated REYA's pledge to continue coordination the youth in

the fight against illiteracy until the entire Ethiopian population is freed

from this social scourge.

The Central Committee also declared in its report the esteem and admiration

of the youth to the heroic Revolutionary Armed Forces whose sacrifices have

ensured the continued survival of the nation as an indivisible polity.

The report also noted the pledge and commitment of the youth to emulate the

noble example of the Armed forces during association with the National Military Service. It conveyed the message of the youth that they would not only

learn from the lessons of experience of the heroic feats and patriotic sentiment but also firmly stand on their side defending the Motherland.

On economic and social activities, the report disclosed that 11,986,389 youth

took part in voluntary development oriented campaigns launched in the last

three years. It was thus noted that the work accomplished by youth was valued

at around 20,730,000 birr. The participation of youth in the literacy campaign was singled out as being particularly significant.

In its afternoon session, the Second Congress of REYA established four commissions charged with various functions. These comprise the credentials commission, commissions to revise the proposed constitution of REYA and draft the

declaration and the resolution of the Second Congress, and a commission for

preparing and distributing the REYA documents.

Meanwhile, the Congress took up various performance reports submitted by regional REYA chapters and will continue doing so today.

Regional Reports Heard

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 9 Sep 83 pp 1, 5, 6

[Text] The Second Congress of the Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth Association

(REYA) continued its regular session yesterday and heard reports submitted to

10
it by REYA committees of 12 regions and by the Revolutionary Ethiopia Students' Associations in Europe and Cuba as well as the youth of Revolutionary

Army.

Among the REYA chapter representatives who presented reports on their development activities, the problems they encountered, and the measures they took

during the past three years, were those of Gamo Goffa, Gojjam, Gondar, Eritrea,

Hararghe, Illubabor, Kaffa, Shoa, Sidamo, Tigrai, Wollega and Wollo regions.

The report of the Arssi REYA committee presented last Tuesday noted that a

total of 20,548 youth had participated in teaching adults from the first to

the eighth round literaracy campaign thus contributing towards the full emanicipation of 312,960 people from the scourge of illiteracy. Referring to

youth membership, the report disclosed that there are 171,496 members organized under 1,152 REYA chapters in Arssi region.

The report of the REYA committee of Gamo-Goffa region revealed on its part

that the youth of the region has actively participated in the ongoing literacy

campaign so as to contribute towards the freeing of 164,022 adults from the

shackles of illiteracy. The report also noted that a total of 140,081 youth

were organized under 798 basic chapters.

The report submitted by the REYA committee of Gojjam region noted that encouraging results have been registered through the active participation of

youth in development activities in all sectors of the economy.

Regarding the organizational work of the regional REYA, the report said that

a total of 330,027 youth have been organized under 1,789 basic REYA chapters

in Gojjam region.

The report further revealed that in preparation for the National Military

Service, 1,165 have already completed basic military training, while 325 more

are about to complete the training.

The report of the Gondar regional branch of REYA pointed out that 16,589

members of the association were engaged in voluntary services in different

sectors of the economy. A total of 69,736 youth took part in the eighth

and ninth rounds of the literacy campaign and gave lessons to 942,228 adults.

Presently, the branch has 200,952 members organized into 1,185 basic associations in the rural and urban areas. The report made note of the attempts

made to register and organize school-age youth and encourage them to take part

in sporting and artistic activities. The report further recounted the participation of the youth in defence of the Revolution by voluntarily registering

in the people's militia.

The Gondar youth association is giving its members vocational training and is

attempting to develop their creativity, the report said.

The report by the REYA committee of Eritrea region noted that the interest

of the youth of the region to organize into youth associations is growing

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daily. In the past three years anti-popular elements had frantically attempted to hold back the youth from organizing but their attempts had failed,

the report said. As a result of the Red Star Multi-Faceted Revolutionary Development Campaign of Eritrea region launched three years ago, a condition

has been created for the youth to reflect a growing interest in sports, the

report pointed out.

At present, a total of 38,936 youth have been organized in nine provinces,

29 districts and 246 basic REYA chapters, said the report.

The report of the Hararghe committee of REYA pointed out that youth members

had taken part in farming, harvesting, terrace building and road construction.

They also participated in cooperation with other mass organizations, in the

digging of water wells, planting tree seedlings and cleaning streams.

In the national literacy drive, the youth in Hararghe region, 76,064 have

taken part in the eighth round of the literacy campaign, while for learning

Marxism-Leninism 935 zonal study circles embracing 18,700 members have been

established. The report also noted the participation of the youth in the

struggle against anti-popular elements by standing alongside the Revolutionary

Army.

The report of the Illubabor regional branch of REYA revealed that its 768,049

members took part in the various developmental ventures in the region, and

that 58,947 youth took part in the national literacy campaign beginning from

the first to the ninth round.

The report also pointed out that the REYA membership in the region has increased from 99,919 to 106,469. The chapter has also organized 2,893 zonal study

circles and has established 70 medium-sized libraries and 2,301 reading rooms.

The report by the REYA committee of Kaffa region said that commendable contributions were made to the stepping up of literacy efforts with the active

participation of 21,697 youth members.

Reviewing the functions of the regional REYA, the report stated that a total

of 361,231 members have been organized in seven provinces, 43 districts and

1,687 basic REYA chapters in Kaffa region.

The report also noted with satisfaction that the youth of Kaffa region have

expressed with revolutionary fervour their readiness for the implementation

of the Proclamation on the National Military Service in response to the national call made by the Revolutionary Leader. The youth of the region are

also prepared to pay the necessary sacrifice to translate into deeds the directives of the Revolutionary Government and COPWE.

Meanwhile, the Second Congress of REYA in its session yesterday has approved

its rules and regulations which were studied and submitted to it by the rules

and regulations drafting commission set up Wednesday.

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The revised rules and regulations of REYA are believed to enhance the youth's

organisational capability, its level of political consciousness and its participation in national reconstruction.

In addition, the revised rules and regulations have brought about structural

improvements as well as widening the scope of the application of democratic

centralism, it was learnt. Aside from further improving the operational aspect, they have raised the participation of the control committee to a higher

level.

It is further believed that the present rules and regulations would alleviate

problems in connection with organisation, registration and decision-making

and would greatly increase the participation of members in the light of the

present stage attained by the association.

Meanwhile, based on the agenda items adopted by the Congress and the reports

of the REYA Control Committees, the Congress participants yesterday deliberated

on a number of points dealing with the activities of REYA in the past three

years as well as with the organisational experiences so far gathered that

would be useful for the future task of strengthening the association.

More Reports Read

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 10 Sep 83 pp 1, 5

[Text] The third anniversary of the founding of Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth

Association (REYA) was colorfully celebrated at the association's headquarters

here yesterday.

Comrade Legesse Asfaw, PMAC Standing Committee and COPWE Executive Committee

member, opened an exhibition organized on the occasion of the anniversary

celebration and the Second Congress of REYA. He commended the role of youth

in the revolutionary process and said the representation of youth delegates

from various countries was indicative of REYA's growing influence.

Present at the ceremony were ministers, COPWE Central Committee members, commisioners, representatives of mass and government organizations and invited

guests.

The pictorial exhibition depicts the activities of Ethiopian youth in various

areas of endeavour in pre- and post-revolution Ethiopia. Items showing the

creative talents of youth and various cultural and historical relics are

also on display.

The three-section exhibition displays the contributions of youth in defence

of the country, the sustained war against the legacies of feudalism and reaction and activities of REYA under the guidance of COPWE.

Representatives of the Soviet Youth League (Komsomol) and of the Free German

Youth took part in the exhibition and also briefed guests on their presentations. Youth representatives from the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen

13
(PDRY), Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Namibia, and the African

National Congress (ANC) also presented displays.

Speaking on the occasion, Comrade Gezahegne Negussie, Secretary of the Central Committee of REYA and Head of the Committee's Ideological Department,

recalled the association's participation in the economic, political and social

life of the country during the past three years with the guidance of COPWE.

Meanwhile, the Addis Ababa Committee of the Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth Association (REYA) yesterday staged a musical festival at the stadium here in

connection with the Second REYA Congress.

The feast was attended by Comrade Bililign Mandefro, Minister of Education and

COPWE Central Committee member, COPWE zone representatives, invited guests

and delegates to the REYA Congress.

Comrade Zewde Teklu, Mayor of Addis Ababa, said that the event had major relevance to the set objective of REYA and the on-going activities in connection

with the Congress.

Amateur artistic teams from Addis Ababa, Shoa, the Revolutionary Armed Forces,

the Ministry of Culture and Sports Affairs, and professional artistic troupes

presented songs and staged other performances.

Earlier, REYA delegates visited the Ethiopian Airlines headquarters where they

were shown around the maintenance, workshop and terminal facilities.

Meanwhile, the Second Congress of Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth Association

(REYA) continued hearing Thursday reports presented by regional REYA committees.

The report submitted by the REYA committee of Shoa region emphasized that the

youths of the region have actively participated in development activities,

sanitation campaigns as well as in the establishment of producers' cooperatives.

The report also noted that an amount of 5,169,033 birr was saved because of

the voluntary work campaign undertaken by 1,731,274 youths in the various sectors of the economy.

In addition to their active participation in the on-going literacy drive, the

report said that the youths of Shoa region are contributing immensely towards

the stepping up of the cultural campaign.

Explaining the efforts exerted to strengthen the regional REYA, the report said

that favourable conditions had been created in the operational sphere as a

result of the struggle waged to organize new chapters in localities lacking

basic chapters and to strengthen already existing associations. Hence the regional REYA possesses 5,699 basic chapters with a total of 892,663 members.

The report also commended the active participation of the youth of the region

in the dissemination of ideological lessons among their members.

Ill
According to the report presented by the REYA committee of Sidamo region, the

youth of the region have registered tangible results through active participation in development activities as well as in military duties in response to the

call of the Motherland.

The report said that with the active participation of 1,586,268 youths of

the region in voluntary work campaigns, government and mass organizations had

saved a total of 3,547,897 birr.

The report further noted that youth members had given a helping hand to members

of militia families by undertaking ploughing and repairing their houses.

Following the steps taken to strengthen REYA along new lines, the report said

that a total of 313,712 youth had been organized under 1,536 REYA chapters in

the region.

In addition 1,966 zonal study centres have been established in which 47,317

members are studying Marxism-Leninism in line with the regional REYA's action

programme to disseminate the Marxist-Leninist ideology.

Motivated by patriotism and in response to the call of the Motherland 4,677

youth of the region received training in military tactics, while a large number were deployed to the war fronts to safeguard the gains of the Revolution

and the territorial integrity of the Motherland, the report said.

The report of the REYA committee of Wollega disclosed that there are 257,950

youth members embraced by the 2,157 basic REYA chapters in the region.

Regarding ideological dissemination, the report noted that 22,074 study

groups have been established under the auspices of the regional REYA committee

in which some 145,000 youngsters are actively participating in Marxist-Leninist

orientation.

The youth in the region are also rendering commendable voluntary service in

efforts towards the construction of the economy, having far provided voluntary

labour valued at 1,164,641 birr. Taking part in this worthy endeavour were

1,398,066 youth members, the report revealed.

With the active participation of 1,279,919 youth in self-initiated development

activities, some 2,181,300 birr worth of service was provided, the report

presented by the representative of the REYA committee of Wollo region disclosed. The report noted the enthusiastic participation of youth in the political, social, economic and military fields in response to the call of the

Motherland.

The youth also volunteered 12,998 birr towards relief efforts in the area and

have spearheaded the literacy campaign and activities in primary health care,

veterinary service and soil and water conservation, the report revealed.

A total of 1,211 basic REYA chapters embracing 11,095 members have been organized in Wollo region since 1973 E. C. while ideological studies are well

15
underway under the supervision of 6,128 zonal study and work teams in which

264,363 members are being exposed to Marxism-Leninsim, the report noted.

The report presented by the representative of the Revolutionary Ethiopia Students' Union in Europe (RESUE) recalled the struggle waged by the union to

mobilize Ethiopian students learning abroad under the banner of REYA. This

was made possible at the closing session of the 20th Congress of RESUE when a

consensus was reached by members of the union to coordinate the struggle of

students abroad with the guidelines of the Revolutionary Government and

COPWE.

The report disclosed that RESUE has organized 3,778 members under 217 basic

REYA chapters, 71 local and 13 branch chapters in Europe.

The report recalled that the union recently held its congress in the German

Democratic Republic wheremmembers deliberated on past achievements and

charted future action programmes. It later reaffirmed its support for all

directives of the Revolutionary Government and COPWE, particularly the Proclamation on the National Military Service.

The report of the Revolutionary Ethiopia Students' Union in Cuba (RESUC)

stressed that the sacrifice being made for the success of the revolution is

not only limited in Ethiopia. The report also said that RESUC has

strengthened the organization and is poised on contributing concretely towards

the formation of the party of the working people of Ethiopia.

The union has a membership of 3,000 and is organized in nine district and 35

basic associations.

A report was also submitted on the activities of the Revolutionary Ethiopia

Armed Forces and the victories scored as a result of the sacrifices paid in

defence of the unity and territorial integrity of the Motherland. The report

noted that youngsters now form the backbone of the nation's armed forces.

The report enumerated the development activities in which the Revolutionary

Armed Forces have been and continue participating in factories and state farms,

the afforestation campaign, road construction, the literacy campaign and relief and rehabilitation programmes.

Joint Statement, Resolution

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 13 Sep 83 pp 1, 2, 9, 11

[Text] The Second Congress of the Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth Association

(REYA) concluded its five-day deliberations Sunday adopting a joint statement

and a resolution.

The congress had reviewed REYA's activities in the past three years, approved

the organizations' budget and the revised rules and regulations introducing

changes in structural set-up and elected office-bearers for leading REYA bodies,

16
Comrade Legesse Asfaw, PMAC Standing Committee and COPWE Executive Committee

member and Head of COPWE Organizational Department, closed the congress by

giving directives to the participants.

Present at the closing ceremony were Comrade Teka Tulu, PMAC Standing Committee and COPWE Central Committee member, Comrade Gessesse Wold-Kidan, PMAC

Standing Committee member, Commissioner for Pensions and COPWE Central Committee member, ministers, commissioners and COPWE Central Committee members.

In his statement, Comrade Legesse said that members of REYA must continue to

develop the consciousness and raise their creative capability in order to

further strengthen their organization and translate into deeds the principles

of democratic centralism based on the directives they obtain from COPWE at

present and from the party of the working people in future.

Comrade Legesse appreciated the endeavours made by REYA in the ideological

sphere in the past and stressed the challenges in this area in future in the

light of complex situations both nationally and internationally.

Comrade Legesse noted in particular the decisive role of the leadership of

REYA to ensure that the members of the organization are equipped with the necessary political maturity and ideological strength to withstand the reactionary commentaries and psychological warfare directed at them by counter-revolutionary elements.

The youth of Revolutionary Ethiopia must greatly intensify their participation

to defend the Motherland from all sorts of attacks and to increase their role

in the economic and social fields by heightening their awareness about the

dignity and importance of labour, said Comrade Legesse. The youth have a historic responsibility to elevate the Motherland from economic deprivation, Comrade Legesse stressed, urging that the necessary sacrifice should be paid for

the well-being of Revolutionary Ethiopia and to increase productivity.

"Each and every citizen has to safeguard the Revolution and the Motherland.

Unless this is done it is futile to believe that our objectives would be achieved," Comrade Legesse said. REYA has to play a vanguard role so that the National Military Service is implemented at all levels, said Comrade Legesse,

emphasising the significance of the national military service and the example

which REYA has to set as representative of the younger generation.

Immense Importance

Comrade Legesse said that immense importance is attached to the discussions of

the Second REYA Congress and the resolution and statement it adopted. He

stressed that they contribute towards furthering the progress of the Revolution and replenishing the revolutionary experiences.

The contents of the statement and resolution adopted by the Congress said Comrade Legesse, bear witness that the REYA members are well aware of the challenges ahead and that they are prepared to make sacrifices for active participation in the revolutionary process.

17
Comrade Legesse stressed, however, that it is only when the statement and resolution of the Congress were translated into deeds and bear concrete fruit that

the historic importance of the Congress could be heightened.

Comrade Legesse went on to point out that each and every REYA member must relate theory with practice and must make contributions to the best of his ability.

Members of REYA he said, must strive hard to implement the resolution of the

Second COPWE Congress, the programme of the Sixth Regular Session of the COPWE

Central Committee and the decision of the Second REYA Congress itself.

Comrade Legesse expressed best wishes to the newly elected REYA office-bearers

and noted his firm conviction that they along with the membership of the organization would live up to the revolutionary obligation entrusted to them by the

working people of Revolutionary Ethiopia.

In conclusion, Comrade Legesse assured the REYA member of the support of the

Revolutionary Government and COPWE and on his own behalf to governmental departments and mass organizations as well as individuals for the contributions

they made to ensure the success of the Congress.

Earlier, Comrade Wondimu Robi, COPWE Central Committee Alternate member and

Head of Youth Affairs Section in COPWE*s Organizational Department, made a

statement noting that the internal strength of REYA determines the extent of

youth activities. He added, however, that to achieve REYA's objectives, the

youth require the constant support and attention of governmental departments

and mass organizations in particular and of the society in general.

Comrade Wondimu lauded the part played by members of REYA leadership bodies

at all levels both in the field of reconstruction and organization and stated

that through their contributions and sacrifices, these members had left an

indelible mark in history.

Comrade Wondimu further pointed out that REYA, apart from its effort to

strengthen itself structurally, has effectively participated in international

forums thereby achieving greater recognition abroad. The experiences it

gathered both through its activities and from those of socialist countries

have enabled it to create better conditions to strengthen itself, said Comrade

Wondimu.

Comrade Getachew Robele, the new REYA Chairman, made a statement on his part

pledging on behalf of the newly elected office-bearers and on his own behalf

that they would fulfil the trust reposed on them by the youth of Revolutionary

Ethiopia.

Comrade Getachew lauded the achievements of the previous leadership bodies of

REYA and stated that the newly elected office-bearers would work for the implementation of the programmes charted out previously and for the fulfilment of

national and international obligations.

The new REYA Chairman called on the youth not to see organization as an end in

itself to enhance their activities on the basis of the political, ideological

and organizational directives of the country.

18
Statement, Resolution

The Second Congress of the Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth Association (REYA)

has called on the young generation to be on the alert for the implementation

of the proclamation providing for the establishment of the National Military

Service and Territorial Militia so as to renew the patriotism of the forebears with socialist heroism.

This was stated in the resolution and declaration issued Sunday following the

establishment of the Central Congress and election of higher executive organs

of REYA.

The congress decided at the end of its five-day deliberations that plans be

finalized to bring REYA within the present defence structure and be implemented

in accordance with the directives of COPWE. This, it was noted, would facilitate the early execution of the National Military Service scheme.

The Second REYA Congress strongly condemned IIS imperialist provocation through

the recent "Rapid Deployment Force" manoeuvres on Ethiopia's gates as a serious

threat to integrity as well as the revolution. The congress noted that such

interventionist activities are being conducted by the imperialists elsewhere

in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America in colloboration with reactionary

governments and that world peace and stability is consequently being jeopardized.

The congress decided to open REYA units in areas where these do not exist and

strengthen those which, for various reasons, suffered from weaknesses and constraints so as to enable youth play their proper role in the realization of the

objectives of COPWE today and the working people's party tomorrow.

The REYA statement made a detailed survey of the issues discussed during its

Second Congress and noted that the participants were greatly inspired by the

opening speech of Comrade Mengistu Haile-Mariam, Chairman of the PMAC and

of COPWE and Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. The high

points of the deliberations were exchanges of view on reports by the regional

REYA central and control committees and by Revolutionary Ethiopia Students'

unions abroad.

Also figuring high on the congress agenda was the patriotic duty of the present

day generation of Ethiopians, particularly youth, in keeping alive the tradition of heroism and sacrificial dedication bequeathed by the intensely patriotic forefathers.

The congress also underlined the task awaiting revolutionary youth in becoming actively involved in activities leading to the establishment of the working people's party by the Tenth Anniversary of the Revolution. Also stressed

was the contribution expected of youth towards the realization of the nation's

development and reconstruction programmes.

In the part related to the strengthening of the REYA structure at various

levels, it was noted that closer cooperation and collaboration should be

19
forged between the association and other mass organizations. REYA members were

likewise urged to contrubute meaningfully towards the success of the on-going

campaign against corruption, waste and abuse of public trust.

On the resolution related to social affairs, the congress noted that tremendous as has been the contribution made by youth towards the success of the nine

phases of the literacy campaign conducted to date, they should not slacken

their enthusiasm until such time as illiteracy is wiped out from throughout

the nation. The youth was also urged to continue playing leading roles in efforts towards putting an end to harmful cultural practices, helping the aged

and the physically handicapped and promoting basic health service.

Turning to the international scene, the congress said REYA would continue broadening areas of cooperation and collaboration with anti-imperialist and socialist youth forums and forge closer alliance with all democratic and peaceliving forces in the struggle against international imperialism.

The REYA Congress also expressed solidarity with all forces pitted against the

enemies of freedom, justice, peace and equality. The Second REYA congress reiterated that in this, as in its other activities and dealings on both the domestic and international fronts, the association will be guided by the policy

of the Revolutionary Government and the directives of COPWE.

Elections Endorsed

The congress has endorsed the results of the elections carried out by the members of the REYA Central Committee regarding leading bodies within the organisation.

The outcome of the election was announced to the congress at its concluding

session. Comrade Getachew Robele from the Addis Ababa REYA Committee has been

elected the new chairman of the REYA. Comrade Abdul-Karim Adem, formerly the

Chairman of the Central Control Committee of REYA, has been re-elected to the

same office for a second term.

Comrade Tafesse Gebre-Tsadik and Comrade Abebe Hankorie, formerly first and

second secretaries of REYA respectively, have been reelected to serve as members of REYA Executive Committee. Also elected to the same committee are Comrade Mengistu Eddo from the Shoa REYA Committee, Comrade Hiruy Amanuel from

the Addis Ababa REYA Committee, Comrade Zenebe Ayele from the Kaffa REYA

Committee, Comrade Tizazu Tefera from the Gondar REYA Committee and Comrade

Essias Demissie from the Addis Ababa REYA Committee. Similarly, Comrade

Lt. Kefelegne Tafesse from the Political Department of the Revolutionary Army

has been elected members of the REYA Executive Committee.

Meanwhile, Comrade Teklu Timerga from the Addis Ababa REYA Committee and Comrade Melese Tafesse from the REYA Committee of Bale region have become members

of the REYA Central Control Committee.

20
Comrade Getachew Robele is a 25 year old youth who had been teaching at the

Addis Ababa University. He has a degree from the Addis Ababa university in

Political Science and international Relations, and in the past five years, has

worked as a political cadres and as chairman of the Addis Ababa university

REYA Committee. Previously, he had served as Chairman of the REYA Committee

in Arssi region and had been an active participant in a discussion forum in

the Arssi Rural Development Unit.

Action Programme Approved

Meanwhile, the Central Council of revolutionary Ethiopia youth association

(REYA) Sunday approved the REYA action programme identifying areas of youth

participation in accordance with the guidance provided by the Revolutionary

Government and COPWE and pointing out plans in organisational, ideological and

administrative spheres.

Meanwhile based on the experiences of the past three years, the REYA Central

Committee has approved its own revised internal rules and regulations.

It is believed that by setting the direction for youth activities and rallying

the youth together under the REYA banner, the REYA action programme would

create the necessary condition for the creation of socialism.

It was also pointed out that the revised rules and regulations of the REYA

Central Committee would regulate the work of the Central Committee in keeping

with the objective reality in the country, the stage of progress attained by

the organisation and the provisions contained within the organisation's rules

and regulations.

Messages of support and solidarity were meanwhile conveyed to the Second REYA

Congress by progressive youth organisations and associations throughout the

world. Among those which sent messages are the Kom-Somol, which embraces

42 million youth members in the Soviet Union, the Central Committee of the German Youth Organisation, the Ernest Talman Youth Pioneers Organisations, the

GDR, the Central Committee and Youth Organisation of Czechoslovakia, the Yemen Socialist Youth Association of the PDRY, the World Democratic Youth Federation, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Organisation of Vietnam, the Demitrov

Youth Communist League of Bulgaria, the Poland Socialist Youth Association,

the Korean Workers Youth League, and the Romanian Youth Association.

Similar messages of support and solidarity were conveyed to the Second Congress

of REYA by the Libyan Arab Jamahirya Bureau in Addis Ababa, the All Ethiopia

Trade Union (AETU), the All Ethiopia Peasants' Association (AEPA), the Revolutionary Ethiopia Women's Association (REWA), the Ethiopian Teachers' Association, the Ethiopian Peace and Solidarity Committee, and the Ethiopian Community

in the GDR.

CSO: 3400/47

21
ETHIOPIA

PMAC AWARDS MEDAL, GIVES PROMOTIONS

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 11 Sep 83 pp 1, 6

[Text] The Provisional Military Government awarded medals to two army divisions from among units of the Revolutionary Armed Forces which distinguished

themselves in the battlefield during 1982-83 (1975 Ethiopian year) and gave

promotions in rank to the commanders and political commissars of the two divisions .

The two divisions from among units of the Revolutionary Armed Forces engaged

in ceaseless socialist patriotic struggle in defending our victorious revolution from subversion and protecting the Motherland from being dismembered and

defending the country's territorial integrity which were honoured for their

outstanding fighting record during the year, were the 18th Terrara Army Division under the Mentir Command deployed in the northern front, and the Anbessa

Third Army Division deployed in the eastern front.

Comrade Mengistu Haile-Mariam, Chairman of the PMAC and of COPWE and Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, decorated the emblem of the

18th Terrara Army Division with the Distinguished Battlefield Gallantry Medal

and the Anbessa Third Army Division with the Battlefield Gallantry Medal,

First Class.

Comrade Chairman Mengistu also promoted the commanders and political Commissars of the two gallant and famous divisions. Accordingly,

—Comrade Col. Merdassa Lelissa, Commander of the 18th Terrara Army Division,

promoted to the rank of Brigadier General,

—Comrade Col. Yemata Misikir, Commander of the Anbessa Third Army Division,

promoted to the rank of Brigadier General,

—Comrade Capt. Abiyu Tarekegn, Political Commissar of the 18tth Terrara Army

Division, promoted to the rank of Major, and

—Comrade Capt. Getachew Salilih, Political Commissar of the Anbessa Third Army

Division, promoted to the rank of Major.

CSO: 3400/47

22
ETHIOPIA

ERITREAN DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENTS REPORTED

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 10 Sep 83 pp 1, 8

[Text] Asmara (ENA)—The revolutionary Government has invested upwards of

113 million birr in reconstruction work during the last 12 months.

Comrade Dr. Gebre-Egziabber Gogos, Acting Head of the Regional Economic Development Campaign and Planning Development, said the money was invested in

reactivating development projects destroyed, partly or totally, by the secessionist bandit groups. He noted that the Red Star Multi-faceted Development Campaign, launched in the once troubled region by the Revolutionary Government and COPWE has proved highly successful.

Comrade Dr. Gebre-Egziabber said most of the 14 major social and economic

projects undertaken in the region during 1975 E. C. have been completed and

began providing service.

Upwards of 20.7 million birr has been invested in the Red Star Development

Campaign to organize and motivate the peasantry in Eritrea region, it was

disclosed yesterday.

Comrade Tamire Teka, Head of the Multi-Purpose Campaign's Peasants Training

and Agricultural Development Department, also disclosed that 303 peasants'

associations and 43 service cooperatives with a total membership of nearly

58,500 were established during a one-year period. He said numerous peasant

representatives were given political, military and agricultural training and

deployed among the peasant masses during the same period.

Comrade Tamire pointed out that dispossessed peasants who suffered under secessionist banditry and brigandage have been allotted land following succour by the Revolutionary Liberation Army. He said 81,079 km of terrace dams

and eight medium-sized reservoirs have been constructed under the aegis of

the food for work programme and the supervision of the regional Peasants'

Training and Agricultural Development Department.

CS0: 3400/47

23
ETHIOPIA

SOCIOECONOMIC, POLITICAL PROGRESS IN GONDAR REPORTED

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 11 Sep 83 pp 1, 4

[Text] Gondar (ENA)—Historic Gondar administrative region in the central

highlands of Ethiopia has undergone notable socio-economic and political

transformations during the last nine years of revolutionary struggle.

The site of some of the nation's leading historic and cultural landmarks,

Gondar has been opened to the neighbouring regions through surface transport

infrastructure initiated by both the government and the local populace on

self-help basis, the all-weather road network presently totals 675 kms and

the 300 km Woldia highway is nearing completion. The region is linked with

the rest of the country by microwave communications and by a steadily expanding postal service.

The regional REYA and REWA have memberships of 193,645 and 178,690, respectively,

organized into a combined total of 2,254 basic units. Three kindergartens

and a model nursery have been built.

Fifty-two branch unions represent the regional AETU while service cooperatives

are flourishing and HASIDA branch offices are being encouraged to bring more

artisans under their fold. Higher urban and kebele dwellers' associations

have been formed in 25 towns under the auspices of the regional office of the

Ministry of Urban Development and Housing.

As part of the effort to enable urban residents own their own homes, nearly

4,270,000 square metres of urban land has been allotted to date. Parallel

measures are in the meantime being taken to build government-funded dwelling

units and self-initiated kebele residential quarters.

Service giving facilities are coming up in appreciable numbers as part of the

regional development campaign.

There is a meat processing firm and a soft drinks factory in Gondar. Plans

have been finalized to build more such facilities both to tap the region's

impressive natural resources potential and create job opportunities.

Some 355 elementary, and 20 junior and 12 secondary schools have been built in

the region through government-public co-operation. The corresponding prerevolution figures were 106, 12 and 2.

2U
The medical college and a teacher training institute are also providing full

service and undergoing constant expansion and improvement.

Upwards of 788,000 adults have meanwhile successfully completed literacy

classes. The region's health services are being extended through two hospitala,

41 health stations and 71 clinics.

Short and long-term plans provide for a more rapid expansion of the region's

socio-economic, cultural and political infrastructure.

CSO: 3400/47

2^
ETHIOPIA

SOCIOECONOMIC, POLITICAL CHANGES IN WOLLO REGION REPORTED

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 15 Sep 83 p 3

[Text] Dessie (ENA)—The 1974 popular revolution has brought about tremendous socio-economic and political changes in Wollo region, leaving a positive

impact on the life of the over three million inhabitants of the region.

Wollo is very much attached with the upsurge of the Revolution and the notoriety of the feudal monarchy was exposed to the world after the incredible

death toll of the hidden famine.

Wollo consists of 12 provinces and 37 districts with a total population of

over 3.23 million people, it produces almost all the cereals growing in

Ethiopia and has minerals such as coal, iron, ore, gas and others.

The peasantry in the region has been organized into 1,257 associations with

a total membership of over 692,000. There are 36 peasants producers' cooperatives and service co-operatives with a membership of over 41,000.

The regional chapter of Revolutionary Ethiopia Youth Association (REYA) plays

a commendable role in integrating the youth in social, economic and political

fields of endeavour. The 411,095 REYA members in Wollo have 1,570 study units

and 363 discussion forums for political education.

The youth have been active in self-initiated development campaigns of community services and that 31,261 youth were to date mobilized into literacy stations during the last eight rounds of the national drive.

Over 516,000 women have been organized in Wollo under the regional chapter

of the Revolutionary Ethiopia Women's Association (REWA). They have been

particularly praised for their rearguard role in the defence of the unity and

territorial integrity of the Motherland. They have prepared and volunteered

imperishable food to the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

Industrial workers in Wollo number 12,536 and are organized under different

All Ethiopia Trade Union branches.

State farms in Wollo, such as the Tendaho and Chefa, have provided opportunities for the introduction of modern agricultural technology in the region.

26
The peasantry in the vicinities of the state farms have benefitted considerably

from modern farming practices of the farms which have also provided job opportunities to nearly 4,000 people.

Cattle breeding is well developed in Wollo region. There are about 11.5

million cattle in the region.

Industry, both heavy and small-scale, are operating in Wollo region. The

Komboltcha Meat Canning Factory, the Komboltcha Tannery and the Soft Drinks

Factory in Dessie are among the firms operating in Wollo.

i

Production in those firms surpassed by nine per cent their allotted quotas for

the last fiscal year thus earning a total of 19,410,719 birr.

The Meat Canning Factory produces canned meat from 200-300 head of cattle

every day while about 600,000 skins are produced annually from the Komboltcha

Tannery. The Soft Drinks Factory in Dessie has an annual earning of over

two million birr from the sale of its products since its nationalization.

Construction work is also underway over a textile project in Komboltcha. On

cpmpletion, the mill will provide job opportunities to more than 3,400 people.

Branch offices of the Ethiopian Domestic Distribution Corporation sell in the

region essential commodities and other items worth 36 million birr every year.

Only three towns had electricity before the 1974 Revolution while over 20 have

been electrified. Since then twenty towns today have access to potable drinking water. Wells have been sunk in areas with serious water shortage problems.

Transportation problem was among the leading limitation to development in Wollo

prior to the Revolution. Today, more than 2,000 miles of surface road have

been constructed mostly leading to inaccessible areas.

In addition, a microwave service facilitating direct communication link between Addis Ababa and Dessie, the capital of Wollo region has been installed.

The region's telecommunications centres are presently offering services to

2,900 clients.

There were very few health service centres during the pre-revolution period.

Since the Revolution, five hospitals, 12 health centres and 114 clinics were

established in line with the measures taken by the Revolutionary Government to

expand health services so as to meet the health care needs of the broad masses.

In comparison to the health services before 1974, the present health facilities

have grown by 325 per cent. The inhabitants of the region contribute to the

growth of health services. Over 900 Kebele health agents and traditional midwives have been trained and are serving the community.

A commendable stride has also been recorded in reducing the region's rate of

illiteracy which stood at 97 per cent during the feudo-bourgeois period. The

27
illiteracy rate has been reduced to its lowest level as a result of the national

literacy campaign.

A total of 3,056 adults were trained in various skills. Around 3,200 children

are enrolled in 47 kindergartens set up in the region after the Revolution.

Similarly, over 721,248 adults have been made literate through the past eight

rounds of the literacy campaign conducted in the region, a total

contribution of 1,490,683 birr was made by the inhabitants in support of the

National Literacy Campaign.

With regards to the afforestation campaign launched to combat soil erosion

and depletion of forests, over 120,000,000 tree-seedlings have been planted

of which over 70 per cent have successfully grown.

The inhabitants of Wollo region are reported to be intensifying their struggle

by consolidating the gains of the Revolution so as to realize the formation

of the party of the working people. They reaffirm their readiness to pay the

necessary sacrifices for the construction of an invincible defence force and

a socialist economy.

CSO: 3400/47

28
ETHIOPIA

TIGRAI REGION SCORES LAUDABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 15 Sep 83 p 8

[Text] Owing to the feudal system of land

tenure, the inhabitants of Tigrai region were made victims of hunger,

disease and ignorance during the prerevolution era.

The inhabitants of the region were

made owners of the land they till, following proclamation on the nationalization of rural lands after the upsurge

of the popular Ethiopian Revolution.

Tigrai region has eight provinces

with 56 districts inhabited by

2,245,800 people. It has an area, of

65,000 square kilometers and its

nationalities comprise the Afar, Agew,

Oromo, Kunama and Tigrigna speaking people.

In line with the guidelines of the

revolution, the people of Tigrai region

availed themselves of the opportunity

to organize themselves into urban

dwellers, peasants' associations and

trade unions. They carry out self-initiated development schemes, such as afforestation soil and water conservation

and cattle-rearing.

Efforts are also underway in the region to organize peasants and handicraftsmen into producers cooperatives

thereby laying the basis for the socialist mode of production.

With regard to educational development,, the number of schools after the

revolution has increased three-fold

compared with those which existed before the Revolution. There are a total

of 482 schools in the region today.

There were only two kindergartens

located in the towns of Axum and

Makale before the revolution. These

have grown to 38 at present and enroll

3,159 children.

The inhabitants of Tigrai are pre-*

sently being emancipated from the

schackles of illiteracy as a result of the

nation-wide literacy drive proclaimed

by the Revolutionary Government.

With the active participation of the

region's inhabitants in the National

Literacy Campaign within the framework of the first to the eighth rounds

of the literacy programme, over

155,953 adults have been made literate.

As regards health services, very few

health service facilities and centres

existed before 1974. Today the facilities have increased by two-fold in line

with the motto 'health for the broad

masses'.

In the 23 towns of Tigrai region,

four town councils, five special highers, 14 special Kebeles have been established. Ten of the towns are administering themseleves.

In the area of road communication, a

total of 848 kilometers road network

has been opened within the region.

29
Following the onset of the Ethiopian

Revolution, the old manual system of

telephone connections has been replaced by an automatic telephone exchange

service.

Immense contributions are being

made by the youth of Tigrai region for

the progress of the Ethiopian Revolution. There are 56 district REYA chapters and 209 basic youth associations

in the region.

The peasants of the region are mounting their efforts to strengthen their

organization and to ensure that the revolution attains its objectives and so

that COPWE's mission is realised.

Immense victories have also been

registered in the social, political, economic, and military fields of endeavour as a result of the struggle waged

and still being waged by members of

the reerional All Ethiopia Trade Union

(AETU).

On the whole, the Inhabitants of

Tigrai region continue to play ar

active part in the ideological and arm'

struggle. They are always prepared tc

pay the necesary sacrifices for the for

mation of the party of the workin»-

people, for a strong defence force anr'

for the construction of a socialist eco

nomy. (ENA)

CSO: 3400/47

30
ETHIOPIA

SOCIOECONOMIC, POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT OF GAMO GOFFA REPORTED

Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 16 Sep 83 pp 1, 3

[Text] Arba Mintch (ENA)—One of the most neglected regions during the former

regime, Gamo Goffa region has been transformed into a dramatically changing

area with promising socio-economic and political developments.

Gamo Goffa which is located in south west Ethiopia is inhabited by 1,300,000

people speaking some 22 vernaculars.

This region which is braced with beautiful natural resources of rivers, valleys

forestry and wildlife has an area of 40,100 sq. kilometers consisting of four

provinces and 22 districts.

Following the upsurge of the 1974 Revolution, encouraging results were registered with the active participation of the inhabitants of the region in various national endeavours including political, economic and social fields.

The inhabitants of the region, whose main occupation is farming, have been

organized into 795 peasants associations. Ninety-eight peasants service

cooperatives and 18 producers cooperatives have been established so far.

More than 1000 peasants and 726 women were given training in various vocational

skills.

A total of 2811 workers have been organized into basic sectors and branches

of the All Ethiopia Trade Union.

Over 435 handicraftsmen have also been organized into 11 service and four

producers cooperatives which are presently stepping up their development efforts.

A total of 2777 hectares °^ farm plots have been cultivated in the region

since the establishment of three state farms.

Urban Dwellers' Associations have also been formed in four provinces and 22

districts of the region.

31
In line with the directives given by the Revolutionary Government and COPWE to

organize the Revolutionary Ethiopia Women's Youth Associations (REWA and

REYA), the youth of Gamo Goffa region have been organized into four provinaial,

21 district and 298 basic REYA chapters, while women were organized into 801

basic REWA chapters.

As a result of the intense efforts exerted expand the number of social service institutions in the region, the three hospitals, seven health centres,

58 clinics and 276 health personnel are rendering health services with commendable effort.

A total of 235,284 persons were offered primary health care training courses

during the previous year while 87 health agents and 111 traditional midwives

underwent modern training.

Similarly encouraging development was also seen in the education field. Accordingly, the number of elementary schools, 61 before the Revolution, has

grown to 229 while the junior and senior secondary schools are presently

seven. Student enrollment stands at 791,794 and that of teachers if 1925.

A total of 160,686 adults have been emancipated from illiteracy since the

launching of the nation wide literacy campaign. There are 23 kindergartens.

Some 565 kms. of all weather road running to formerly inaccessible areas of

the region were also constructed in the last nine years.

Telephone and postal services have been upgraded after the Revolution thus

opening communication facilities in the four provinces of the region.

In line with the measures taken to restore the wildlife and forestry resources

of the nation, a total of 4,025,581 various kinds of tree seedlings have been

planted through a number of afforestation campaigns launched in the region.

The regional branch of the Ethiopian Domestic Distribution Corporation has

distributed consumer goods worth 13,245,097 birr to the inhabitants of Gamo

Goffa during the production year 1973-74 E. C.

With the encouragement of the Government sports activities have also been intensified in the region. There are 22 sports clubs and 218 temas actively

engaged in the promotion of sports in Gamo Goffa region, it was learnt.

CSO: 3400/47

32
ETHIOPIA

BRIEFS

JIBAT-METCHA CO-OP—Ambo (ENA)—The co-operative movement among peasants in

Jibat-Metcha province, Shoa region, is producing satisfactory results in the

social, economic and political fields. A total of 133 service co-operatives

are functioning in the province with a capital of 3,106,972 birr according to

Comrade Bekalu Teffera, Head of the Co-operatives Affairs of the provincial

COPWE. Comrade Bekalu described the activities of the service co-operatives

as highly encouraging and exemplary. The co-operatives in the current fiscal

year distributed goods valued at upwards of 3,200,000 birr which were purchased from the Domestic Distribution Corporation. They also built warehouses,

flour mills, offices and shops. One of the co-operatives has started cattlebreeding centre. There are presently 33 peasants producers' co-operatives

in the preparatory stages in the province. [Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN

HERALD in English 17 Sep 83 p 3]

GRAIN MARKETING IN SHOA—Nazareth (ENA)—Grain marketing task forces in Shoa

region have been commended for collecting over 1,026,426 quintals of grain from

individual peasants during the last production year. The task forces are understood to have collected grain and cereals from peasants and supplied them to

central markets for sale to the public through co-operative shops in regulated

prices. Yerer-Kereyu and Haikotch-Butajira provinces of Shoa region were top

on the list in meeting their quotas of grain supply allocated by the Grain Marketing Corporation. Modern silos of 787,000 quintals capacity have been installed in different parts of the region and more grain storage facilities

are under construction. The storage capacity is around 60,000 quintals. Grain

marketing task forces and the corporation are joining forces in ensuring systematic distribution of agricultural products in urban centres through a centralised mechanism. The aim in view is to curb merchant profiteering and artificial shortage of essential commodities. [Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN

HERALD in English 17 Sep 83 p 3]

KEY BAHIR GETS LIVESTOCK—Asmara (ENA)—Some 400 domestic animals have been

distributed among people dislocated as a result of secessionist banditry in

Kay-Bahir province of Eritrea region. The Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International

Committee of the Red Cross were behind the resettlement project. [Text] [Addis

Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 17 Sep 83 p 3]

RAIN DAMAGE IN ASSOSSA—Assossa (ENA)—Torrential rains accompanied by hailstorm caused damage recently to crops in Assossa district of Wollega region.

33
The two-day heavy downpour destroyed harvest on 353 hectares of farm plots.

Crops on another 312 hectares were damaged, according to the Hoha settlement

project. Meanwhile, three persons died overwhelmed hy flood in Wegera district, Gondar region. The heavy downpour also caused a landslide which killed

several head of cattle. Some 50 head of cattle were reported to have been

swept away by the flood while the heavy rain also destroyed crops on farm

fields. Meanwhile, a heavy downpour accompanied by gusty wind destroyed 16

residential units and several grain storages in Gende-Beret district of Shoa

region recently. [Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 17 Sep

83 p 3]

GONDAR INFRASTRUCTURES—Gondar (ENA)—Various infrastructural facilities built

by the inhabitants of Gondar region were made operational last Tuesday. Over

2,400,000 birr was raised towards the construction of a multi-purpose institute, a revolution square, a stadium and a slaughter house. The regional AEPA

office and dwelling units built for the executive members of the association

at a cost of 88,981 birr and an office of the Development Campaign and Planning

Council of Gondar province and the provincial mass organizations village are

now operational. The facilities were inaugurated by Comrade Melaku Teferra,

COPWE Central Committee member and COPWE representative for Gondar region.

A permanent pictorial exhibition, sponsored by mass organizations, was also

opened during the week. [Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English

7 Sep 83 p 6]

AUSTRIAN DONATION—The National Water Resources Commission yesterday secured a

donation of wind mills and assorted water pumps valued at over 800,000 birr

from the government of Austria. At a ceremony held at the Akaki Water Resources

Commission central warehouse, Comrade Kefyalew Achamyeleh, Deputy Commissioner

of the NWRC received the donation from H. E. Mr. Herbert Traxl, Ambassador of

Austria to Socialist Ethiopia. Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Traxl

said that the consignment would be of help in sinking more drinking water wells

and economize energy. Further assistance would continue, he added. [Text]

[Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 16 Sep 83 p 1]

DEFENSE SQUAD CERTIFICATES—Mettu (ENA)—A total of 475 defence squad members

from eight kebele peasants' association in Sor-Geba province, Illubabor region, received certificates Tuesday upon completion of a three-month training

in ideological education and military skills. Comrade Simeon Galore, COPWE

Central Committee member and COPWE representative for Illubabor region, handed

over certificates to the defence squad members. Speaking on the occasion,

Comrade Simeon said that Revolutionary Ethiopia had attained the present stage

of the Revolution by overcoming internal enemies and foreign aggressors through

the sacrifices of her genuine sons and daughters. He urged the trainees to

work earnestly and honestly for the realization of the country's bright future.

Speaking earlier, Comrade Aregay Ayele, Administrator of the Sor-Geba province,

and Comrade Berhanu Merga, Chairman of the regional peasants' association made

a statement in which they noted that the people in the region had earlier provided militiamen to serve in the various warfronts while providing a rearguard

force in defence of the Motherland. Present at the ceremony were Comrade Animut Kinde, Chief Administrator of Illubabor region, regional COPWE committee

3U
members, Military Commissar of the region and representatives of mass organizations and government agencies. [Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in

English 15 Sep 83 p 5]

POLITICAL CADRES GRADUATE—The sixth batch of cadres who have followed a fourmonth political refresher course at the Political School of the Revolutionary

Army graduated here yesterday. The graduation ceremony took place at the assembly hall of the Political School where cadres with outstanding results in

Marxism-Leninism, in discipline and in other fields received prizes. The

course has provided the political cadres the opportunity of visiting factories

and co-operative institutions in order to relate theory with practice and to

have a better understanding of the objective conditions of the country. Comrade Col. Kibret Gonite, First Deputy Head of the Main Political Department

of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and COPWE Central Committee member, handed

over the prizes to the political cadres. Comrade Col. Kibret said on the occasion that the political cadres are expected to make immense sacrifices to

spread ideological education among the members of the Revolutionary Army and

to implement the objectives of COPWE. Comrade Col. Kibret further advised the

cadres to bear in mind their duty in the task of reaffirming the supremacy of

the broad masses and of withstanding the attacks directed against the Revolution and the Motherland by internal and external reactionary forces under the

patronage of imperialism. Speaking earlier, Comrade Major Reta Wakjira, Administrator of the Political School, described the graduating political cadres as

vanguard revolutionaries who contributed significantly to defend the gains of

the Ethiopian Revolution in the political, military, economic and social fields

and to help register greater victories in the revolutionary process. (ENA)

[Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 15 Sep 83 p 5]

JIJIGA WATER STORAGE—Jijjiga (ENA)—A water storage tank of the three million

litre capacity has been constructed by the Livestock Development Project in

Jijjiga province, Hararghe region. The construction cost of the tank, which

can provide water for 1,000 cattle for three consecutive months, was 111,658

birr. It was learnt that the facility would serve for 50 years. Comrade Kassegn Feleke, COPWE representative for Jijjiga province, said at the inaugural

ceremony that cattle breeders in the area had suffered for long from the

problem of water scarcity. He recalled that the local people used to pay for

water for their cattle, which often proved to be beyond their means. Comrade

Kassegn admonished the community to properly handle the facility and reminded

them of the need to remain vigilant against any sabotage owing to the fact

that the tank was only 20 kms from the border. Earlier, a representative of

the cattle development project appreciated the material contribution and labour

volunteered by the cattle breeders and a community as a whole. [Text] [Addis

Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 13 Sep 83 p 13]

JIJIGA LIVESTOCK PROJECT—Jijiga (ENA)—The Jijiga Livestock Development Project in Hararghe region has initiated numerous cattle breeding, rangelands development, veterinary service and feeder road construction activities on a

33,000 square kms patch of land during 1982-83. A major initiative taken was

the establishment of seven livestock breeders' associations among which nearly

500 improved stock of cattle were distributed. Upwards of a million head of

cattle and other animals were vaccinated against endemic diseases in Jijiga,

35
Gursum and Deghabour provinces during the year, according to project officials.

Access roads totalling 155 km in length were built and numerous water holes and

springs were sunk during the same period. The project is being undertaken in

the framework of a broader programme aimed at the permanent settlement of the

traditionally nomadic population in the Ogaden area of eastern Ethiopia. [Text]

[Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 9 Sep 83 p 3]

DEBRE SINA FACILITIES—-Debre Berhan (ENA) —Public facilities—including two

assembly halls, a kindergarten and 15 low-cost houses—constructed at a total

cost of 87,500 birr were inaugurated during the week in Debre Sina town of

Shoa region. The inaugural ceremony was highlighted with the award of certificates to organizations and individuals who made material and financial contributions in the construction work of the facilities. Comrade Belda Dadi,

COPWE representative for Yifat-Timuga province, spoke at the inaugural ceremony noting that the local community should develop self-help practice. He

also appreciated the sense of community co-operation in the implementation of

the venture. Comrade Tirsit Sium, administrator of Debre Sina said earlier,

that the newly constructed dwelling units would help ease the problem of

housing shortage in the town. [Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in

English 9 Sep 83 p 3]

AEPA DELEGATION RETURNS—A seven-man All Ethiopia Peasants' Association delegation headed by Comrade Abdella Sonnesa returned here yesterday following a

study tour of four friendly socialist countries. The 26-day visit covered

Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, Bulgaria and the Soviet Union.

Comrade Abdella, Chairman of the AEPA, said on arrival here at the Airport

that the delegation signed cooperation agreement with the AEPA counterpart in

the Czechoslovak People's Republic and also renewed previous agreement with

that in the People's Republic of Bulgaria. He said the agreement provides

for, among others, the training of AEPA cadres and the regular exchange of experience in the area of agriculture and agriculture-oriented activities. The

delegation is understood to have visited several co-operative farms in the four

socialist countries and to have made useful exchange of ideas with counterparts. Discussions were likewise held on areas of co-operation in the mutual

struggle for world peace and the quest for general and comprehensive disarmament. The delegation was welcomed at the airport by Comrade Hunegnaw Ijigu,

Deputy Chairman of the AEPA, and members of the Association's Executive Committee. (ENA) [Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 9 Sep 83

P 3]

OFFICERS GRADUATE—Holeta (ENA)—The second batch of officers trained at the

Combined Higher Military Training School received certificates and prizes yesterday on completion of a five month course in military science and political

education. The officers had distinguished themselves in their long-services

in the Revolutionary Army as well as for their heroism and industriousness.

Selected from the four sector commands, the officers had followed leadership

training and had acquired knowledge of military science during their training

session to reinforce their practical experience. Certificates and prizes to

the officers were handed over by Comrade Brig. Gen. Hailu Gebre-Michael,

Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces, at a ceremony held

at the Holeta Genet within the compound of the school. Speaking at the

36
ceremony, Comrade Brig. Gen. Hailu called on the officers to follow the good

example set by heroic members of the Revolutionary Army and to fulfil their

duties in the revolutionary struggle. Earlier, Comrade Brig. Gen. Esceto

Mekonnen, Commandant of the training school, said that the course was conducted in accordance with the directives given by the Revolutionary Government

and COPWE to further strengthen the national defence. The ceremony was attained

by senior officers of the Ground Forces, comrades from socialist countries

and other invited guests. [Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English

11 Sep 83 pp 1, 6]

POLITICAL SCHOOL GRADUATES—The 16th batch of trainees at the Yekatit '66 Political School graduated yesterday. The 260 participants in the specially organized month-long training course comprised judges, prosecutors and registrars drawn from the various branches of the Ministry of Law and Justice.

Certificates of accomplishment were handed over by Comrade Roberto Jiggano,

Director of the Yekatit '66 Political School and COPWE Central Committee member. Comrade Roberto underlined the pivotal role of trained cadres in the

legal profession in countries which, like Ethiopia, are in a stage of transition. He said committed service to the causes of the revolution, the broad

masses and to the nation's set objectives must be a priority concern of the

graduating batch. Representatives of the graduates later presented various

equipment for use by the Political School. Present on the occasion were Comrade Abdulmenan Ahmed, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Comrade Kebede Gebre-Mariam, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Law and Justice, and staff members of the Political School, as well as relatives and

friends of the graduates. (ENA) [Text] [Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in

English 9 Sep 83 pp 1, 3]

CSO: 3400/47

37
GHANA

BRIEFS

CHANGE IN CURRENCY RATE--The Bank of Ghana announces for the information of

authorized dealers that with immediate effect, the Bank of Ghana notice to

banks number BGF 832 of April 28, 1983, concerning the administration of

surcharges and other schemes is no longer operative. Accordingly, authorized

dealers are informed that with effect from tomorrow, all foreign exchange

transactions should be conducted at the rate of U.S. $1 to 30 cedis, that is

the equivalent of the existent surcharge rate of 9.9. [Text] [AB102055

Accra Domestic Service in English 2000 GMT 10 Oct 83]

OUTGOING POLISH ENV0Y--The outgoing Polish charge d'affaires in Ghana,

Mr Kazimier Drabowski, today paid a farewell call on the chairman of the

PNDC [Provisional National Defense Council], Flight Lieutenant Jerry John

Rawlings at the Castle, Osu. In a discussion, the envoy spoke about his

country's experiences in its development. He said the PNDC has a great

advantage so far as the PDCS [People's Defense Committees] are concerned

in the revolutionary process. Mr Dabrowski, however, cautioned that without

the central authority, there will be anarchy. The envoy emphasized that

the PDCS must realize that they cannot function without consulting the

people at the grassroots. On his part, Flight Lt Rawlings said Ghana has

a lot to learn from the Polish experience. [Text] [AB111900 Accra Domestic

Service in English 1800 GMT 11 Oct 83]

ENIN RECEIVES SPANISH AMBASSADOR—The Spanish ambassador to Ghana, Mr Jose

Maria Sierra y Nava, today called on Mrs Anna Enin, member of the PNDC

[Provisional National Defense Council] at the castle. The envoy explained

to her the foreign policy of the Spanish Government with special emphasis

on [words indistinct]. On bilateral relations, Mr Nava underlined the good

relations between the two countries and mentioned several projects for

cooperation. He disclosed that a Spanish vessel will arrive at Tema harbor

next month with 2,500 tons of goods as a gift from the Spanish Government.

Most of the proceeds from the sale of the goods will be paid into funds to

support all specified hospitals in Ghana. Mrs Enin told the envoy that the

PNDC is following a policy of nonalignment in the interest and well-being

of the majority of Ghanaians as a guiding principle. In this regard, the

PNDC will accept aid either from the East or the West so far as this basic

objective is not compromised. [Text] [AB112115 Accra Domestic Service in

English 2000 GMT 11 Oct 83]

CSO: 3400/63

38
GUINEA

SEKOU TOURE INTERVIEWED ON SUMMIT, CHAD, OTHER ISSUES

AB081120 Conakry Domestic Service in French 0645 GMT 7 Oct 83

[Interview granted by President Ahmed Sekou Toure, supreme leader of the

revolution, to unidentified representatives of 18 media houses—radio,

press agency, television and newspaper—at his official residence at the

Grand Hotel in Vittel on Tuesday, 4 October 1983--recorded]

[Text] [Question] Mr President, now that the summit has really matured,

do you think that this kind of meeting is useful and can solve the problems

that are presented to it?

[Toure] We are not yet at the end of our deliberations; it is difficult

to give impressions. However, I can assert that the atmosphere in which

the deliberations are taking place convinces us that they are useful and

will certainly lead to positive results. This kind of meeting enables

partners to understand one another and without understanding it is difficult

to reach a unity of action among states so diverse in their development

standards and even in their preoccupations concerning their government and

people. This is to say that we have the right framework, and the contents

of the deliberations are guarantees for a positive result.

[Question] I think that everybody here realizes the fact that Chad has

been dominating Vittel. Can you explain to us where the debates are

heading and what will probably be, if necessary, the suggested solution?

[Question by another journalist] And what has become of what is already

being termed the Guinean initiative?

[Question indistinct by another journalist]

[Toure] I think that the Chadian problem, which has already been preoccupying

most countries of the world and in particular those in Africa, really

deserves a prime place at this conference attended by nearly 40 African

heads of state and Chad. The problem was presented in so many ways that

it caused some confusion. The way the data of a problem are presented can

make its solution either easy or difficult.

39
As for us, we took into consideration the fundamental interests of the

Chadian people. Beyond the leaders, the Chadian people and state must be

our first consideration since they are lasting entities, while human beings

come into being and die—although some human beings embody everlasting

values too.

In the interest of the people, we have considered the safeguarding of the

territorial integrity of the Chadian nation and the safeguarding of the

Chadian people's unity. And obviously, to attain these goals, a climate is

required, and this climate can only be the unity of the cadres and the

political parties and of the Chadian sons, which is only possible through

reconciliation among the Chadian people who are manifesting their division.

The three points are as follows: territorial integrity, national unity,

and the safeguarding of the Chadian state's sovereignty. Finally, of

paramount importance in reaching these goals, national reconciliation is

required.

[Question] Under which form? What form can it take?

[Question by another journalist] [words indistinct] Can they meet now?

Who will meet whom? [words indistinct]

[Question by another journalist] Do you feel that Hissein Habre is ready

to sit at a negotiation table, to negotiate with Goukouni, his enemy

brother?

[Toure] I do not feel, I am sure. It is no longer a question of impression

as President Hissein Habre made a speech appealing to the conference in

order to get from it the required help to create the conditions for a

national reconciliation. I am convinced that if the states that are represented here give their support to the Chadian Government and contact all

the Chadians now involved in the war, no doubt this reconciliation will

come to pass. This will give relief to the Chadian people as well as to

all friendly people.

[Question] Have you already gotten Libyan reaction or have you had contacts

with Libyans while having discussions here? Are contacts being made with

Al-Qadhdhafi from Vittel? During your talks here, are there any talks

now with Libyans?

[Toure] Al-Qadhdhafi has said that he is not a party involved in the war.

The official stand of my brother Al-Qadhdhafi is that it is the Chadians

fighting for power who are at the source of the war in Chad. In that case,

those who are particularly concerned are the Chadians, and this is why,

by tackling the problem of reconciliation among the Chadians, we will have

reached the solution of peace in Chad.

[Question] Mr President, Hissein Habre wants only to negotiate with Libya

and then with the Chadians afterward. [words indistinct]

Uo
[Toure] This was an earlier stand strongly asserted by Hissein Habre.

We could not take that into account. We only consider what he has just

told us here.

[Question] Has he changed his stand?

[Toure] I do not know whether he has changed. As far as I am concerned,

he has not changed because the aim is the same. The external aspects of

a situation can be changed, and the circumstances we are examining

determine what the best courses to take are.

[Question] Mr President, do you feel now that Habre is ready to negotiate?

[Toure] Hissein Habre has stated his total readiness to hold talks with

all Chadians with a view to establishing political unity in Chad, as

condition for peace for the Chadian people and I grant this statement all

the required value. This is an unequivocal political stand, and this is

why Guinea asked the conference to take this appeal into consideration and

to grant the necessary help to the Chadians in order to achieve this reconciliation.

[Question indistinct]

[Toure] Of course, a political determination will be formulated which will

indicate the direction to be taken by the activities of all. What is necessary here is the unity of all, that is, the nobility of the aims and objectives which are to be achieved.

[Question] Mr President, [words indistinct] some heads of state do not

quite agree with the speech made by President Mobutu.

[Toure] I do not know about that. All those present at the conference

hailed the speech by President Mobutu here. What President Mobutu stated

was of course the expression of the will of our people and states.

[Question] Mr President you are going to be the AOU president next June.

You already have before you two big problems, the Chadian and Western

Saharan problems. In what way are you preparing yourself?

[Toure] Well, I don't think the problems of Chad and Western Sahara are

the only major problems that preoccupy the peoples of Africa. We have far

more serious economic and political problems, and I think, for example, the

Namibian question is a major one. South Africa's acts of aggression against

many neighboring countries such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola constitute

a very serious problem that must preoccupy the peoples of Africa. We

also have the problem of the valuation of our raw materials. And today with

the prevailing world economic crisis, the consequences of which are very

telling on the living conditions of our peoples, we have the duty to review

our economic programs and to join forces to find rapid and rational solutions to remedy them. I know that the Chadian and Western Saharan problems

continue to bother us, but they are not our only preoccupations.

kl
[Question] Mr President, have Mr Goukouni and his collaborators already

been informed of the new stand you have just taken?

[Toure] For the moment, no official decision has been made here and the

conference through its recommendations will indicate its viewpoints on the

problems it will examine. Before Mr Goukouni or other personalities

[words indistinct]. We cannot speak in advance about Mr Goukouni's reaction

when the declaration has not been made public.

[Question] [Words indistinct] this evening during the press conference?

[Toure] I believe that since the conference ends today, it will make

clear its viewpoints on the various issues confronted by the summit.

[Question] Mr President, you said the conference will provide the means

[words indistinct]?

[Toure] Who spoke about means to provide to Hissein Habre?

[Question] The means to attain national reconciliation?

[Toure] No, I said the means to satisfy the noble ideals, respect for

territorial integrity, safeguarding of the unity of the Chadian people.

The means, I repeat, is first of all the political reconciliation, that

is, for every goal there is a means, and here the means is for the Chadians

to be able to create a climate of peace and concord.

[Question indistinct]

[Toure] And the means here does not refer to a material point. I am

speaking in your language, French, in which 'means' is not always objective.

[Question indistinct]

[Toure] If you like, the determining factor to achieve these goals is

political reconciliation.

[Question] Do you have a way of implementing the recommendations you will

make at this conference?

[Toure] The conference will say it today. We say the OAU still has its

responsibility with respect to each member state and Chad is a member state,

a founding member state of the OAU. But can the conference decide here

what duties must be given to the OAU? We shall discuss this, but for the

moment I will not answer.

[Question] Following this conference, under what form will the new group

hold discussions on the Sekou Toure initiative? Has a date been fixed

for such a meeting?

k2
[Toure] You want to christen an unborn child whose sex we do not yet know!

[laughter] With me you must be careful in an interview.

[Question] But it is customary...

[Toure] I would want logic to prevail in our dialogue. I cannot anticipate.

The declaration has not yet been made public so that I can comment on it.

[Question] But have you already had some contacts this very morning with

several (?heads of state)?

[Toure] This goes without saying. I made all the necessary contacts.

[Question] Would you consider Mr Goukouni Oueddei [words indistinct]?

[Toure] I cannot tell. I do not have to say anything about the morality

of the attitude of my brother Goukouni, but I can appreciate the consequences

of the situation that pits Chadians against other Chadians.

[Question] Mr Goukouni himself does not recognize Hissein Habre as the

head of state of Chad or his president...

[Toure, interrupting] No, Goukouni said without any preconditions he is

prepared to hold discussions with Hissein Habre. That I have heard.

[Question] No...

[Toure, interrupting] Yes, I have heard that. I have the dispatch.

[Question] Mr President, how do you judge the intervention by the French

forces in Chad? [words indistinct]

[Toure] You are French and you can better appreciate the decisions of

your government, but I say that if African states had the means to assist

the brotherly country of Chad, they would willingly have done so. And in

view of the insufficiency of means at the disposal of African states,

France, which has entered into a legal agreement with Chad, had the right

to intervene; therefore, it intervened at the request of the legal Government of Chad.

[Question] [Words indistinct] OAU, how do you view the evolution of the

Saharan conflict and especially [words indistinct]?

[Toure] With pleasure as concerns the Saharan problem. I have dealt with

it in a declaration whose text you will get soon. But I would tell you

that in every action there are two fundamental data which are derived from

one another. The first datum is a purpose of action, the why of the action,

which at the same time defines the morality of the action. The second is

the means to be used in order to achieve the set goal. What do we want in

Western Sahara? It is peace. And this peace is only possible through

U3
consultation of the Sahara people. Therefore, for the OAU referendum becomes

the supreme goal to achieve and through which the Saharan people will indicate its preference.

[Question] So that, according to you, Mr President, all that is preventing

the implementation of this referendum is evidently an obstacle?

[Toure] I won't say that. The referendum has already been decided upon

by the OAU from Nairobi, and the meeting which was just held in Addis Ababa

from 21 to 22 of this month. [as heard] I participated in it in my

capacity as a member of the OAU Implementation Committee on Western Sahara.

The meeting discussed OAU Resolution 104 whose provision number 2 exhorted

the parties in the conflict to start direct negotiations. Article 3 invited

the Implementation Committee to convene a meeting as soon as possible with

the interested parties in the conflict with a view to defining the final

modalities for ceasefire and referendum. Article 2 was not fulfilled

because it was not possible to have these direct negotiations between

Morocco and the Polisario, but Article 3 was fulfilled since the members

of the committee went to Addis Ababa in order to define the modalities.

We therefore say that there has been no failure. The modalities have been

drawn up now and the two sides are going to present their points of view,

and certainly they will call for some amendments and the negotiations will

continue until the two sides fully agree with our proposals before they go

to the referendum. We therefore say that the essential thing for Western

Sahara is the referendum and all that oppose the referendum will therefore

want to revive the war, and we are satisfied that his majesty king of

Morocco declared on the platform of the United Nations, publicly and

solemnly, that Morocco feels obliged and bound to respect the results of

the referendum and that at any moment it is prepared for the OAU and the

United Nations to proceed with consultations with respect to the Saharan

people. As far as we are concerned, this is the essential thing. The rest

is the form to be taken by the action.

[Question] [Words indistinct] is that necessary?

[Toure] I would say it is not necessary to hold direct negotiations. You

are journalists, therefore, you participate in history. You cannot cite

me a case in which belligerent forces engaged in armed warfare managed all

by themselves to identify their points of dispute, to discuss them, and

to resolve them all by themselves. There is no such example.

[Question] Is there not?

[Toure] No, there is not! What step was France to take? There must always

be a third party. In Vietnam France played a role between America and the

Vietnamese and the conference was held in Paris. Israel has complied with

many ceasefire decisions without ever having to directly meet with the Arab

countries at a conference table. In the case of Namibia, South Africa does

not recognize the SWAPO and has never held direct negotiations with it.

kk
This justified the setting up of the contact group of which France is a

member and within which France plays a positive role.

In a nutshell, all the conflicts we know have so far been resolved thanks

to the mediation of a third party. If the formula of direct negotiations

made it possible to define the parties involved in the conflicts, it would

be meaningful. But now, such a formula cannot lead to a solution of the

Western Saharan issue. If a rapid and effective solution should be found,

then the OAU and the United Nations must continue to play a role until a

ceasefire is signed, a referendum held, the result of which must be

respected, as well as the decision of the Saharans themselves.

[Question] Last question, Mr President: Concerning the Chadian problem,

which is the most important? We have heard about Hissein Habre's new

attitude. He is said to be ready for reconciliation. However, are there

any preconditions for the withdrawal of the troops occupying northern Chad?

[Toure] I would request you to kindly wait for the declaration which will

consist of the conditions for the achievement of the objective.

[Journalists] Thank you, Mr President. [end recording]

CSO: 3419/28

hS
LESOTHO

MINISTER WANTS OBSERVER AT RSA MINE INQUEST

MB130833 Maseru Domestic Service in English 0500 GMT 13 Oct 83

[Text] The Lesotho Government yesterday informed the South African Chamber

of Mines that it will send a legal representative to any inquest that the

South African authorities will hold into the cause of the Hlobane coal mine

disaster. The disaster, which took place in Hlobane in the Natal Province

of South Africa on 12 September, killed some 63 miners, of whom 22 were

Basotho. There are some 150,000 Basotho working in the South African mining

industry annually. Soon after the disaster, officials of the black South

African Union of Mine Workers charged that the safety measures employed

at the mine were not adequate.

In a letter to the South African Chamber of Mines, the Lesotho minister of

planning, employment and economic affairs, who is also foreign minister,

Mr E.R. Sekhonyana, said that the Government of Lesotho had some vested

interest in the coal mine disaster. He added that in the event of an

inquest taking place in South Africa, he requested that the Government of

Lesotho be allowed to have some representatives on observer status. He

sought that Lesotho be advised of the date and venue of such an inquest.

Soon after the disaster, a national mourning service attended by King

Moshoeshoe II and the prime minister, Dr Leabua Jonathan, was held in

Maseru.

CSO: 3400/78

U6
LESOTHO

KING TO OPEN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

MB130826 Maseru Domestic Service in English 0500 GMT 13 Oct 83

[Text] His Majesty King Moshoeshoe II will officially open the inaugural

congress of the Southern African Development Research Association, SADRA,

and a workshop on development and destabilization in Southern Africa at

the National University of Lesotho [NUL] at Roma on Tuesday next week.

Making the announcement yesterday, the director of the Institute of

Southern African Studies at NUL, Dr (Michael Sefali), said the institute

was hosting the inaugural congress on behalf of SADRA.

Dr (Sefali) said delegates to the inaugural congress of SADRA will include

directors of research institutes as well as researchers and scholars from

universities in the nine member countries of the Southern African Development

Coordination Conference [SADCC], which are Angola, Botswana, Lesotho,

Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Scholars

from outside the SADCC countries have also been invited to present papers

on the theme of the workshop.

Dr (Sefali) said the decision to hold the workshop with a theme on development and destabilization in Southern Africa was taken at the second meeting

of the regional continuation committee of SADRA held in Maseru earlier this

year. He said the meeting of SADRA's regional continuation committee was

held against the background of increased destabilization campaigns by the

government of the Republic of South Africa against neighboring nations in

Southern Africa. This was exemplified by the December raid on Maseru last

year by the South African Defense Force.

The inaugural congress and workshop of SADRA will be conducted in two stages.

The first day, on Monday, will be strictly devoted to business matters such

as discussion of the report of the secretary of the regional continuation

committee, Dr (Sefali), and the adoption of the SADRA constitution, including

the election of the committees and officials of the organization. Dr (Sefali)

said for the rest of the congress and workshop, from Tuesday until Thursday

next week, the delegates will focus their deliberations on in depth discussion of the problems of development and destabilization in Southern Africa

in all its facets.

The foreign minister, the honorable E.R. Sekhonyana, will deliver the keynote

address on the opening session on Tuesday.

CSO: 3400/78

hi
LESOTHO

BRIEFS

OPPOSITION LEADER ISSUES APPEAL--The leader of the opposition United

Democratic Party of Lesotho, Mr Charles Mofeli, has appealed to the international community to stop giving economic aid to Lesotho until the prime

minister, Chief Leabua Jonathan, holds a free and fair election. The

appeal was made particularly to the governments of the United States,

Britain, France, West Germany, Canada, Italy, and the Scandinavian countries.

Mr Mofeli said Chief Jonathan had banned an opposition electioneering

campaign when he himself was campaigning in preparation for a general

election. He said the prime minister had turned to what he termed state

of emergency tactics as part of his plan to ban opposition parties in

Lesotho. Mr Mofeli said candidates of his party were being prevented by

the police from holding political rallies. A strong protest note had been

sent to the Lesotho commissioner of police, but so far no action had been

taken. [Text] [MB121108 Johannesburg International Service in English

0630 GMT 12 Oct 83]

CSO: 3400/78

i|8
SPECIAL THEFT COURT SITTINGS SUSPENDED

LIBERIA

Judges Suspended

Monrovia NEW LIBERIAN in English 9 Sep 83 pp 1, 10

[Text] in a surprise move

yesterday, the Head of

State and Chairman of

the PRC, CIC Dr.Samuel

Kanyon Doe, dismissed

the three judges of the

Special Theft Court

and suspended the

activities of the

court until new judges

are 'appointed.

: Dr. Doe took the

decision after he visited the court yesterday and later met

with the three judges

at the Executive Mansion.

According to an Executive Mansion press

release, the Liberian

leader said his decision to relieve the

judges was based on general misunderstanding

among them-, particularly their tendency

to be easily influenced by external forces,

coupled with poor credibility of their performance.

The three judges who

were appointed to the

post early last year

are Jimmie Geizue,

Arthur K. Williams

and Brig./Gen. Frank

Senkpeni.

The release quoted

the Head of State as

saying that the dismissal of the judges

did not affect the

structure nor the

functioning of the

court.

Last Tuesday morning , Chief Judge Geizue announced the

suspension of further

sittings of the court

until a controversy

between him and Judge

Williams could be resolved by the Head of

State.

In his reaction yesterday, Head of State

Doe said that drastic

action will be taken

against anvone caught

in indulging in such

misuse of his name.

Dr Doe said no one

should submit to such

pressure or intimidation, saying only v

a

le.tter from him.i.shbuid

be sufficient to 'determine action on a

particular matter.

According to the

press release, security forces have been

alerted to apprehend

anyone caught using

Dr. Doe's name to promote their selfish in--

terests.

ISUNDERSTANDING

The misunderstanding

between Judges Geizue

and Williams is said

to have started following the August 17

court's ruling on the

$160,000 insurance

claims case in favour

of S.B. Mensah, Asistant General Manager

of the"American International Underwriters

in Monrovia, and Abass

M. Ajami and Manohar1 Wadhwani, former owner

and comptroller of the

Liberia Battery Manufacturing Company.

h9
Judge Williams disented in the ruling.

Then came the releasing o£ original documents owned by the

Liberia Battery Manufacturing Company

(LBMC) which were tendered in evidence when

its former owner was

prosecuted.

," Lawyers for LBMC

last Tuesday requested

from the court their

original record, as

the company has been

[text missing]

won the case in the

.Theft Court.

Judge Geizue reportedly agreed to give

the lawyers only the

photocopies of the documents, stating that

he was doing so because the documents

have become part of

the court's record,

and so they could not

be released to LBMC.

Reports said Judge

Williams disagreed

with the Chief Judge

on grounds that the

LBMC was entitled to

its original copies of

the documents, since

the records rightfully

belonged to the company prior to their

coming to court.

SaäJME

An extensive argument between, the two

judges in the court's

chambers then ensued.

Chief Judge Geizüe

went into the courtroom where lawyers and

the accused in the $1.

9 million misapplication case had been

waiting, and announced

that trial of the case

had been suspended.

To the surprise of

those involved in the

Hilary Dennis case,

the Chief Judge said

the court would not

resume until the Head

pt State intervened in

the matter between him

and Judge Williams.

He said either he or

Judge Williams would

have to be removed

from the Theft Court,

as he could no longer

tolerate the disrespect continuously

shown by Judge Williams.

Judge Williams, for

his part, vowed to

make public in the

press certain covert

issues at the courTT

if the Head of State

asked him to write an

observation about the

misunderstanding between two of them.

50
Justice Questioned

Monrovia DAILY OBSERVER in English 9 Sep 83 p 4

[Editorial: "A Judicious Opportunity"]

[Text] THE SWIFj AND unexpected action which the Head of

State took yesterday in removing the three Judges of the

Special Theft Court provides an opportunity for Government

to take a closer look at the court, its functions , its performances to date, and the necessity for its continued existence.

FROM THE TIME that it was set up, the Court has been

the scene of squabbling among the Judges. It has;also come

under quiet criticism from a number of lawyers who felt that

there is no real need for a Special Court and that all cases of

alleged theft and other matters should be handled under the

regular Court system which operates with the Supreme Court

at the top.

SOME HA VE SAID, and rightly so, that part of the pro-

. Mem was that the Court felt too powerful since there was no

jury' which could pass verdict on evidence placed before if.

Additionally, the Court's decisions are final and no appeal

can be taken to another judicial authority.

THIS KIND OF Carte Blanche authority has led to all sorts

of things with the Judges frequently telling lawyers that it is a

special court and that normal rules and procedures do not apply. Sometimes, lawyers and witnesses have been given all

sorts of latitude that would not normally apply in a respectable court of record. „..,««

OF COURSE IF the Special Theft Court has strayed off

course as the Head of State pointed out in his action yesterday, more than the Judges are to be blamed for this situation.

FIRSTLY THERE ARE those in the Executive arm of Government whose duty it is to advise the Head of State and the PRC on

matters of Justice, and equal and fair treatment before the law. Have

they done their duty? ..,.«.

SECONDLY THERE ARE others in judicial authority whose

own functioning, authority and morale have certainly been affected

by the spectacle at the Theft Court and who should have brought

pressure to bear, either directly or indirectly, ir, order to remedy the

situation. Have they done their duty? '

THIRDLY, THERE ARE the lawyers in this country, organized

under the National Bar Association, whose very prestige, reputation

and daily bread are affected when the judiciary goes awry. In other

countries, particularly in other West African countries, the National

Bar Association is a powerful and influential organization and the

smooth operation of the entire legal and judicial system depends

upon their integrity and effectiveness as a professional force for

justice and fair play. Has our National Bar Association done its duty?THE ANSWER, /Nail three instances, would seem to be a resounding NO!

Si
TOO OFTEN IN this country we see a deteriorating situation and

fail to take the action expected of us, for a variety of reasons. Some

of us, because of plain complacency. Others, because we think that

what äs happening is favoured by those in authority. And, still

others, becasuse we are afraid that what we might say could affect us

personally.

WE FORGET THAT in the final analysis, we do ourselves and

our country a great disservice by not calling a spade a spade.

THE HEAD OF State took the action yesterday because of the recent behaviour of some of the Judges on the Bench and therefore in

the Executive Mansion Press release yesterday, he pointed out that

"the dismissal of the Judges does not affect the structure nor functioning of the Court."

WE DO NOT wish to make it appear that we are qualified to advise the Head of State on what is proper, but we feel that in the interest of ths nation, indeed, in the interest of justice, the dismissal of

the Judges should afford us the opportunity to look into the entire

need for a Special Theft Court.

IN ALL DUE respect, we wish to advise that the Head of State

should consult with the President and Members of the Legal Bar

Association, tSie Officials of the Justice Ministry, the Chief Justice of

the Supreme Court and the Chairman of the Supreme Military

Tribunal and get their advice and then determine whether the Specie!

Theft Court is serving any useful purpose ir. the administration of

justice in the country.

WHILE IT IS not for us to pass judgement OR the integrity and

honesty of those who have served as Judges of the Theft Court, it

would seem that the cloud which has overshadowed their hearings

since they began to sit testifies to the lack of transparent justice

which it was intended to mete out in the early days of the Revolution.

AS WE APPROACH the return of the country to civiiian rule in

this country, we are of the strong opinion that all of the courts of this

country must operate under the same judicial authority with the

Supreme Court at the top and under the same general rules and procedures.

FOR, IFJUSTICE is really blind and all must be held equal before

the law, then it is difficult to see how this can be done under different

systems of justice.

CSO: 3400/44

52
LIBERIA

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE DISCUSSES STUDENT UNREST

Monrovia DAILY OBSERVER in English 2 Sep 83 p 7

[Article by Robert M. Kesselly: "The Students' Dilemma—An Angry View"]

[Excerpt] Quite recently, students of this country have been under

{severe atack from both school authorities and the local press

for the outbreak of violence in some major institutions which

resulted in the flogging of some school administrators and the

subsequent damaging of school properties. This act on the

part of students has been termed by school authorities as.

"vandalism and lawlessness."

As usual, students charged

their authorities with misappropriating school funds

allocated for development purposes. When all efforts on their

part to get the authorities refund

their money and to bring improvements on campuses'

especially in the case of BWI,

they applied the "Mighty Makes

Rights" formula to solve their

problems.

Moreover, I want you

to remember that twothirds of the students

in this country are

the sons and daughters

of the proletariat and

peasantry and that

whatever amount of

money given to them

for scholastic affairs

was highly worked for.

Most of our parents

worked for long hours

in deplorable conditions

for low wages while

others in the hinterland

laboured from sunrise

to sunset just so as

to keep us in school

and to see such money

going into the pockets

of few who did not work

for it is something

painful.

There are some school administrators who might think

that I am advocating rebellion in

our schools. It is not so. Far

from that. I only want to find

the cause.

To say therefore that students

should only pay attention to

their academic struggle and

forget about existing realities is

something difficult to do,

because after leaving school it is

this same society that will either

accept or reject us based on the

type of life we want to live.

In his editorial of the July 14

edition of the Daily Observer the

editor maintained that

"something must be done to

curb the growing student unrest

in the country." I do agree with

him but it is also natural that

something must be done too to

stop these greedy and corrupt

school administrators from

misappropriating funds collected -from students for

development purposes.

CSO: 3400/45

53
LIBERIA

GOVERNMENT RECEIVES APOLOGY FROM WCL SECRETARY GENERAL

Monrovia DAILY OBSERVER in English 5 Sep 83 p 3

[Text] Labour Minister E. Sumo Jones has said that the Liberian government

reserves the right to be fully informed about the activities of foreign unionists wishing to visit Liberia for talks with any suspended union.

He said while the government was committed to its "open door" policy, visitors coming to hold discussions with officials of "unrecognized" organizations

in Liberia must first obtain permission from Government before entering into

the country.

Minister Jones, whose statement was contained in a Labour Ministry release

issued Thursday, made particular mention of a recent visit to Liberia by

Mr. Coen Damen, secretary general of the World Confederation of Labour, (WCL).

Mr. Damen arrived in Liberia Tuesday from Brussels upon the invitation of the

suspended National Agriculture and Allied Workers' Union of Liberia (NAAWUL).

Minister Jones pointed out that Mr. Damen wrote his ministry earlier this

year expressing his desire to visit Liberia, but was urged not to make the

trip as officials of the ministry would not be available to see him.

Minister Jones observed that Mr. Damen acted "out of character," and added

that his actions were inconsistent with the regulations of the International

Labour Organization of which the WCL is an affiliate.

He said Mr. Damen has already visited the headquarters of Liberia Marketing

Association, the National Teachers' Association, and addressed member of the

union at the William V. S. Tubman High School in Sinkor since his arrival in

the country.

Minister Jones described Mr. Damen's action as "unwholesome practice," which

he emphasised could have adverse consequences on workers who do not understand

the dynamics of global forces and trade unionism.

Meanwhile, the WCL secretary general has regretted the situation and apologized to the Liberian government through Minister Jones.

&
He told Labour Ministry officials during a meeting Thursday that he was not

aware of the suspension imposed by government on NAAWUL, and promised that he

would be guided by government's policy regarding the issue.

In separate remarks, the president of the National Teachers' Association and

the vice president of the Marketing Association who accompanied Mr. Damen to

the Labour Ministry, expressed regrets for the "embarrassing situation,"

and promised not to associate themselves with such practices in the future.—

LINA

CSO: 3400/45

£
LIBERIA

NATIONAL PORT AUTHORITY APPEALS FOR CALM IN OVERTIME ISSUE

Monrovia DAILY OBSERVER in English 2 Sep 83 p 3

[Text ] The Managing Director of the

National Port Authority (NPA),

Dr. J. Bernard Blamo, has appealed to workers of the Marine

Department at the port to remain calm in their demand for

the payment of over $70,000 owed them by management.

He said although management

was aware of its obligations to

the workers, it is presently faced

with serious financial problems

which has made it. difficult to

pay the "legitimate overtime"

earned by the workers from May

through August, 1982.

In. September last year, the

workers lodged a complaint to

the Ministry of Labor against

NPA management for failure to

pay. justifiable overtime earned

by them (workers), even though

the- hours had been approved by

their immediate department

head.

Following the complaint, an

investigation was conducted by

the Ministry at which time it was

observed that NPA had "wilfully, wrongfully and without any

legal color of right refused to

pay the employees' legitimate

overtime hours."

It was then ruled by the Labor

Ministry on September 23, 1982

that the NPA management pay

the employees' overtime hours at

CSO: 3400/45

the rate of time and a half to

which management premised to

comply.

But, to the workers surprise,

management did not meet irp

with the promise made to the

Labor Ministry.

Instead, a memorandum was

issued early last September announcing an official working

hours of the Marine Department.

The memorandum, however,

clarified that where a vessel had

to "sail or berth between 1500

hours and 1700 hours", the

marine pilot would request that

the second shift continue the

operation for which they would

be paid.

It concluded: "I fcffief pilot

and harbor master) am convincf ed of the conviction that the new

official working hours will

enable the Marine Department

to monitor the activities of the

personnel whilst curbing all irregularities leading to

absenteeism and unnecessary

overtime."

Despite the memorandum, a

spokesman for the workers said

they had continued to work extra hours without any compensation.

It was in this light, the

spokesman added, that on

August 22, 1983, workers of the

Marine Department wrote

management informing them of

their discontinuation to work

overtime because of management's failure to comply with

ruling of the Ministry of Labor.

%
LIBERIA

DE-MONOPOLIZATION OF OIL IMPORTS EXAMINED

Monrovia DAILY OBSERVER in English 8 Sep 83 pp 4, 6, 7

[Article by Joseph A. Davies]

[Text] Recently, the People's

Redemption Council Government, headed by Dr. Samuel K.

Doe, published an Executive Ordinance designed to .demonopolize the importation of

petroleum products, a functional responsibility of the

Liberia Petroleum Refining

Company, LPRC. By opening

the market to all interested

dealers, traders, et. al,, it is

hoped the nation could be

spared from embarrassment of a

petroleum product shortage as

was experienced in March,, 1983;

and hopefully, reduced prices at

the pump, if such could occur

through the forces of demand

and supply as is found in free

competitive markets.

The effects of this Executive

Ordinance could relieve government from oil imports financing.

The allocation of the foreign ex-,

change earnings would then be

put to viable socio-economic

projects.

Although one must hail this as'

a step in the proper direction,

however, the implications and

technical ramifications resulting

from this Ordinance must be

understood, analyzed, and placed in the proper framework,

whi|e expecting-solutions.

Within this context, I hereby

present this analytical review of

the Ordinance which is designed\

to de-monopolize oil imports;

the implications, prospects, and

consequences on the national

economy, and in like manner

recommend what is determined

as a mean* to resolveiÜB apparent contradictions.

Implications Of "&<* -

monopolization Of Oil Imports

What are the benefits of

policy pronouncements in terms

of economic confusion? Policy

pronouncements have the effect

of defining a position on.a particular issue, be it controversial,

political, economical, or

technical; providing clarity, consistency, and demarcating one's

own position from the conflict.

On the other hand, the success

of a government policy pronouncement depends upon its

agent or agency responsible to

formulate, articulate, implement, and review said policy,

and ensure society's maximum

benefits. Therefore^ a policy

which,is accompanied by.a clearly defined agency is good and

can become successful. While on

the other hand, a policy without"

an agency could be translated

bad or become unsuccessful.

The policy to de-monopolize

oil imports and thus open the

market to dealers, traders, et.

al., does not have a qualified,

suitable agency . responsible to

formulate, articulate, implement, and. review said policy ordinance while ensuring the maximum benefits of the society.

Therefore, this policy could be

doomed to*failure,'-if.

The- implications of

an open) market system to support the importation ' of

petroleum products, is consistent with Liberia's avowed belief

in the Free Market System, and

the nation's Open Door Policy.

It is a demonstration of clarity in

Liberia's economic philosophy,

and a commitment to uphold the

principles of a free enterprise

economy.

Liberia's present state* of the

economy is one of stagnation, 11-

liquidity deficit balance of trade,

lagging productivity, and an extensive government ownership

and control of productive assets."

To remove these plaguing shortcomings, the International

Monetary Fund, IMF, has been

and is offering Liberia

assistances to support government budgetary expenditures

and provide additional Special

Drawing Rights, SDR, to. reduce

57
the affects ,of:

' deficit trade

balances.

It is within the context of the

latter thaV the government is

forced tq tie-monopolize oil importatiörhrV the hope of improving thenatrort's liquidity.

What difference does it make

if government r or LPRC, or a

private dealer were to bear the

costs of oil importation? The

National Bank of Liberia, NBL,

would still have to allocate

foreign exchange; whether

foreign exchange earned from

exports, or IMF allocation of

SDR's, does not really matter

within the framework of Liberia

macro-economics. What is important and is at issue, isthat the

"financing of oil importation requires/foreign exchange.

Whether foreign exchange

allocated, earned from exports,

or generated from private production, must, and still be

transferred by the I National

Bank of Liberia. v

Therefore, the question of an

open'imarker system 'to'support7

oil imports serving to alleviate

government'from same, is an illusion, because in the final

analysis, the National Bank will

still be obligated to provide all

needed foreign exchange to

finance international trade and

returns to direct foreign investments.

In essence, the solution expected from this measure will

not likely occur because it is in

direct contradictiofi to the

macro-economic principles _ of

the Liberian Economy.

Is LPRC designed to support

massive oil importation by the

private sector? The ansjver is

doubtful. .-.'.' >"-'::' "'-'."-._>;

Under the present import '

facilities at LPRC, the technical,

systems are designed to handle,

minimum quantity of petroleum

derivatives of particular

specifications. ^ . „ _. „.

Secondly, suppose three or

more importers were to bring in

products whose cargo ships were ;

tö arrive at about the same timey.'. and there is a vessel safely berthed at the jetty discharging,

petroleum products on behalf of

LPRC. Who would be responsible for the incremental costs,

laytime, demurrage claims, insurance, product theft, etc. sustained, by the other vessels owned by.the importers? Should it be,

the responsibility of LPRC,. the

government of Liberia, or ..the

importer? -.•'/;. "

Additionally, should an importer bring in-a cargo, of products whose projected i,costs at

the pump woukiraggean to be

less than that of LPRC^wauld

we expect LPRCtOjSa^l^sajne

at the lower costs, knowing same

will. under-cut LPRC profit

margin? ,_..

Again, suppose a group of importers-mfrgedjo. bring in pro-'

ducts of unspecified nature;

howerver did so unitentionairy^;

but with consequences leadingto_

a subversion of the economy.

Whose fault would this become.?..

These and many other profound

questions seem to surround the.

recent policy move. ;.... , r;:;.

Prospects

Ttiere are obvious benefitsresulting from oil import demoriopolization, particularly so.

when same is combined with anappropriate agency, supported

by foreign asset exchange. In the

first place,, free competition,is

healthy for a free enterprise

economy.

It has the tendency of weeding.

out inefficient industry,' pro-.

viding quality goods, or services.

Secondly, '

:

''oil' de-;

monopolization should mean "'a:

considerable drop in the prices>atj.

the pump, and a contribution fo

expansion in oil distribution jn-;.

land,,Jh-us -facilitating increase, in,

agriculture, output prodüctipa^

transportation, etc. '...,..',.-.,;.,,.,

Again, the result of this

scheme could wjy^ji£n

1£

im

-

provement in t^dejve^p^ent

of oil storage facilities, service

. . .ül rtO Jf!3''',„ ,

stations, and indue? employ-,

ment in oil dis'rt?l§u|ioA attd supply businesse£1J,Öövefnment

could certainly^^enerateuaddr-i •

tional revenue combineeb'with as

reduction in government outlay,,

with savings Tunnelled,to;other

socio-economic projects. _ ..:.

Consequences \

While attempting to 'present ä'

balanced picture of the'"recent

pVcfno'irTc.erfterft'«^"'^.!^ u's' °be:-

reminded of-the host 'eP^onse^;

quences requiring analysis,- foresight, and cönsideraiiö^

Oil import^'die^b6n{f-8P wilf:

usher in an eräri©f JßjfcJfi't'eering

and gamesmanship; bribVif unchecked could' seriously undermine the very interest of government. We could observe

unscrupulous introduction of

unspecified grades of petroleum

products on the market whicfc in

our time have never been produced or defined by LPRC. The

consequence of which could

undermine commerce and industry. .

Furthermore, as earlier stated,

LPRC's present import facilities

are designed to handle a

minimum quantity of products

of particular specification. The

system can only provide storage

for limited quantity of products,

without exposure to bottle-neck.

Under the proposed policy,

increased import competition

could over-expose the system to

all kinds of technical problems,

repairs, maintenance,

breakdowns, etc., at costs

economically high. There again,

who shall be responsible for product theft, demurrage claims, insurance, damages, sustained by

58
importers while discharging products at LPRC import jetty?

Should., we expect LPRC to

fulfill a, commitment in the name

of free competition, knowing

this will retard the future growth

and viability of LPRC? These

are obvious consequences and

difference underlying the policy,

while it is expected for LPRC to

serve as a clearing-house and at

the same time serve to protect

the interest of direct1 competitors. Sure, a highly unrational expectation!

The success of a policy

depends upon its agency. From

the analysis'spresefited, one

might surmise .the policy has no

agency, on;ßut;=pjherwise, the

policy's agency;is unsuitable to

the task to be performed; consequently, the agency is expected

to perform by cemmiting selfinflicted wounds leading to

suicide, an .anology filled with

realism.

Notwithstanding, here are

.some recommendations which

should be considered.while we

search.for a coherant national

energy policy consistent with the

nation's free enterprise economy

and Open Door Policy:

1. The government of, Liberia

should re-define it? interest in

the Liberia-Petroleum Refining

Company. ,.; i;-v,

if LPRC is a productive enterprise, ..maximizing profit,

operating at minimum costs,

producing efficiently and thus

allowing consumers lower prices

of petroleum products, and

compensating its shareholder

(government) for- the investment, then LPRC should retain

the right as the sole importer of

crude oil and petroleum products.

2. If LPRC is not performing

any-of. all of the above.'then

government should divert its

share interest in LPRC and sell

same to private shareholders.

3. If item number two is too

difficult to accomplish or unacceptable to:

government, then

goverhrherir'should consider sellin? the refinery to a direc.

foreign investor and encourage

private participation. Under this

scheme, the refinery should retain its right as sole importer of

oil products.

4. Should items two and three

prove unacceptable, then let the

government allow LPRC to

operate as an autonomous,

profit-making enterprise without

control and interference; allowed to "design production and

marketing strategies, etc.

Under this scheme, LPRC

should be encouraged to undertake oil processing agreements

with producers of surplus crude

oil; whereby fcönie refined products will be made available for

consumption in the Liberia.

market. This also requires the

government to .re-assess the recent policy, pronouncement.

Let us remember some of the

nation's fundamental economic

problems include lagging productivity and deficit trade

balances. The refinery was a

productive« enterprise haying

contributed to an improved

trade balance. Let us encourage

productivity without disrupti-ng

viable industries.

CSO: 3400/45

59
LIBERIA

BRIEFS

ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY LOAN AGREEMENT—A $400,000 loan agreement for consulting engineering services for the commencement of the Fifth Highway Project

was Wednesday signed at the Ministry of Finance in Monrovia. The loan is an

addition to a $20 million agreement reached between the International Development Association (IDA) and the Government of Liberia, following a study conducted by IDA in 1981 for the improvement of laterite roads in the country.

The implementation of the consultancy agreement, expected to begin in November

of this year, was signed by Finance Minister G. Alvin Jones and Public Works

Minister James Burphy on behalf of the Liberian Government, while Mr. Giuseppe

Manzoni, Branch Manager of Remardet Sauti-Ice Consultants, based in Geneva,

Switzerland, signed for his company.. [Excerpt] [Monrovia DAILY OBSERVER in

English 5 Sep 83 p 10]

ADB HIGHWAY RECONSTRUCTION LOAN—The African Development Bank (ADB) based in

Abidjan, the Ivory Coast, has agreed to provide a loan of $15 million to the

Government of Liberia for the reconstruction of the Kakata-Totota highway

now in a deplorable condition. This was disclosed yesterday by the Minister

of Public Works, Mr. James Burphy, during a press conference at his Lynch

Street office in Monrovia. Commenting on the national road network program,

the Minister observed that his ministry was presently engaged in a rehabilitation exercise. But, he added, the "patching" of streets and roads were not

enough to solve the problem of roads in the country. He let it be known that

"no less than $1,000 was required for normal grading of one mile road" and

all that was needed at the moment was to ensure that all unpaved roads be

regravelled which would cost $10,000 per mile. The Public Works minister

pointed out that since the PRC government came to power in 1980, no equipment

has been bought by his Ministry. Consequently, he added, only equipment that

were more than five years old are being used by the ministry which had created

some inconveniences because of frequent breakdowns. [Excerpts] [Monrovia

DAILY OBSERVER in English 3 Sep 83 p 3]

CSO: 3400/45

6o
MOZAMBIQUE

RESISTANCE RADIO SCORES MACHEL, MABOTE'S 'LIES'

MB091128 (Clandestine) Voice of Mozambique National Resistance in Portuguese

0400 GMT 8 Oct 83

[Station commentary: "Lies by Machel and Mabote"]

[Text] Samora Machel has marked one of his birthdays. Funny, has anybody

ever heard of a government declaring national holiday merely because the

country's president is marking a holiday? No. Only in Mozambique can such

an event take place, with FRELIMO in power. As had been expected, taking

advantage of the buffoonery marking the birthday of the bearded gorilla

[magarila mandevu] Machel, the Maputo leaders stepped up their antics,

which have, as things stand, already become dull by compelling the hungry

and unfortunate people to watch them.

The date, apart from being a mere occasion for antics, was used by Machel

regime disinformation services to claim victories supposedly won by its

Moribund army. Sebastiao Mabote said that his forces had killed 300 armed

bandits. Imagine. At the same time, the gorilla said that his forces had

killed 500 armed bandits and that 800 had been taken prisoner. The chief

of the general staff says one thing, and the supreme chieftain of these

Maputo criminals says another.

Which of these two corrupt and criminal exploiters of the people speaks

the truth? In fact, neither one nor the other has taken journalists to

the sites of their alleged victories. Our people are the true eyewitnesses

of what is happening in the country. They have for a long time now been

fighting the criminals, the corrupt, and the exploiters who are still in

power in Maputo. Let the two great liars come. Our people are also intensifying their fight against them. While the two men were twaddling in

Maputo, the town of Beira was suffering from effects of our forces actions,

the disruption of electric power.

The speeches and statements by Machel agents on the day marking the

gorilla's birthday, besides containing lies, were once again a clear

illustration of the division and discord between the two true bandits

in Mozambique, the gorilla and his clique.

CSO: 3442/10

61
MOZAMBIQUE

BRIEFS

GDR CAMP FOR CHILDREN—ADN News Agency reported that more than 200 Mozambican

children will be spending their next vacation in a rest camp, near Frankenhausen,

in the mountains of Kyffhaeuser, in the German Democratic Republic. The Mozambican children will join children from that socialist country in the Pioneer

Festival, which is being held in the GDR, and has a broad program of festivi-e:.-..

ties, including music and dancing. [Text] [Maputo NOTICIAS in Portuguese 26

Aug 83 p 8] 12402

SOVIET RICE FOR DROUGHT VICTIMS—Yuri Flerov, commercial attache for the Soviet

Union in Maputo, yesterday offered the Mozambican people 10,000 tons of rice.

The offer was made at a press conference held for the 19th edition of FACIM.

According to Flerov, the Soviet Union's contribution is to support the victims

of the prolonged and serious drought that has hit the People's Republic of

Mozambique. The contribution is a symbol of solidarity on the part of the

Soviet Union, and it coincides with the international principles that govern

its political orientation. [Text] [Maputo NOTICIA in Portuguese 26 Aug 83 p

3] 12402

STUDENTS RETURN FROM CUBA—A source in the Ministry of Education and Culture

told our reporter that a group of students who have spent the last 3 years in

Cuba finishing their high school studies will return to Maputo today. According to the same source, another group of Mozambican students is already en

route to Cuba to do the same as the group that just returned. They come from

various schools in our country. [Text] [Maputo NOTICIAS in Portuguese 26

Aug 83 p 3] 12402

STUDENTS LEAVE FOR LIBYA—The day before yesterday, a group of Mozambican

youths left for Libya, where they will represent our country in the Pan-African

Youth Festival. The group went in a special airplane loaned by Libyan President

Muammar Qadhdhafi. The group includes 93 youths including those who participated in the National Youth Festival held in our country to support the 4th

Congress of the Frelimo party. Members of the cultural group "Amandla" of the

African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa, who have been in our country

for several weeks at the invitation of AMASP, were on the same flight as the

Mozambicans, and will also participate in the Pan-African Festival. Zacarias

Kupela, member of the Central Committee of the Frelimo Party and SecretaryGeneral of the Mozambique Youth Organization (OJM), was at Maputo Airport

where he spoke to the Mozambican youths before their departure. Our representation in the Pan-African Festival includes musical groups and others. [Text]

[Maputo NOTICIAS in Portuguese 25 Aug 83 p 2] 12402

62
TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH LIBYA—The ratification of the General Friendship and

Cooperation Agreement, the Trade Agreement and the agreement calling for the

formation of a "holding" company between the Libyan Arab Republic and the

People's Republic of Mozambique were signed at the Ministry of Foreign Trade

in Maputo. The documents were signed by Valeriano Ferrao, Mozambican secretary

of state for foreign trade, and Mohamed Ahmed Al Amary, secretary of the

people's committee of the People's Bureau of Libya. The above-mentioned agreements were drafted in Tripoli on 4 August last year and ratified by the People's

Congresses of Libya during their third ordinary session of the same year, and

by the Mozambican Council of Ministers on the 25th of May of this year. The

document was signed in duplicate, one duplicate being in Arabic and the other

in Portuguese. [Text] [Noticias MAPUTO in Portuguese 29 Aug 83 p 10] 12402

ECONOMIC COOPERATION WITH BULGARIA—According to information released during

the Fifth Session of the Joint Cooperation Commission being held in Sofia,

Mozambique and Bulgaria have shown an increase in bilateral relations. According to the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA), the Mozambican delegation, headed by

Marcelino dos Santos, secretary of economic policy for the Frelim Party, arrived

in Varna yesterday. This session will examine the fulfillment of the long-term

(to 1990) economic cooperation program between the two countries, and the planned

coordination program for the period between 1981 and 1985. The session will

also analyze the manner in which agreements signed by Presidents Samora Machel

and Todor Jivkov will be put into operation. According to BTA, economic and

technical-scientific cooperation between Mozambique and Bulgaria was discussed

in depth during the plenary session held Tuesday. It was mentioned that in

addition to the tasks being carried out, the economic development of our country

and the creation of new businesses, the possibilities for exports from Mozambique

are increasing. Our country mainly exports cotton, wood and other products to

Bulgaria, while Mozambique receives tractors and other agricultural machinery,

chemical products and consumer goods from Bulgaria. Other projects to be

carried out with Bulgaria include projects involving the wood, marble and agriculture industries. According to the BTA, Bulgaria will help Mozambique set up

several pottery and prospecting companies. Possibilities also exist for the

creation of businesses dedicated to the manufacture of wooden furniture and

tobaco production. [Text] [Maputo NOTICIAS in Portuguese 25 Aug 83 p 1] 12402

TRADE RELATIONS WITH TANZANIA—Last July, when the 8th Session of the Joint

Commission between Mozambique and Tanzania was being held in Maputo, readers

of this newspaper learned that the two countries had decided to participate

actively in free trade starting next year. Free trade between Mozambique and

Tanzania represents the elimination of colonial barriers and the development

of commercial trade. Goods that Mozambique does not have and Tanzania produces

in excess, will no longer be imported from Europe, Asia, Latin America or North

America., Converselyj. what Mozambique has and Tanzania lacks will also enter

the Tanzanian market free of all tariff and customs barriers, which were often

created for other motives and for the protection of the ancient colonization

powers. This is a continuation of the ongoing process of the development of

trade agreements that is working and considered exemplary in spite of the

difficulties derived from the lack of structure and mechanisms directed towards

the development of these trade agreements. Our trade with Tanzania carries

weight in the foreign trade of the People's Republic of Mozambique and in re63
lations with Tanzania; hence the importance of the free trade agreements

between the two countries, which will begin in 1984. It does not occur much

today, but in the past, a product coming from Portugal had an importation tariff

much lower than that of a product coming from Tanzania. This was for the protection of Portugal's foreign trade. The change in laws does not mean we do

not want to trade with Portugal The change is due to the logical conclusions

of an independent country in Southern Africa. Even today we have some examples

of that type of situation. Some products, from the socialist bloc, for example,

have much higher importation tariffs than those on the same products coming from

France or another country. This is not logical between two socialist countries,

especially two countries like ourselves and Tanzania, who have similar histories

and are in the same area in Africa. The development of relations with Tanzania

is an example of what trade should be within this African zone and among members

of the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC). This is

still not happening with all the countries of the SADCC. [Excerpt] [Maputo

NOTICIAS in Portuguese 31 Aug 81 p 1] 12402

POET HONORED IN USSR—Mozambican poet Jose Craveirinha was awarded the

International Literature (Lotus) Prize on Saturday. The prize was awarded

during the seventh conference of the Afro-Asian writers, which was held

in the Soviet Union. [Summary] [MB071326 Maputo Domestic Service in

Portuguese 1700 GMT 6 Sep 83 MB]

CSO: 3442/10

6h
SOMALIA

DFSS ACCUSES BARRE REGIME OF POISONING WELLS

EA120305 (Clandestine) Radio Haigan in Somali to Somalia 1800 GMT 10 Oct 83

[Text] The Democratic Front for the Salvation of Somalia, DFSS, vehemently

condemns the reprehensible act of poisoning wells in central Somalia by

Barre regime loyalist troops, which has caused the deaths of 10 civilians,

brought hundreds to the brink of death, and killed thousands upon thousands

of livestock, thus rendering many Somali families totally destitute.

The Barre dictatorial regime's loyalist forces poisoned the well of (Bahar)

between 18 and 20 km southeast of (Zadado) town in Ghel Gudut region,

central Somalia.

This inhuman act by which the barbarous regime aims at exterminating the

civilian population is nothing new in our country. The barbarous regime

wans to intimidate the general public against supporting the patriotic

armed struggle which is gaining ground throughout Somalia, particularly

in central Somalia.

It was in 1980 that dictator Siad Barre's forces wreaked savage and wanton

destruction upon the people and their property in several regions of

Somalia. In that year the Barre loyalist forces demolished water storage

tanks, burned down houses, raped women, and killed many innocent people

in the Mudugh and Nogal regions. The action was designed to stop the

civilian population from rebelling against and confronting the feckless

Barre regime.

During the past few months, similar inhuman acts have been committed by

dictator Barre's regime in the northwestern Togdher and Senag regions of

our country, with mercenary forces of the so-called national army barbarously

destroying the people and their property.

Now it is the turn of the central regions of Somalia, where destruction

and extermination have begun, because the general public there has reacted

against the dictatorial regime and begun joining the patriotic armed

struggle against the Barre regime.

The DFSS calls upon those Somali soldiers still loyal to the dictator to

do their patriotic duty of turning their guns on the terror gangs who are

65
spilling the blood of the innocent Somali opposition and totally innocent

general public of Somalia. The Somali soldier must act now to rescue the

Somali nation from the hands of the dictatorial regime and the darkness

into which it is being led by the Barre regime.

In its capacity of spokesman of the Somali opposition forces and the organization which spearheaded the struggle of the Somali opposition forces, the

DFSS wing of the Somali opposition forces cannot stand idly by and watch

the destruction of the Somali communities. We know that the Somali people

will win against all odds, particularly against the inhuman acts perpetrated

on defenseless people.

We accordingly appeal to the peace-loving peoples of the world and to those

who care about human suffering strongly to condemn the Mogadishu regime and

to isolate it totally.

We know that the world's general public cares about all human suffering in

the world, particularly the acts of poisoning wells in drier regions of

Somalia, where water and life are synonymous.

We would also like to remind the governments which aid Siad Barre militarily,

economically, and politically that they are creating permanent hostility

towards their countries and peoples on the part of the Somali community.

This is because of their continued support for the Moribund regime.

Finally, we direct a question to the Somali people, on whose behalf we are

vigilant day and night: Beloved people of our nation, how long will you

continue to tolerate the dictatorial rule of Siad and his henchmen? We

should have toppled the dying regime long ago, but now we are sure that it

will not be long before the regime becomes a thing of the past.

The Democratic Front for the Salvation of Somalia, DFSS

CSO: 3403/3

66
SOUTH AFRICA

ZULU CHIEF BUTHELEZI INTERVIEWED

Bonn AFRIKA"POST in German Sep 83 p 15

[Interview with Gatsha Buthelezi by a reporter of the paper: "Buthelei

Pleads for Solidarity"]

[Text] In South Africa, a new organization is going

to fight for the rights of blacks. Is the New Democratic Front competing with Kwa-Zulu Ministerpresident

Gatsha Buthelezi and his Inkatha movement?

AFRIKA-POST: Chief Buthelezi, for years, you have been fighting with your

Inkatha movement for peaceful change in the Republic of South Africa. But

simultaneously, the African National Congress (ANC) conducts its guerilla war

against the government in Pretoria. But, in contrast to your movement, the

ANC enjoys worldwide publicity and is looked upon as the future government

of South Africa. Do you still believe, under these circumstances, that you

have achieved something with your Inkatha movement?

BUTHELEZI: Well, who has achieved anything at all? The ANC has been fighting since 1912 for the liberation of the blacks in South Africa. No one can

say that it has not achieved anything, but the fact is that our people are

still waiting for their freedom.

Around 1960, the "External Mission" of the ANC decided to wage an armed fight

but even this could not make the government collapse. During that time, the

ANC succeeded to gain diplomatic recognition on the international stage but,

at the same time, we in the Inkatha movement have further expanded our base

in South Africa. Today Inkatha is the largest mass movement in the Republic

of South Africa although I still don't believe that we have mobilizied a sufficient number of people for our goal. Nevertheless, we have had a few successes

which also induced the government in Pretoria to listen attentively. Let us

take, for instance, the mass strike in 1973 in Natal. There was no blood

spilled but the strike was so effective that the then Premier Vorster said

that he learned his lesson. One of the results of our activities at the time

was the new labor legislation which, in my opinion, still does not go far

enough, but it is a first step.

67
AFRIKA-POST: If we understand you correctly, you want to put the main stress,

also of your future activities, on a form of civil disobedience, and more than

before on the trade union movement. Do you believe that this will enable you

to effectively combat apartheid?

BUTHELEZI: In my view, we have not yet exhausted all of the possibilities of

civil disobedience and I know that a mobilization of the working classes leads

to certain success. Not only Mr. Vorster but we also have learned from the

experiences of the 1973 strike.

AFRIKA-POST: Because of your activities—to put it mildly—you are not exactly

loved by the South African government. There are reports according to which

the government is attempting to outmaneuver you through a greater engagement

of the Zulu king.

BUTHELEZI: There always are such rumors and, in the past, the government did

attempt to play the king against me. During the last months, there were reports, especially in the Afrikaans-speaking media, that the king is more popular among our people than I am, that the people listened to him whenever he

raised his hand, and that this is proof that I have lost control over Inkatha.

Of course, all these reports are untrue and the king himself is extremely

annoyed at the attempt by the government to use him as a means to divide our

population. I am convinced that the government will attempt this over and

over but, as in the past, it will also find out in the future that we do not

let ourselves be split up.

AFRIKA-POST: For a fairly long time, there has existed a new black movement

in South Africa which is apparently also supported by the trade unions: the

New Democratic Front. What role will this organization play in the future?

BUTHELEZI: You must know history in order to understand this role of the New

Democratic Front. A while ago, I received a note from Chief Matansima. He

told me that he must speak with me soon and urgently. This surprised me because, in the past, we had relatively little to do with each other. At our

meeting, he told me that the blacks must now stand together because the government has completely passed us over in its constitutional proposals, and a

new alliance should also be formed with the people in the so-called homelands.

Other participants of this meeting thought that we should first of all clear

our own mutual differences of opinion and clarify our different positions before we unite in a common front. As you know, there are differences of opinion

about many problems such as, for instance, about the homeland policy. Some

politicians have accepted the independence, we will never accept it.

The New Democratic Front was established in spite of it, but today I cannot

yet judge its chances of success or failure. As I said, it exists but it has

not yet accomplished anything so far.

It will have to be seen what role the New Democratic Front can play in the future. But in general, I believe that the bringing together of my fellow black

countrymen, even if they have opinions different from mine, is good and that

all steps must be welcomed which lead to joint actions.

2473

CSO: 3420/35

68
SOUTH AFRICA

JOHANNESBURG RADIO COMMENTARY ON 'GROUP SELF-DETERMINATION1

MB101301 Johannesburg Domestic Service in English 0500 GMT 10 Oct 83

[Station commentary: "Separate Developments: The South African Answer"]

[Text] An issue that has cropped up in the referendum debate concerns the

present position and future of blacks in South Africa's constitutional

arrangements. It touches on one of the fundamental questions in South

African politics. How is democracy to be advanced in this region of widely

diverse national communities?

Participation in political decisionmaking is the universally declared goal

for all, but within that consensus there is also a general recognition of

the right of communities to freedom from domination by others. Group selfdetermination in a democratic dispensation is nonnegotiable, therefore any

constitutional variety of black majority rule is out. It is simply not on

the agenda in that part of the debate that concerns itself with practical

politics, which is the only part of the debate that will influence the

country's future course.

The response to the challenge must necessarily be as complex and multifaceted as is the population mix with which it has to deal. Part of it

lies in recognizing the existence of a diversity of black nations—nations

which have a primary allegiance to their own people, language, culture, and

political aspirations. That part of the response has been unfolding over

more than a quarter of a century as states have been created and economically

developed under representative political authorities for the nations that

claim the ultimate loyalty of the black peoples. Those nation-states, of

which four are by now completely independent, are as insistent on their

fight to be free of outside domination, whether by white or blacks, as

any others anywhere else. It has also been recognized that South Africa's

nations have not only nonnegotiable, separate, but also vital common

interests and some form of confederal arrangement is taking shape to accomodate those. Continuous negotiation over that goal has already brought about

the creation of numerous multilateral development and cooperative bodies,

and a regional economic development program that transcends state boundaries.

With regard to the black people outside of the independent and national

states, fully fledged local government has been introduced with elections
in November, and there is provision for their participation in general

elections in their national states. Details remain to be settled, especially

with regard to their political accommodation at a confederal level, and

that is the task of a cabinet committee formed earlier this year, but the

overall program is clear and far advanced. The dispensation for the white,

colored, and Asian communities is altogether another aspect of the response

to the whole complex situation. No one aspect invalidates any other.

Certainly the much greater strides that have been made towards black political

self-determination through national independence in a cooperative association

of states in no way affects or is in no way affected by that issue.

CSO: 3400/67

70
SOUTH AFRICA

PRIME MINISTER BOTHA'S TERM IN OFFICE EXAMINED

Johannesburg SUNDAY TIMES in English 25 Sep 83 p 14

[Article by Brian Pottinger: "5 Years of PW—The Shadow and the Substance"]

[Text] THIS Wednesday exactly

five years ago Pieter

Willem Botha defeated

two of his Cabinet colleagues

to secure the top post in the

National Party and the

Prime Ministership of the

country.

As he stood on the Senate steps

that chilly Cape day waiting for the

"We-want-Pik" chants of a section

of the crowd to die, the new Prime

Minister was under no illusions as

to the problems he faced.

The Info scandal and toe crisis of white

morale were upon him.

Within his own caucus rightwingers

were termiting away, their hostility not

lessened by the latent provincialism of the

party which made a Cape Prime Minister

suspect to a section t>f the Transvaal

corps.

Internationally, South Africa's relations

were cool to frigid, domestically civil tensions were again on the rise after the

cataclysmic unrest of 1976 and 1977.

He had reached the pinnacle through 30

years' parliamentary service, unstinting

party commitment, organisational excellence and a political street savvy.

. The cosy symbiosis whereby P W Botha

had made the military and his beloved

military had made him, had also helped.

But as he stood on the Senate steps that

day he was not truly seen as a man of th%

people: enjoying neither the public adulation for the pristine intellectualism of a

Verwoerd, nor the wry solidness of a Vorster.

. It is perhaps a measure of his tactical

skills that he survived those early years.,

But it is also a reflection of his strategic

sense that five years later the country is

more deeply divided1than before true

national reconciliation is as problematic

as ever.

A five-year perspective of the P W

Botha administration reveals this rough

chronology: the promise, foundation work,

a pause, the denouement and, finally, an

uncertain present and an unspecified

future.

The promise came early in the new

administration's life It was a pledge not

of words but of gesture that reflected a

profound change in the style if not the

content of National Party politicking.

Renewal, reform, reconciliation became the new three Rs, the touchstones of

virtually every P W Botha speech.

He broke precedent to go on a tour of

the homelands and Soweto, queried the

Immorality Act, declared the 1936 Land

Act was not a "holy cow", hinted that the

Government's 1977 proposals were deadletters and made encouraging noises to

business.

It was high-risk promise politics and the

early days took their tolL

The new Prime Minister's singlemindedness and abrasive style drove old

party stalwarts into sullen retirement —

including former State President B J Vorster.

These men formed a shadowy opposition to P'W Botha — the man and his

policies. In the Byzantine art of underground NP politicking they were the

night-time outriders of discord.

September 1979 and Mr Botha faced

down rebel elements in his fractious

Transvaal congress. It was a Pyrrhic victory.

71
^The rebels lived for another day and the

knives were truly out Caucus leaks became endemic. Nobody, least of all P W

Botha, was under any illusion where it

was heading.

Within the first year the Prime Minister had won the image of the reformer

without having provided a scrap of substance.

He had masterfully created the promise without a single concrete pledge. In

the rush of goodwill that followed few

stopped to consider whether P W Botha's

reform was reform at alL

He misled nobody, made no promises

he had no intention of fulfilling.

If some optimists read into his statements things he had not intended, that was

their problem

P W Botha was in the "reform" business

but it would be reform NP style and that

meant within the immutable parameters

of NP philosophy, white survival and cur- -

- tailed civil liberties, if necessary.

While the promise was flowering in

the atmospherics *of "reform", P W

Botha was quietly laying the foundations

to his new South African order based on

a harnessing of all the country's resources for "survival" and informed by

the Prime Minister's deep conviction

that South Africa faced a total onslaught

from Soviet imperialism, its surrogates

and its "useful idiots".

This polifico-military-economic counter-thrust was to be buzzworded "total

strategy".

The civil service was rationalised, essential planning functions drawn to the

Prime Minister's office, a national security management system established, security forces beefed up, the military-industrial nexus expanded and strategic

industries advanced.

Slowly the strategy evolved based on

three main legs: a constitutional dispensation involving whites, coloureds

and Indians to bring the two minority

groups onside with whites, a confederation with the black national states and,

finally, a massive industrial decentralisation scheme to give economic flesh to

the homeland bones.

The first objective was secured by the

creation of the President's Council which

would give legitimacy to the political direction the Government wished to take.

The second required the creation of an

"insider" urban mack class: enter Wiehahn and Riekert, permanent urban status for blacks, home-ownership and Louis

Rive's peripatetic development missions.

The third objective involved a quid pro

quo between Government and business.

The National Party itself did not escape

the new order. The congresses Were told

they could direct only principles and not

policy - that rested with the leadership.

The division was imperfectly understood by the rank-and-file and bitterly

rejected by some The knives were being

honed.

Underpinning the whole total strategy

lay an iron grip on security and dissidence

The Press endured menacing moments under the new Prime Mmistership and detentions kept an unsettlingly

high profile.

In foreign policy the new Prime Minister showed a qualitative shift from reactive to "pro-active" policies.

The SWA-Namibian issue became increasingly not a matter of chancellory

diplomacy but command post tactics.

Robert Mugabe's victory, increasingly pessimistic intelligence assessments

of Swapo's electoral support and the

injection of Soviet surrogates into the

region put settlement on "hold" with all

its attendant costs in life and resource

The administration passed into its third

year and a freeze.

In 1981 P W Botha took the white electorate to the polls to win more time for his

"reform" process.

Strategically necessary, it was tactically dangerous. The NP lost to the right and

the left

P W Botha returned with a mandate for

a vaguely defined 12-point plan that

meant so little, or so much, that a year

later the party could split over its meaning.

It was into hiatus politics. While the

President's Council went. through the

form of constitution-making, P W Botha

had to keep his powder dry.

The 200 000 far-right votes in the general election were intrusive

The year before Dr Andries Treumicht,

leader of the powerful Transvaal caucus

and now a Cabinet Minister, had walked

away unscathed after a row with.the

Prime Minister over coloured participation in Craven Week rugby matches. ,

At the 1981 Transvaal Congress the

apostle of pure apartheid was rampant,

the Prime Minister strangely mute

The early era of euphoria fled. The

Orderly Movement and Settlement of

Black Persons Bill showed to what

lengths the P W Botha administration

would go to secure their black urban "insiders".

The Seychelles incident raised concern

about the military's role in foreign policy

formulations, inflation continued to take

its dreary toll on popular confidence

Everywhere the practicalities of NP

72
policy seemed to be desperately trying

to catch up with the promise of the

earlier years or — more ominously — to

avoid it.

Private enterprise for blacks was the

buzzword, but two years after Riekert

there were still no black traders in the

CBDs, trade union rights were fiercely

espoused but scores of unionists languished uncharged in detention, a "new

deal" for urban blacks was punted but

pass raids soared, the political regeneration of coloureds was a priority but District Six remained white, educational reform was essential but De Lange

collected dust

It was a low point for the administration.

* Denouement came in early 1982 with

the Government's plans for limited

power-sharing with coloureds and Indians. It was cathartic.

The right-wing of the NP saw it as

betrayal of white sovereignty, emerged

from the trenches and with tactical precision were mowed down by P W Botha's

reconnaissance commandoes who, one

suspects, had long been hiding in the undergrowth for precisely this moment

The man who a few months before had

said he would never split the NP had, in an

act of no small political courage, done

precisely that

And so in the fifth year of his Prime

Ministership, in his 35th year in Parliament, a Prime Minister presides as perhaps no other Prime Minister before

him over the destiny of the nation.

Those years have wreaked their own

subtle influence on the man himself. The

notoriously short fuse that spluttered frequently in earlier days is now slightly

dampened.

He has settled more firmly into power,

become slightly more mellow: authority

outwardly rests more easily if no less

implacably.

If he has been the catalyst for a process of constitutional renewal, as he

claims, it has been achieved at great

personal and national cost.

F.or P W Botha the price has been the

splitting of a party he has served for the

better part of his life, for the country it

has meant unprecedented upheavals: a

division of whites, creation of new and

legion black opposition and dissension

within the coloured and Indian community.

_ Prom the morass of conflict P W Botha

believes he can snatch national reconciliation. Time only will tell whether the

situation he has created will be therapeutic or terminal.

Five years after that cold Cape day the

most that can be said is that P W Botha

has not taken the country over the brink

into civil conflict

The least is that he has not taken it any

further towards genuine reconciliation

and the most neutral that he has again

created the promise of those early years

with the substance yet to come. '

CSO: 3400/65

73
SOUTH AFRICA

TOP-LEVEL POLITICAL DECISION-MAKING SYSTEM PROBED

Johannesburg SUNDAY TIMES in English 25 Sep 83 p 38

[Article by Deon Geldenhuys, associate professor of political science at

Rand Afrikaans University: "Who Wears the Pants in PW's Kitchen Cabinet?"]

[Text]

A QUESTION that has

intrigued local and

foreign observers of

the South African political scene ever since

Mr PW Botha came to

power is — who makes

top-level political decisions?

Prime Minister Botha's

management style appeared so different from

that of his predecessors

that people understandably began to wonder

what the changes meant

for government decisionmaking.

Mr Botha established a

plethora of committees,

staffed by bureaucrats

and politicians, drawn together in what is called a

national security management system.

Designations with such

a military ring, together

with Mr Botha's previous

position as Minister of Defence and the higher public profile of the military

leadership, have prompted suggestions that the

Defence Force had effectively taken control of

policy formulation.

The State Security

Council (SSC), the highest

body in the national security management system, is alleged to be the

principal forum for the

military to impose its

political will.

These rumours have

only been fuelled by the

Government's reticence

to expound publicly WHO

makes decisions, WHERE

are they made, and HOW.

But then, in the last

fortnight, the Government seems to have become uncharacteristically forthcoming: the Prime

Minister first referred to

aspects of political decision-making at his Pretoria news conference,

and a few days ago an

unprecedented Press conference was held specifically to explain government decision-making.

Nagging

All the nagging questions seem to have been

conclusively answered.

Or have they?

The Prime Minister

dismissed as a "fairy tale"

the suggestion that the

Cabinet merely endorsed

the decision of the SSC.

Mr Barend du Plessis,

Deputy Minister of

Foreign Affairs and Information, pointed out that it

would be against the law

if the SSC took decisions.

The secretary of the

SSC, Lieutenant-General

A J van Deventer, insisted

that the council "possesses no decision-making

powers", but is merely an

advisory body to the Cabinet

"It has always been the

duty of the chairman (of

the SSC: the Prime Minister) to submit all recommendations and advice of

the council to the Cabinet

for further action."

It is true that in terms

of the Security Intelligence and State Security

Council Act, 1972 — under

which the SSC was established — the council enjoys only advisory

powers.

It is to advise the Government on the formulation of national policy and

strategy with regard to

the security of the Republic.

The question is whether

the de jure position corresponds with the de facto

situation.

In a public lecture at

the University of Port

Elizabeth in May 1980, Dr

J E du Plessis, the Director-General of the Office

of the Prime Minister

(and presently head of the

Department of Constitutional Development and

Planning) revealed that

Cabinet committees (of

which the SSC was one)

were in 1979 given "decision-making power".

7h
From Dr du Plessis's

address it was obvious

that the SSC stood apart

from and above the other

Cabinet committees.

The decisions of all

Cabinet committees, exceptthe SSC, as a rule had

to be circulated as appendices to Cabinet minutes

and had to be ratified at

the next Cabinet meeting,

he explained.

What of course also distinguishes the SSC from

the other Cabinet committees, is that it is the

only one chaired by the

Prime Minister.

Another feature of the

SSC is that it hasa secretariat of about 45 people,

which is probably considerably larger than those

of the three other committees.

And then the SSC's brief

is also much wider than

the other Cabinet committees' areas of jurisdiction, so to speak.

Contradictory

National security, as

Gen van Deventer in fact

conceded, isa very broad

concept. It embraces any- , thing from concern with

terrorism to "cultural action".

The SSC is therefore

well placed to act as the

principal Cabinet committee.

How can one explain

the evidently contradictory official statements

on the role of the SSC?

First, the 1979 decision

to which Dr du Plessis referred, could have been

rescinded, and all Cabinet

committees could since

have been limited to only

advisory functions to the

full Cabinet.'

There is, however, little

evidence that the Government has gone back on the

decision of 1979.

If anything, the SSC has

asa decision-making

body apparently been going from strength to

strength.

Beinga relatively

small, streamlined body

concerning itself with

matters of high salience,

the SSC has establisheda

reputation in official circles as an effective forum

for quick decisions.

Such is the record of the

SSC that Ministers and departmental heads are said

to attacha "security" label to matters not strictly

related to security in an

effortto geta speedy toplevel decision.

The SSC is then used as

a short cut, as opposed to

the often cumbersome

procedures involved in

gettinga matter on the

Cabinet agenda.

Second, it might be that

words have .different

meanings for different

people.

Thus some might reserve the term "decision"

for something bearing the

Cabinet's final seal of approval.

However, Mr Du Plessis has implied that decisions of the SSC need not

be submitted to the Cabinet.

But even if we assume

that the Prime Minister

does asa rule refer SSC

decisions.tö the Cabinet,

the significance may be

more symbolic than substantive.

It seems highly unlikely

thata resolution— or

recommendation or piece

of advice— of the SSC

which bears the Prime

Minister's stamp of authority, will be questioned

or turned down by the

Cabinet.

If this is true, it raises

profound questions about

the full Cabinet's role in

decision-making. (Might

such questions be one of

the reasons why the Government is now so keen to

play down the SSC's role?)

Assuming again that

the SSC merely advises

and recommends, one

cannot ignore the implications of overlapping

membership between the

advisory body and the decision-making body.

Monday's advisers become Tuesday's decisionmakers. (The SSC meets

fortnightly on Mondays

and the Cabinet weekly on

Tuesdays.)

This feature, too, is

bound to constrain the

Cabinet in considering the

SSC's submissions.

Gen van Deventer cited

the example of the last

SSC meeting, at which no

fewer than 10 Ministers

were present— half the

Cabinet. And did they then

"advise" the other half?

Unanswered

So, despite the past

fortnight's official briefings, many questions remain unanswered.

Precious little has been

said to convince one that

the SSC is merely an expert advisory body.

It was after all Gen van

Deventer who, in the very

last paragraph of his written submission to the past

week's Press conference,

said the following: "Decisions (my emphasis) taken by the SSC are subject

to final approval by the

Cabinet."

Why, then, one may

well ask, all the trouble to

try to tell us that decisionmaking is not decisionmaking? A O The role of the SSC

in decision-making is

considered at some

length in the author's

forthcoming book on

the making of South

African foreign policy,

due to be published by

Macmiüan in March

1984.

CSO: 3400/65

75
SOUTH AFRICA

TOP ANC EXILES TURN OUT FOR DADOO FUNERAL

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 25 Sep 83 p 25

[Text]

SOUTH AFRICAN exiles -

among them Mr Joe Slovo —

made a rare public appearance in London yesterday for

the funeral of Dr YusufDadoo, chairman of the South

African Communist Party

and senior member of the

ANC's revolutionary committee.

Mr Slovo, named by South

* African security spokesmen

as the mastermind behind

many sabotage incidents, has

not been seen publicly in London for several years.

A former Johannesburg

lawyer who is now a senior

figure in Umkhonto we

Sizwe, the ANC's military

wing, he is normally based in

Maputo and is much-sought

by South African security

forces.

Mr Slovo was one of two

senior officials at the funeral

representing the Communist

Party. The other was Mr Moses Mabhida, secretary-general.

\_ The ANC was represented

by Mr Oliver Tambo, the

president, Mr Alfred Nzo,

secretary-general, and Mrs

Florence Maposo, head of the

women's section. Mr Stephen

Dlamini, secretary-general

of the outlawed South African Congress of Trade

Unions was also present.

ANC flag

Dr Dadoo, who died in London earlier this week at the

age of 74, was buried in North

London's Highgate Cemetery, where Karl Marx is also

buried.

In deference to his family

and Muslims in South Africa,

he was buried in a Muslim

ceremony.

Dr Dadoo's importance in

the exile community was demonstrated by the level of

representation at the funeral.-

The Communist Party and

ANC delegations carried the

coffin, together with Dr Dadoo's two brothers, Ahmed

and Aboo. The coffin was

draped with the ANC flag.

Two South African Indian

leaders also came to London

for the funeral. They are Mr

Essop Jassat, president of the

recently revived Transvaal

Man Congress, and Mr

Zack Yacoob, executive

member of the Natal Indian

Congress and member of the

Release Nelson Mandela

Committee.

CSO: 3400/65

76
SA 'EMBELLISHMENT' OF ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE ALLEGED

Port Elizabeth WEEKEND POST in English 24 Sep 83 p 19

[Article by Garth King: "Orwell's 1984 Is Looming"]

SOUTH AFRICA

[Text]

IN 1948, George Orwell

wrote the classic masterpiece, 1984.

The novel's language —

phrases like "Big Brother is

watching you" — have

'passed into the English language as a symbol of the

horrors of totalitarianism.

In his futuristic work, Or-

'well amplifies the worst aspects of the police state.

The citizens of "Oceania"

are subject to the most total, all-embracing control.

* Technology is only used

and refined by Big Brother,

;via his "Ministry of Love",

for surveying, brainwashing and torturing citizens.

"Thoughts and actions

which when detected mean

certain death are not formally forbidden and the

-endless purges, arrests, tor-

"tures, imprisonments and

vaporisations are not in-

"flicted as punishment for

crimes which have actually

been committed, but are

merely the wiping out of

persons who might perhaps

commit a crime at some

time in the future," Orwell

< wrote.

People are kept in a permanent state of subjection

and poverty — and are constantly brainwashed to believe (they are not allowed 1

to turn off their omnipresent two-way "telescreens")

"that they have-enough to

-eat and that life with Big

Brother is good.

Human emotions are

strictly channeled into love

forBig Brother and sadistic

hatred of the enemy.

The world economy is

based on a perpetual war

between three super-powers.

Productivity and labour

is ultimately geared to the

perpetual manufacture and

destruction of arms.

Big Brother's motto is:

"War is Peace", "Freedom

is Slavery", "Ignorance is

Strength" — involving a

mental process called

"doublethink".

News and history are

constantly falsified by the

"Ministry of Truth" to perpetually convince people

that Big Brother's state is

infallible and omnipotent.

Orwell wrote: "The heresy of heresies was common sense. The Party told

you to reject the evidence

of your eyes and ears. It

was their final, most essential command."

It is now 1983 and the

year 1984 is nearly upon us.

Has Orwells' imagination

materialised in any way?

Chairman of the Cape

Eastern Region of the

Black Sash, Mrs Bobby

Melunsky, for. example, believes that "South Africa

has added its own unique

embellishment to the Orwellian nightmare.

"Here we have people

controlled by a computerised central reference

bureau, systematically finger-printed, severely limited in employment opportunities and drastically

circumscribed in freedom

of movement.

"Should the newjjonstitur

tion be approved, 1984 will

see South Africa take a further step into the realms of

unreality, extending to

coloureds and Indians the

illusion — but not the substance — of citizenship.

"This will go hand in

hand with Big Brother's belief that 70% of the population does not need to be addressed constitutionally

since all the people constituting this 70% are now

'foreigners'."

; The head of the University of Port.Elizabeth's Department of Economics,

Prof J H Smith, said

Orwells' prophecies of

world-wide subjection and

poverty had materialised

— "especially in Third

World countries".

"In Mozambique, for example, people there are led

to believe — in a 'double77
4hink' process — that queueing for bread is a sign of

'freedom'."

He also said the manufacture and destruction of

arms takes up a large part

of mankind's effort — and

will continue to do so.

The Bishop of Port Elizabeth, Bishop Bruce Evans,

said: "The concept of being

watched is part of life in

this country.

"It's also frightening to

think that satellites, for example, can focus in on the

number plates of cars."

He agreed that the world

economy seemed to revolve

around the arms race —

especially when one noted

that governments spent an

estimated $600 000 million

(R666 000 million) annually

on military activity while

60 million die of malnutrition every year.

The head of Rhodes University's Journalism Department, Prof Gavin Stewart, said the "kind of

surveillance Orwell was

thinking of is not far away".

"The 'telescreen' is technically possible and telephone tapping and listening

devices are part of our

lives," Prof Stewart said.

He said the falsification,

: distortion and omission of

information by governments was evident.

"The control of information by governments

throughout the world, is absolute," he said.

Prof Stewart believed

that information restriction had increased in America under Ronald Reagan.

"In South Africa, almost

everything about Government activities is secret."

A lecturer in the Department of Linguistics at

Rhodes University, Mrs

Mary Louise Peires, said

Orwell's prediction that

English words would be

"stripped of their secondary meanings to facilitate unambiguous propaganda"

was being fulfilled.

"Today, words like 'worker* and 'redundant' have only one meaning," she said.

Another prediction that Orwell made, via his creation, "newspeak", was "the

interchangeability of parts—like adding 'wise'. Thus we have words like

'sexwise' and 'lifewise'."

"There is a definite move towards syntactic regularity—many old distinctions

are lost in modern English—like the differences between 'who' and 'whom' and

'shall' and 'will'."

Orwell also foresaw that a new vocabularly would arise comprised of scientific

and technical terns—like the modern words sitcom, computicket, medicare and

polytechnic.

Orwell's vision that words would be stripped of their meanings was fulfilled

in this choice example—taken from a public notice in London—"No parcels

will be accepted during the present exploding device situation," Mrs Peires

said.

Here, she said, "situation" has lost its meaning.

"In Orwell's nightmarish linguistic creation, words are only allowed to have

one meaning. This is a definite trend in the English language today," she

said.

CSO: 3400/65

78
SOUTH AFRICA

SHORTAGE OF MIDDLE-MANAGEMENT 'THREATENS CAPITALISM' IN S. AFRICA

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 29Sep 83 p 20M

[Article by Malcolm Fothergill]

[Text]

South Africa is in the grip of a

management crisis which threatens to destroy the country's

capitalist system, says Professor G S Andrews, Dean of the

Wits Business School.

Unless more middle-managers was trained quickly the

country's productivity would

sag, he said in an interview.

Low productivity would keep

inflation high, decreasing South

Africa's ability to compete on

; world markets and reducing the

number of jobs being created.

! ^That's a sure recipe for the

! end of the so-called capitalist

system in South Africa."

Professor Andrews said South

African businesses were well

managed at the top.

The crisis was in middle-management.

"The Government has gone in

the right direction in providing

incentives for training workers.

But it should also be giving incentives for management education.

"The recent reduction in the

petrol price was a tragedy. If

ihat money had been put into

education, specifically black

education or management training, it would have been well

spent instead of being a political gimmick.

"If you want to stop inflation

you stop money getting into the

consumer's hands. You don't

give him a gift which he doesn't

really need."

Professor Andrews said one

of the greatest factors in the

rate of inflation was the level of

productivity, which was largely determined by management.

MARKET SHARE

Figures showed that 65 to 70

percent of the performance of a

business was related to strategic factors, such as which markets the business was in, its

market share and product quality.

About 15 percent was related

to operational factors such as

the efficient use of equipment

and the number of man-hours

worked.

In other words, management

had much more to do with a

company's level of productivity

than workers did.

South Africa's problem was

that there were too few middlemanagers and that the middlemanagers it had did not have

the time to increase their skills.

"We're running courses on

Saturdays and Sundays because

guys can't get away. That's

heart-attack country."

He said the shortage of middle-managers was compounded

by the fact that blacks had been

trained in negligible numbers

and that many white-middle

managers were not suited or

trained for their jobs.

His impression from talking

to business leaders was that

standards of management had

' dropped considerably in the past

few years. This could be improved, "but we've got to do

something about it fast.

"The year 2000 is only 17

years away, when the population of the country will be double what it is now. We can't afford to fiddle around."

The excuse was sometimes

made that South African pro-

; ductivity could not be as high as

Japanese productivity because

the labour forces were different.

SAME LEVELS

But Japanese managers were

getting the same levels of productivity from English labour in

England as they were in Japan.

"In South Africa middle-managers have no time to think. And

they need to be given the tools

to think with.

"You often hear of the Japanese taking a long time to make

decisions. Our guys on the other

! hand are shooting from the hip

— it's management by crisis

here."

CSO: 3400/65

79
CISKEI PLANS YOUTH SERVICE TO BEAT DROPOUT PROBLEM

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 27 Sep 83 p 3

SOUTH AFRICA

[Text]

CAPE TOWN - President Lennox Sebe of Ciskei has plans for

a "national" youth organisation

along the lines of the quasi-military youth movements in countries like Swaziland and Malawi,

according to a report released

by his office.

The scheme was recommended by an ad hoc committee

under the co-ordination of Professor J A Lamprecht, principal

of the University of Fort Hare.

It would cost more than R28

million in its first four years of

operation.

The report — drawn up by the

committee in only two weeks —

says the South African Government is to be asked to help finance the plan, which is aimed

at relieving problems caused by

Ciskei's enormous number of

school drop-outs.

Nearly six percent of children

at Ciskeian schools drop out

every year, many of them in

Grade 1 and Grade 2.

"These pupils, as they mature,

plus others who, although leaving school later have not

achieved high academic levels,

form a body of unemployed and

, sometimes unemployable

youth," the report says.

"They do not qualify for tertiary education and their inability to find employment generates

frustration and boredom, with

delinquency the final and inevitable result."

Part of the solution, the committee proposes, is the creation

of a national youth organisation

in Ciskei.

"Essentially, this is seen as a

modified form of national service, with the objective not of

national defence in the military

sense but of improving national

and community welfare."

The plan calls for young people — primarily those between

the ages of 16 and 20 — to be

voluntarily recruited into

groups of the same sex, which

would be housed in youth

centres for up to two years.

There would be a three-month

"basic training" course, followed by work on service

projects and land reclamation.

Recruits would be paid a

nominal daily wage — Rl per

person a day has been suggested

— and the report adds: "A high

level of discipline will be a

strong feature of the training

provided. The local tribal structure would play a role in this."

There would be specialised

training in more than 20 basic

subjects, from bricklaying, carpentry and road construction to

sheep shearing, cottage industries and home economics.

The reports recommends that

the youth movement be controlled by a council, on the university model, which would be

directly answerable to President Sebe's office.

It adds that children under

the age of 16 now make up more

than half of Ciskei's population

and that the problems of unemployed and delinquent youth

"could soon present a threat to

the social fabric of Ciskei".

CSO: 3400/65

80
SOUTH AFRICA

ANALYSIS OF CENSORSHIP TRENDS SHOWS MORE MODERATION

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 29 Sep 83 p 7

[Article by Sheryl Raine]

[Text]

In compiling a detailed analysis of

censorship trends, Ms Louise Silver of

the University of the Witwatersrand

notes that between 1976 and 1983,

censorship has shown a distinct move

from conservatism to moderation —

and the public generally appears to

have welcomed the change.

Many people have extolled the period since

mid-1980 as a time of enlightened censorship.

Others have decried it as, a time of disintegrating standards — moral, political and religious.

In a detailed analysis of censorship trends, published recently in the South African Law Journal, Ms

v Louise Silver of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies

at the University of the Witwatersrand concludes that

the liberalisation process has not been revolutionary

or markedly libertarian. . "•■■

Between 1976 and 1983 censorship has moved from

conservatism to moderation, she says, and the public

generally appears to have welcomed the change.

Proof of this is the fact that the public, has not

• stormed the Directorate of Publications protesting

against obscene or otherwise undesirable material.

Several changes have occurred in the field of

censorship from the days when Dr Connie Mulder

was Minister of Internal Affairs and Mr H J Snyman was chairman of the Publications Appeal Board

(PAB) to the present era of Mr F W de Klerk as Minister and Professor J C van Rooyen as chairman.

The effects of self-censorship, an unfortunate byproduct of the official variety of censure, are still

apparent, however.

The healthier signs in these times of more1 moderate censors include:

•The number of publications submitted to the censors has dropped significantly since 1980.

In 1980, 2174 publications were submitted for scrutiny by publications committees and 1333 were found

undesirable. During 1981/82, 1792 were submitted

and 949 found undesirable.

This is partly due to a subtle agreement of quasiself-censorship between various Government departments and the organised book trade.

The trade agreed in 1980 to examine its imports

and make sure for themselves that they did not

import undesirable material.

• The proportion of films passed unconditionally by

publications committees has increased and South

Africans are more likely to view uncut movies today

than in 1975.

A combination, of cuts and age restrictions is preferred by the censors these days rather than the outright rejection of a film.

• An increase in the number of films being submitted to publications committees for the first time indicates greater faith,in the censors and optimism.

. In 1976, 701 full-length films were, submitted. At

the peak of the conservative Mulder-Snyman era

in 1978, the number had dropped to 507.

During 1981/82 the number of films submitted rose

to 817, including video movies.

"During the Mulder era, film-makers and distributors decided that the climate was hostile to the

approval of films that were possibly in the prohibited zone," said Ms Silver. .

Consequently they made no attempt to submit

these films for approval.

• A balance in the number of obscene publications

banned versus political publications found undesirable has been established.

In 1975, the censors banned mostly material

deemed obscene and a threat to public morals.

This trend had changed by 1980 when far more

political publications regarded as prejudicial to the

safety of the State were being banned.

In 1981 balance was restored when 385 obscene

works were banned, compared with 379 politically undesirable publications.

81
CSO: 3400/65

• The Publications Appeal Board has formulated

very clear standards to be applied by itself and the

publications committees. The board consistently applies these standards.

• More films and publications are being taken on appeal to the Appeal Board than before.

In 1976, the board heard 71 appeals. In 1981/82, 174

cases were taken on appeal.

During the period 1975 to 1979, the annual percentage of works taken on appeal remained constant at between two and three percent of the total

number of works examined by publications committees.

In 1981/82 the figure rose to six percent.

Ms Silver attributes the increase to growing confidence in the PAB. In 1976 the board confirmed 63

percent of the bannings it reviewed and in 1980 this

figure had dropped to 49 percent.

There has also been an increased number of ap---

peals lodged by the Directorate of Publications

against decisions of publications committees.

Material referred directly by the Minister of Internal Affairs to the PAB tends to be conditionally approved with cuts or age restrictions whereas during

the Mulder era such material was usually rejected.

Certain trends have remained largely unchanged.

The number of publications banned because they

were offensive to religious groups has remained fairly static, with 15 banned in 1976 and 16 in 1980. In

1981, however, the number dropped to six.

The one black spot in current censorship trends

is the many books and other publications being

banned for possession. The number is steadily increasing and virtually all prohibitions ,on possessions

are being confirmed by the Appeal Board.

82
SOUTH AFRICA

MINISTER OSCAR DHLOMO ADVOCATES 'NO' VOTE

Durban POST NATAL in English 21-24 Sep 83 p 2

[Article by Khalil Aniff]

[Text] THE Indian community now has strong reason to reject the new constitution proposals because pre-conditions set by them have not been accepted

by the Government.

This view was expressed by KwaZulu's Minister of Education, Dr Oscar Dhlomo,

when members of the Indian Council met Chief Gatsha Buthelezi and several

RwaZulu Cabinet Ministers at Ulundi on Friday.

Dr Dhlomo said Indians should stop "dilly dallying" on an important issue

like the constitutional proposals.

"You asked the Government, Minister of Constitutional Affairs and the Parliamentary Select Committee to effect certain changes such as the removal of all

discriminatory laws, the inclusion of blacks into the process of change and

many others.

"The Government was told that these were"pre-conditions and the Indian Council

would not accept the new constitutional proposals until such time your demands are met. Now the Government has come back to you saying the preconditions cannot be met. Therefore I see no reason why you should not reject out of hand the new dispensation," Dr Dhlomo said.

He said blacks would feel betrayed if Indians went ahead and agreed to participate in the "new deal".

Dr Dhlomo appealed to the SAIC representatives to make up their minds about

the new constitution.

"Everybody has taken a stand on the issue. The views of the Labour Party,

the Black Alliance, Inkatha and other political organisations are well known.

"When taking the decision you must consider the long term," he said.

Earlier, Mr Jordan Ngubane, KwaZulu's Director of Information, told the meeting

that only a national convention, involving all races, could solve the political

problems in South Africa.

83
Referring to the political crisis facing South Africa, Mr Ngubane said

Africans did not want to be in collision with Indians and coloureds but preferred to be seen as "part of the family".

"Where is the unity that prevailed in the 1950s? From recent developments, I

gauge a great division between us. Is there any obstacle which will prevent

the holding of a convention?" he asked.

Mr Amichand Rajbansi, SAIC executive chairman, said the getting together of

leaders was a good thing.

He said the Black Alliance was formed with the specific intention of devising a common strategy involving all race groups.

It was, however, important for each group to have the full support of its

constituents and to galvanise people into political action.

CSO: 3400/65

Bh
SOUTH AFRICA

INDIAN BOYCOTT OF REFERENDUM CONSIDERED UNWISE

Durban POST NATAL in English 21-24 Sep 83 p 12

[Article by Pat Poovalingam, Durban attorney and former member of the President's Council: "Yes or No: The Lesson of History for the Left and RightGrab Every Opportunity!"]

[Text]

WHATEVER the future

might hold, it is the

whites who for the past

three decades have had,

and still wield, sole political control over

South Africa. l

Exceptions are of

course the four independent national states of

Transkei, Ciskei, Venda

and Boputhatswana.

And also to a lesser degree the "homelands" of

KwaZulu, Gazankulu,

Eebowa and so on. Each

of these homelands is

semi-autonomous. Each

has all the paraphernalia of state except for

defence and foreign relations. Each has a government controlled by

the ruling party (in

some cases the only

party) which party then

benefits from all the

perks and the patronage

that that government

has at its disposal.

No such privileges

are enjoyed by the coloured and the Indian

groups.

Until 1913, the franchise rights of the

black, Indian and coloured peoples varied

between the four provinces. In Natal, the Indians had the parliamentary franchise until,-

in 1896 the English Colonial legislature, by

chicanery, eliminated

this. In Natal also, the

Indians had the municipal franchise until it

was, once again by devious and deceitful

stratagem, taken away

from them in 1924, once

again by Natal's English.

In Natal, the OFS and

the Transvaal, black

people had no franchise

at all, but they did have

this right in the Cape

Province until, in 1913,

by the combined efforts

of both British and

Boer, this right was

taken away.

The coloured people

exercised the parliamentary, provincial as

well as the municipal

franchise, until, when

the Nationalists attained power, in 1948,

one of the first things

they did was set about

stealing this. The theft

was perfected four

years later.

Why the indecent

haste? It is facile to lay

this also at the door of

ideology gone mad. But

of course the Nationalists had ä practicl political reason for this.

They knew the coloured

vote would in the next

elections go to the Opposition. For they knew

that, but for the boycott

by the Cape Western

Coloured people of the

1948 elections in opposition to the Coloured Affairs Department created by Smuts, three key

seats which they won

from the United Party

would have gone to

Smuts. And.if that had

"happened Dr D F Malan

would not have become

Prime Minister.

Boycott by the coloured people played no

small part in letting the

Nationalists take control of South African

politics.

In 1944, in terms of

the Pretoria Agreement

made by AI Kajee and

PR Pather with Smuts,

the Indian community

was to have been given

three representatives in

Parliament: This was

opposed by both the

right-wing whites and

85
left-wing Indians and

DE Mitchell, using Indian opposition, sabotaged this. Indians have

had no offers until now.

On March 11, 1942,

Mr Winston Churchill,

announced in the House

of Commons that the

British Government

was sending Sir Stafford Cripps to India to

negotiate for India's independence.

Sir Stafford took this

offer, which was for Dominion Status, and

would have put India on

par with Canada, Australia, New Zealand and

South Africa, to the

leaders of the Indian independence movement.

The provincial legislatures in India would

electa constituent assembly which would devise a Constitution to be

effective immediately

after the war. *:

"It is thought", says

Percival Spear, the

Cambridge historian, in

his bookA History of

India "thata majority

of Congress leaders favoured a deal." But this

was torpedoed by Mahatma Gandhi who

rather picturesquely, if

somewhat grandiloquently, dismissed the

offer by Cripps asa

'post-dated cheque

drawn ona failing

bank.' Britain was of

course then in dire

straits facing Hitler's

Germany almost singlehanded.

This wasa monumental error. Says Percival

Spear: "By rejecting the

Cripps offer (Congress)

had both lost the opportunity of entrenching

themselves in the seats

of ppwer and also the

chance of smothering

the Muslim League before it was too late. The

price of these errors

was Partition."

History seldom repeats itself precisely.

But there are lessons to

be drawn from history

which often shed some

light upon present paths

available.

Some leaders in the ,

Indian community are

given to grandiloquence. And they tend

sometimes to get so

carried away by their

own cliches and catchphrases that they fail to

recognise reality.

The Progressive Federal. Party strongly

urgesa "no" vote on

November 2. The PFP

has rejected the Constitution Bill. But if the

vote isa "yes" and if

the tricameral parliament follows, most, if

not all the present PFP

MPs, will take their

seats in the all-white

chamber. They will not,

with one or two possible

exceptions, Helen Suzman among them, resign their seats.

If on November2 the

white electorate (and it

is noteworthy that the

PFP does not reject the

referendum on the

count that it is confined

to whites only and

therefore it is an apartheid one) votes "no", it

will mean that Indian

and coloured opinion is

purely academic. But if,

as appears probable at

current showing, the answer is "yes", these two

groups which will be of-

/ered some political

rights whereas they at

present have none, and

will have to decide

whether to boycott or

not.

Of course if the Nationalists were to do the

sensible thing and to

agree to full democracy

in South Africa there

: would be no problem.

But not even the vast

majority of PFP supporters are ready for

that yet. If the vote

goes "yes", South Africa

would seem to be set

fair ona course in

whicha series of compromises take place on a step by step basis.

If, after November 2,

whites are prepared to

take those first few faltering steps that might

lead towards reconcilia- '

tion (and meanwhile

isolate in some measure

those bent on violent

revolution) and provided the highpowered

Cabinet Committee by

then comes up witha

promising plan for

black participation at

the central level, can

South African Indians

sensibly boycott?

Surely at that stage,

it will behove them to

make use of such opportunities as are made

available while seeking

the main goal— the

eventual emergence of a non-racial society.

This is what the "homeland" leaders, those

who are using the system, are doing. In some

cases quite effectively.

South African Indians

cannot "approve"a

Constitution that is patently deficient. They

cannot vote "yes". Nor

should they play into

the hands of the present-day likes of DE

Mitchell by saying "no".

Rather lets use every

opportunity created to

further the ideal.

CSO: 3400/65

86
SOUTH AFRICA

CHIEF BUTHELEZI CALLS FOR REJECTION OF CONSTITUTION

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 28 Sep 83 p 10

[Letter to THE STAR by Chief Gatsha Buthelezi: "Reject Constitution"]

[Text] I sincerely believe that South Africa

is truly and deeply dependent upon

black goodwill. As a South African

who loves his country, I have done

everything I can do to preserve

black goodwill.

Over the 30 years of my public

life as a politician I have never wavered from my responsibility to

preserve the medium and longterm

interests of South Africa which so

many black politicians have so glibly sacrificed to make immediate or

short-term gains.

When duty has demanded it, I

have risked my political career to

do what is right. I have faced barrage after barrage of destructive

criticism because I remain adamant

that in everything I do South Africa

must come first.

I have followed the politics of

reason. I have advocated democratic and peaceful means of bringing

about change. I have argued for

compromise solutions.

I have prepared my people to accept that we get nothing for nothing

and that our demand should be only

for equality of opportunity, so that

we can prove our human worth.

I am not an alien and vagrant

force in the South African political

situation and in my many missions

abroad I have sought to espouse

only those forces which are generally acceptable to the whole of South

Africa.

I have not only done these things

but in the process of doing them I

have built up the largest black constituency that this country has

known in its history. Inkatha has

now a paid-up membership rising

steadily above 750 000.

South Africa is torn by inter-racial strife. While many, of our issues

are hot racial issues per se, the dividing line between for and against

on most of them is in fact a line

which divides blacks from whites.

The African National Congress's

mission in exile has declared an

armed struggle. Urban sabotage

does take place. The Government

does find it necessary to mobilise

public opinion at the level of what

the Prime Minister calls a total onslaught against the country.

We must break away from the

kind of situation in which all this is

true and in which there is worse to

come,

Africans reject the new constitution in part and in whole. We are

entitled to reject it because its effect will be as binding on us as it

will be on whites, Indians and coloureds. We are citizens in South

Africa under the existing constitution and we have democratic rights

which are dearer than life itself to

us.

The new constitution is a massive

erosion of the rights we have. In the

past we have been entitled to campaign democratically and through

non-violent means for political recognition. In the past we have seen

our exclusion from the parliamentary process as being a party political

thing which could be combatted by

democratic opposition.

87
It is simply not true that the

adoption of the new constitution is a

whites-only affair or an affair between whites, coloureds and Indians. South Africa will not survive

continued onslaughts on black rights

which the new constitution represents.

The new constitution has no medium and long-term future and the

objectives which lie behind it will

never be secured. South Africa

stands in the real danger of paying

the terrible price that the National

Party's political failure will extol

from it.

If white South Africa votes "yes"

in the coming referendum, Africans

will experience a deep sense of

shock as they perceive themselves

to be rejected not by a political

.party they disagree with, but by

their fellow South Africans.

A "yes" vote will make deep inroads into African political goodwill

and the continued pursuit of what

has to be done in order to make the

new constitution work, will finally

destroy African goodwill. !

All this is so totally unnecessary.

White South Africa can simply say

"no" to Mr Botha. All they will be

doing is telling him to go back to his

constitutional drawing board and to

make another attempt at reform

in which there will not be the tragic

under-achievement for himself and

for the whole country which his

present political commitments represent.

If a "yes" vote is cast, Africans

will reconsider their options. They

will question African politics for the

last 20 years and demand a firmer

stand and more forthright political

action.

I am in touch with black thinking

and I can clearly see that I will

have to reconsider my own options

as the options of the people change.

I and all responsible African leaders

in South Africa, will be forced into a

reconsideration of what our strategy, should be and who our allies

should be.

We will have to reconsider our

views on such questions as sanctions

against South Africa and we will

have to carefully review the politics

which goes for campaigning for economic and diplomatic isolation of

this country.

n Preconceptions based on National

Party propaganda that ethnic ties

override a deep desire to form one

united South Africa are dangerous.

White South Africa just does not

know its own history and politics if

they think that grand apartheid will

ever work. The only way to get to

know Black South Africa politically

is to negotiate with us and to step

into the future with us.

To facilitate the process of

change, political responsibility has

thus far demanded that we seek

compromise solutions.

We recognise that the fear factor

in white South Africa is high and

have for the sake of posterity been

prepared to seek a negotiated future

along federal lines in which there is

room for compromise on all sides.

The confederal concept we reject on

the basis that there will be no real

power-sharing in it as exclusive

white social, economic and political

power over 87 percent of the country and all its riches will be retained by whites.

White South Africa must accept

that a "yes" vote in the referendum

will be a rejection by whites of

compromise politics and amount to

no less than the throwing down of a

political gauntlet in the black political arena. A ''yes" vote will lead to

uncompromising demands and as a

black leader I must take cognisance

of this.

In the new political dispensation,

I will be answerable almost exclusively to my black constituency in

which there will be hardening attitudes and an ever increasing demand for the kind of politics in

which I have not yet been involved.

In saying these things I am extending the hand of friendship to

white South Africa; I am appealing

to whites to keep the negotiating

door open. There will unfortunately

be whites who will regard this present message of mine as threatening

and hostile. This is just not true.

The appeal I am making for a

moratorium on constitutional developments until such time as we have

evolved a mutually acceptable negotiating formula is a reasonable

appeal and it is made in the interests of the whole of South Africa.

CSO: 3400/65
SOUTH AFRICA

IMPACT OF 'NO1VOTE IN REFERENDUM CONSIDERED

Johannesburg SUNDAY TIMES in English 25 Sep 83 p 39

[Article by Tertius Myburgh: "PW Botha Won't Shuffle and Deal Again"]

[Text]

WHAT happens if the

majority votes No in

the referendum?

This has become the

single biggest conundrum

of the campaign.

Quite properly much of

the debate at the centreleft ("It takes guts to vote

No." Why?) is beginning to

focus on it.

But before entering the

dicey terrain of political

prophecy, let us quickly

discard two categories of

No-voters.

They are the rightwing

allsorts in the CP-HNPAWB coalition, and the

don't-give-a-damn school

of leftwing opposition,

mercifully a minority,

who would vote against

anything the Nats have

touched even if it carried

an endorsement by the

Archangel Gabriel.

Such people, who say a

pox on all three of PW's

nouses and to hell with the

consequences, are beyond

sensible debate.

Consider, instead, the

case of the unextreme,

well-intentioned folk who

are toying with the idea of

a No vote because they

earnestly desire evolutionary progress towards

constitutional justice, yet

genuinely believe that the

Constitution Bill of 1983 is

irremediably defective.

Once these nice people

have recited the now wellknown litany of the new

constitution's flaws, they

are serenely confident

about their forecasts of

the consequences of rejection.

| Such are the imperatives of reform, they say,

1

that a No majority will

oblige NP leaders —

sometime, somehow, for

they care or know little of

Afrikanerdom's political

chemistry - to think

again and come up with

something better.

They hpld this touching

belief that there will miraculously emerge from

the NP caucus a new plan

fashioned according to a

Proggish model.

The theory is entirely

honourable in its purpose

— but it is utterly fanciful

for not taking any account

of the dynamics of Afrikaner politics.

True, the new constitution is a poor thing. But

it's all we've got - and in

reality it's all we're going

to get in the forseeable

future.

There is an extraordinary naivete about the belief that Messrs Botha and

Heunis, who have shattered Afrikaner unity and

i invested every cent of

their party political capital (indeed, they may be

overdrawn) in this ven89
ture, will meekly return

to an as-you-were mode

when their plan is rejected at the polls.

In the real, unforgiving

world of Afrikaner politics they will not be permitted to return to the

status quo ante as though

nothing had happened.

For example, much is

being made of Mr Botha's

declaration that, in the

event of defeat, he will not

call a general election.

More likely, he will not

be in a position to call any

shots at all, having taken

up residence at his retirement home at the Wilderness while his confrere Mr

Heunis resumes his law

practice in neighbouring

fJeorge.

They will be replaced

at the NP helm by new,

less divisive leaders

whose first act will be to

remove constitutional reform from the agenda altogether while they concentrate on restoring

Afrikaner unity.

And, having seen how

Mr Botha burnt his fingers by mistakenly trying

to strike an alliance with

traditionally non-Nat,

English-speaking South

Africa, his successor will

be understandably unwilling to take another

chance.

Nationalists will be led

back into their defensive

shell, sullen and angry

over what they will then

regard as the folly of trying to enlist the support of

the perfidious English

against the menacing

ranks of Dr Treurnicht.

The drive-them-backto-the-drawing board

school of opposition reminds one of nothing so

much as a story they tell

of the Duke of Wellington,

when his mistress, Mrs

Arbuthnot, died.

The Iron Duke went

tearfully to her funeral

and was primarily consoled by the whispered

condolences of Mr Arbuthnot, who put his arm

around the duke and said:

"Do not grieve, Your

Grace, I shall marry

again."

It is difficult to see Mr

F W de Klerk cast in an

Arbuthnot role.

No, what the privileged

voting classes have to

face up to on November 2

is that we will, all of us, be

taking a gamble. We will

be making our judgments

on a .balance of probabilities about what will happen after the poll.

Which is more likely —

that rejection this time

will spur our rulers on to

greater reformist endea^

vours?

Or that support for a

little bit of educative

power-sharing will start

an irresistible process

that must, ultimately, arrive at a just constitutional accommodation of all

South Africa's people?

the fond belief that

after five years of hard

constitutional bargaining

in TCP congresses and

committees which eventually resulted in a traumatic party split, Mr

Botha can do better and

still retain at least part of

his power base, is wishful

thinking.

In politics, as in poker,

you're obliged to play

with the cards you've

been dealt.

You can't keep throwing in your hand until

someone — The Great

Constitution-maker in the

Sky? — deals you four

aces.

Which is why, if it takes

guts to vote no, it takes an

equal measure of courage

to vote yes.

And let us never forget

the searingly cynical remark of coloured Dr

Richard van der Ross,

who, although principal of

the University of the

Western Cape, is today utterly disenfranchised and

therefore favours the

half-loaf of the new deal.

If he were white, he

said recently, he would

vote No because that

would enable him to keep

beth his moral superiority

and his privilege.

CSO: 3400/65

90
SOUTH AFRICA

DU TOIT SEES AFRIKANERDOM SPLIT ON REFERENDUM

Johannesburg RAND DAILY MAIL in English 30 Sep 83 p 11

[Article from the "Opinion" Column by Professor Andre Du Toit, Department of

Philosophy, Stellenbosch University: "A *Yes' Vote Is a Move to the Right"]

[Text]

IT IS early days yet, but

already it is clear that the

pattern of referendum

politics differs significantly from the all too familiar norms of our electoral

history.

Left and right, deep ethnic

loyalties and traditional party affiliations are apparently

being disregarded.

About half of the PFFs

constituency is not (yet?) following their party leadersip's

determined stand against the

new Constitution.

Outside the Cape, Afrikanerdom is split down the

middle, and the big unknown

factor is just how many erstwhile staunch NP members

will prove amenable to the

determined Rightwing bid for

a "No" vote.

The result is a highly unusual situation in our political

history, one where political

arguments may actually be

considered on merit and

where strategically placed

minority groups may well

exercise ah influential electoral voice.

Of course, as we know, political choices are rarely decided purely on rational grounds.

In the new political context, where old ethnic loyalties count far less, the party

which appeals most successfully to whites' hopes and

anxieties is going to call the

shot3.

One of the key questions in

this referendum is whether

the NP will manage to do just

that with "English" voters in

general and the business

community in particular, or

whether this traditionally reformist oppostion constituency — who find themselves in

the rather unaccustomed position that their support may

well prove to be decisive —

will be able to drive a harder

bargain and on their own

terms.

On the face of it the reform-minded Opposition

voter would seem to be in a

doubly favourable position.

He has the opportunity to

make an informed and rational choice on the actual merits

of the new Constitution. The

question posed for the referendum is, in fact, quite

straightforward: approval or

rejection of the "1983 Constitution" already passed by

Parliament

It is this specific Constitution, and not some vague and

-jmnhiqiimis vision of "conSO- Ciationai aemocracv" or

"consensus politics", that he

must endorse or reject

And should he consider it to

be inadequate or defective,

then he is in the strategic position to withhold his much

needed support and perhaps

even to gain some influence

on the thrust of constitutional

change itself.

Curiously, this is not at all

what seems to be happening

in many reform-minded Opposition circles. To judge by

the arguments advanced by

those editors, academics and

business leaders who have already committed themselves

to a "yes" vote, they have

been persuaded by all sorts of

other considerations — but

not by the merits of-the proposed new Constitution as

such.

Nor do they show much

confidence in the potential of

the reformist constituency to

impose its own terms on the

constitutional debate at all.

They are bending to larger

forces, swayed by arguments

not of their own making.

In effect, what has been

happening over the last six

months is that the NP has had

considerable success in

couching their constitutional

proposals in rhetoric and

metaphors which spoke to the

hopes and fears of many reform-minded Opposition voters. ■■-..:-'>. .

It would not go too far to

say that many have been prepared to. suspend rational

judgment on this issue. First

they were persuaded to go

along with the metaphor that

the Constitution should be

supported, not so much for its

own sake but as "a step in the

right direction". . When the dangers and defects of the actual Constitution Bill became too obvious,

this metaphor was given a

new and apparently even

more persuasive twist- we

should vote "yes" because a

majority "no" vote would

mean a disastrous "step in the

wrong direction".

Granted the defects and

dangers of the new Constitution, we are told that a majority "no" vote would lead to

91
the fall of the present verugte

NP leadership (i.e„ P W

Botha and Heunis) and bring

about a resurgence of the

Rightwing, setting back the

prospects for any kind of constitutional reform for many

years, even for good.

For. such reasons, reformists who abhor this constitution should be prepared to

vote "yes".

It would be a grave mis-

- take to take this at face value

as a rational argument and

not just a persuasive set of

metaphors.

Its plausibility does not derive from any certainty of a

Rightwing takeover consequent to a majority "no" vote

in the referendum. An equally

plausible case might be made

that this would simply leave

us where we are..

Mr Botha himself has

rightly stressed that the present NP Government would

continue in power following a

1 possible "no" vote.

Of course, in that case Mr

Botha's own leadership1 would

be at serious risk, but it would

be Mr De Klerk or Dr Viljoen,

not Dr Treurnicht who would

replace him.

Nor would that constitute a

drastic rightward turn of the

NP" leadership. Rather it

would merely confirm the

rightward turn which has already taken place in the NP

leadership' since the general

election of 1981 and the defec-,

tion of the Treurnicht group

last year.

The present leadership's

record over the last two years

speaks for itself: the lack.of

response to the De Lange

Commission, the Rabie Commission and the ensuing security legislation, the

"Koornhof Bills," the Steyn

Commission and the continuing threats to Press freedom,

the rejection of the Buthelezi

Commission's proposals, the

South West African negotiations, the destabilisation of

neighbouring states... this is

the record, let there be no

mistake, of an NP Government where Rightwing views

are clearly in the ascendant.

As for Mr De Klerk, his

record on the vital issue of

black affairs is not any more

verkramp than that of Mr

Botha, and his responses to

the underlying pressures for

reform to sustain economic

growth, given the enduring

constraints on manpower, is

as likely to be basically technocratic in nature.

In short, the supposed certainty of a rightward turn following a "nor

' vote is a myth.

Why, then, do so many people find it so persuasive? Its

• plausibility derives from the

way in which it is calculated

to appeal to some of the deepest hopes and fears of many

reform-minded whites.

Conditioned by a long history of political impotence in

opposition, many reformists

have come to accept that

with the NP in power the

Rightwing will always hold

the political trump cards.

Moreover, while reformist

proposals used to be the pre-

.rogafive of the Oppostion, the

verligte Nationalists have

shown that they, too, can play

this game, thus gaining a

double psychological advantage.

On the one hand the reformist rhetoric of the Botha

Government spoke to the urgent hopes of many well-intentioned whites: reform,

after all, might yet be a realistic option.

On the other hand, this also

neatly turned the tables on

the liberal Opposition: from

having been the party of reform the PFP could now be

represented as negative "boycotters," unaccountably not

willing to participate in the '

responsible task of constitutional change.

The NP leadership thus

proved adept in what the

American political scientist

Schattschneider in "The

Semi-sovereign People"

called "the supreme instrument of power the definition

of alternatives".

And so the verligte promise

of Mr Botha's leadership has

become the repository of both

the reformist fears of the

Rightwing and of their desperate hopes for realistic reform. .

In the face of the most evident defects of the Constitution Bill they still want to be

persuaded that there must be

grounds for supporting the

Government's constitutional

plan.

The art of the political persuasion in democracies everywhere, like that of the confidence trickster, is most

effective when it can rely on

the subject to do most of the

work himself.

Even the much vaunted

power of propaganda and ma- -

nipulation of the media is

limited when it goes directly

against the grain of people's

own interests and sincere beliefs.

But if you work with their

underlying wishes and fears

it is-amazing what otherwise

quite rational people will

bring themselves to believe in

spite of the most obvious evidence to the contrary.

The trick is to avoid that

direct scrutiny of the actual

proposal itself which would

at once expose its inherent

flaws and defects.

Rather, it should be presented in such a way that it

allows full scope for the projection of one's own hopes and

fears (which are, after all, irrefutable by rational evidence). -

The current constitutional

debate has indeed proved to

be a sort of political Rorschacht test. When confronted

with what the Constitution

BUI actually says, the response is simply to insist that

it will somehow be the prelude to the realisation of one's

own reformist hopes.

And instead of utilising the

bargaining strength which

withholding support of inadequate reform might give, reformists are prepared to support a new Constitution they

know to be defective and dangerous for fear of some mythcal Afrikaner Rightwing

takeover.

The supreme irony, of

course, is that the new Constitution which reformists so

much want to support is itself

a definite move to the Right

The Constitution Bill itself

is the clearest demonstration

of the extent to which the NP

Rightwing has succeeded in

putting its own stamp on the'

proposed constitutional reform.

As late as the end of 1981

there was still serious discussion within-verligte NP circles of giving coloureds representation along with whites

within a single house.

The 1983 Constitution, as

we have it now, is not only

firmly structured on separate

chambers and the ideological

distinction of "own affairs"

and "common affairs," but it

entrenches such fundamental

apartheid structures as the

Group Areas Act and the

Race Classification Act in the

Constitution itself, even apart

from definitely excluding

blacks.

It would be the final legitimation of this Rightwing

takeover of the constitutional

plan if Opposition voters

would persuade themselves

to approve this as "reform"

— for fear of a possible Rightwing backlash should they

vote "no".

1 The rightward turn-that reformists should fear is not

some vague future bogeyman; it has alrady happened.

Only a determined and reformist "no" may still do something to counter it

CSO: 3400/65

92
SOUTH AFRICA

REFORMIST WHITE VOTERS IN DILEMMA ON WELFARE OF COLOUREDS

Johannesburg RAND DAILY MAIL in English 1 Oct 83 p 9

[Article by Dr Hermann Giliomee]

[Text]

TO REFORMIST whites making up

their minds about the constitution one

issue is of crucial importance to do the

right thing by the coloured people.

Does it enjoy a fair measure of support

from the coloured community as a whole?

And, more generally: will coloured participation in the constitution be effective politically

— enough to ensure that the system works

properly and, over time, will gain in legitimacy?

A straight answer to these questions would

have made the vote on November 2 a fairly

simple exercise.

In the absence of any fresh polls reformist

whites desperately want to know how the

coloureds (and to a lesser extent the Indians)

view the constitution in its final form.

If there is a hard core of support, and if

coloured participation in the new system has

a chance of delivering the goods, a "yes" vote

on November 2 could well in retrospect be

interpreted as a step in the right direction.

Conversely, if the coloureds and, in particular, the most advanced sections of the

coloureds, reject it at this stage and continue

to do so in future, reformist whites will have

great difficulty in justifying their "yes" vote.

At the very least, this will mean that the

white-coloured curtain-raiser (to use the unfelicitious phrase of some commentators) is

set to continue as an unseemly brawl, leaving

little time or inclination for the Government

to proceed to the main match of the whiteblack power relationship.

In this context, it is a great pity that a

referendum (or a poll or an "election) to test

the coloured response will only be held after

the white referendum.

Thus whites will go intpjhe referendum

bereft of a crucial item oQnformation.

They know that the Labou? party has opted

for participation, but recently a whole range

of institutions enjoying strong coloured support has expressed itself "-against the new

dispensation.

Hence the question arises: how representative is the Labour Party?

During the 1970s the Labour party was

basically the party of coloured' blue-collar

workers, but it also had the potential of

speaking for the emerging coloured middleclass in the cities.

It attracted teachers, especially those outside the Cape Peninsula, by virtue of its

strong stand for compulsory education and

equal salaries.

It appealed to budding young businessmen

by pushing for the improved functioning of

the CDC and the protection of coloured businesses.

In a way it spoke for the whole coloured

community when it urged the Government to

tackle the critical housing shortage, on the

economic as well as sub-economic level.

And it took a strong, principled stand

against apartheid.

As late as June 1981 the Labour Party

national executive still urged the US and

Britain to apply sanctions against SA, berated

»cos for not protesting against the scheduled

Irish rugby tour, and stated as a pre-requisite

for negotiations with the Government the

repeal of the Group Areas, Mixed Marriages,

population classification and pass law Acts.

The Labour Party's changed stand on the

Government's constitutional plan should not

be read as a major swing in coloured opinion

As a political party the Labour Party has

had increasing difficulties in holding its constituency together.

During the last election of the Coloured

Persons Representative Council only 25% of

the coloureds entitled to vote bothered to do

so. The closing of the CPRC removed the

party's only real public forum.

In the course of 1982, the Labour Party

increasingly feared that it would fall apart if

it could not regain a public forum by participating in the new dispensation.

To a large extent this explains its rush of

blood at its Eshowe conference earlv this

year when it decided to go in without waiting

to see the Constitution Bill in its final form.

Significantly, metropolitan Cape Town was

poorly represented at this conference, which

was dominated by delegates from the rural

towns and PE region.

93
This pattern was reaffirmed by the polls in

the recent elections for management committees for coloured townships, which are

controlled by the Labour Party.

In the Cape Peninsula, where more than a

third of the coloured population and politically and economically the most advanced section lives, very low polls were registered,

ranging from Athlone (2%) to Kensington

(12%).

In the Boland towns polls varied from

roughly 25 to 50%, while the PE wards averaged a poll of 30%.

Where does this leave us with respect to a

new political dispensation?

Over the last 10 years the main (but unstated) goal of Government policies has been to

stabilise the "non-white" middle class

Its strategy has been to stimulate the economic advance of a coloured, Indians and

African middle class, properly housed and

enjoying some political representationEven from the Government's perspective,

a new constitution would turn out to be a

hollow shell if it did not secure some measure

of identification and participation by the rising middle class it was designed tö attract.

The Seventies in fact saw the emergence of

a significant coloured middle class.

Professor Jill Nattrass of Natal University

has calculated that at the time of the 1970

census about 12% of the coloureds could be

considered middle class (being in the professional, managerial and other related job categories).

By the time of the 1980 census this proportion had nearly doubled'. (Those in production, i.e. blue-collar workers, stayed at roughHowever, the Labour Party no longer has

this new middle class as part of its constituency; in fact this class has turned out to be the

most emphatic non-participators.

In canvassing coloured voters this year, Mr

David Curry has come to the following conclusion: "The middle class has arrived, but it

has become apathetic or opposed to what the

Labour Party is trying to do.

"Being much better off economically, it is

even more insulted by the apartheid system

and tends to be attracted to the UDF."

Current Labour Party support tends to

come from the blue-collar workers. As a Labour Party leader graphically puts it": "The

rich has moved out and poor has moved in."

This impression is confirmed by opinion

pollsters who consistently found that the

higher the income and the better the education, the more coloureds are against the new

dispensation.

The Labour Party has justified its decision

to participate on the grounds that it wishes to

fight against apartheid from within and to

negotiate a better socio-economic deal —

thus, of course, also building its own constituency.

However, the chances that the new dispensation will bring advances for the Labour Party and/or increased coloured support do not

look good at the moment.

The constitution is of course based upon

apartheid which make the Labour Party

claim to be opposing it problematic.

Secondly, the new system comes about 10

years too late: most of the social and economic advances on which the Labour Party could

capitalise had already occurred.

Thirdly, the Government's new-found commitment to free enterprise is running counter

to its plan to co-opt the coloureds into a new

dispenstion oh the basis of apartheid and to a

strategy of (coloured) affirmative action

which the Labour Party would want to pursue

in order to built support.

Let us elaborate briefly in order to put the

negative reaction of the coloured middle

class and the dilemma of the Labour Party in

proper perspective. With regard to coloured

business, the party will have little or no patronage to dispense.

The CDC has been taken over by the Small

Business Development Corporation which allocate funds purely on merit and regardless

of colour.

There is a strong feeling among coloured

entrepreneurs that they have been losing out

against whites recently.

To coloureds in the civil service, and particularly the teaching profession, the Labour

Party will have little to offer, since salary

parity with whites in the important top and

middle categories had already been achieved

in the late Seventies.

Housing is another area where the Labour

Party could have built up support by pushing

for and acquiring control over large-scale

sub-economic housing schemes.

However, it is thwarted by the Government's new emphasis on the provision of

more expensive economic housing and on

home-ownership:

The proposed sale of the State's housing

stock to what will be largely the coloured

middle class will occur in a neutral, technocratic fashion which does not offer any meaningful role to the Labour Party.

Lastly, the Labour Party will have great

difficulties in building support through improving the quality of life in the townships.

Although the Government has not yet

spelled out the fiscal arrangements in the

new dispensation, it looks as if it is moving in

the direction of user levies, which means

people who want to have improved facilities

and services will have to pay higher rates.

In none of these fields is the Labour Party

in a strategic position to offer anything meaningful to the coloured middle class.

Short of full participation in a common

House of Assembly polarisation in the

coloured community will proceed apace and

the UDF is bound to have a greater appeal to

the middle class.

What then do the coloureds think of the

proposed dispensation? Any answer must be

tentative and speculative.

It looks as if the Labour Party's strategy

enjoys some support in the rural areas and

among blue-collar workers in the cities.

However, there should be little doubt of the

opposition of the coloured middle class, particularly that in Cape Town, which is above

all demanding the abolition of the apartheid

structures.

For a dispensation which is supposed to

stabilise the middle class this is hardly a

happy portent.

Those voters who on November 2 want to

do the right thing by the coloureds should first

of all ask a simple question: which coloureds?

CSO: 3400/65

9k
CHANGES IN RACE RELATIONS NOTED

SOUTH AFRICA

Johannesburg SUNDAY TIMES in English 25 Sep 83 p 39

[Article by Fleur de Villiers: "On the Rocky Road to Change It's Silly Not

To See Just How Far You Have Travelled"]

[Text]

"NOTHING", said the woman vehemently, "has changed. The

same dreadful laws are still on the Statute Book. So why should I

vote for the new constitution?"

Let us ignore for the moment the glaring non sequitur — the assumption

that a lack of change in South African society is a compelling reason not to

vote for something which, for good or ill, represents major, inescapable

change.

For her slip reveals little

except that even the most

politically sensitive South

Africans hate to be confused

with facts. And in a country

in which civil liberties are as

much under threat as they

ever were, while apartheid

is unravelling rapidly, facts

tend to be dismally confusing.

Instead, let us examine

the contention too frequent

that South Africa is still set

in oppressive concrete, unchanged and unchanging,

with only a few cosmetic

touches here and there io

pretty up the apartheid face

for gullible visitors.

Errol Tobias scoring a try

for the Boks, black fighters

punching the bejasus out of

white boxers, mixed soccer

teams, black and white athletes straining for the same

tape — these perhaps can be

regarded as cosmetic.

Perceptible

change

For sport, once seen as an

; essential pillar of the apartheid society, is now regarded

by many as a world apart

with its own rules — Dr

Danie Craven's own special

and highly polished South

African showcase which

does not reflect the daily

lives of the men and women

of this country.

But can one say the same

of the black tellers in your

friendly neighbourhood

bank, of black shop assistants, clerks, artisans, managers, executives?

Can one dismiss as cosmetic those same shop assistants, tellers and clerks taking their ease with their

white peers in a downtown

cafe or lunch counter? Taking a greatly increased pay

packet back home — or into

the downtown supermarkets, outfitters and department stores?

This is not the artificial

world of organised sport, but

the real and rough contact

sport of daily life — a contact that could have led, at

best, to an ugly incident in

Birmingham, Alabama 1963.

The fact that it doesn't in

South Africa 1983 shows that

something is stirring in the

apartheid society: a real and

perceptible change in white

attitudes.

A few short years ago —

about the time when South

Africa wa& still debating

whether black actors could

play to white audiences

without endangering the security of the state, when Sybrand van Niekerk's verkrampte writ ran in

Transvaal and Pact was the

outward, visible and expensive expression of an allwhite culture — Elsa Joubert wrote a book

chronicling the all too common misery of the black"

woman in search of her pass.

Last week Poppie Nongena came back to town,

staged, on this occasion, not

by liberal non-conformist

whites or militant

but by Pact

The actors — bar a couple

of walk-on parts reserved

for thoroughly unpleasant

white officials — were

black.

Searing

condemnation

The director was white,

the theme was a searing condemnation of all that is awful in South African society.

The language was Afrikaans — and so were the

audiences, ordinary middle

95
class Afrikaners who packed

the theatre and stood to applaud.

Nor was this a once-off

show of indulgent establishment tokenism. A few

week's earlier a similar

audience was treated to a

Pact production of Maxim

Gorky's The Lower Depths.

Once again the language

was Afrikaans. This timelSe

actors were coloured and

the deliberately evocative title was Kruispaaie.

Let it be said immediately

that all this is no cause for

whites to rejax in a warm

bath of sudsy self-congratulation.

Economic

necessity

The old colonial cliche^ as

tired as last Sunday's roast,

about how much more

wealth and acceptability is

being "given" blacks today

compared with five or 10

years ago, is as insulting as it

is inaccurate.

South African society is

experiencing a fundamental

sea change, not because it

has suddenly seen the light

of racial harmony, but because it is gradually realising that its people can live

and work apart and in poverty, or together and in some

kind of comfort

In the US it took legislative action and judicial decree to change, not merely

the glaring inequities of the

Deep South, but the attitudes

of its divided people. -

In South Africa — because

the Goverment believes it

has to pay lip service, at

least, to its constituency —

legislative change has not

set the pace. Economic necessity has — the slowdawning realisation that

white South Africa could not

continue to grow, prosper,

and avoid bloody revolution

born of want, without black

skills.

And when skin colour

ceases to be important in the

job market, it is no longer

important in the market

place.

But as everyone — even

Dr Treurnicht — knows,

change cannot be confined

_ to the work place or the cafe.

Blacks who earn as much

as their white colleagues

cannot for long be restricted

to living in Soweto. Neither

can they be left without a

real say in how they are

governed.

If politics is about who

pts what, when, where and

now, then there is no more

self-deluding myth than the

idea that middle class black

South Africans will*be content to be both wealthy and

voteless.

Which is why, even as the

barricades have fallen one

by one, black goals continue

to exceed the white perception of what is possible or

even desirable.

Resentment doesn't disappear with a better job; mmtancy does not vanish

around an integrated lunch

counter.

No one in his right mind

can deny that black South

Africans are still burdened

by dreadful inequities, that

despite the economic advances of the past few years,

millions suffer a level of deprivation which would be unthinkable and intolerable for

whites, that far too many are

homeless, jobless, hungry

. and without the education or

Skills ever to be anything

else.

Prejudices

diluted

But if one cannot deny the

; ugliness in South African

society, so does it demand a

heroic act of self-deception

to proclaim that the more

this country changes, the

more it remains the same.

It can't For even as in the

US legislative reform led to

a gradual change in racial

attitudes, so in South Africa

is economic change diluting

the racial prejudices and

stereotypes that underpin

statutory apartheid, which

in turn must eventually collapse from lack of support

This country has a long,

and rocky road to travel before some kind of racial equity and amity is reached.

And it must continually look

ahead if it is ever to achieve

that goal

But as the long distance

runner knows, it is perverse

not to look back occasionally

to see how far we have come

— and how far we still have

to go. V

CSO: 3400/65

96
RAPPORT PUBLISHERS CONVICTED OF CONTRAVENING SECRETS ACT

Johannesburg THE CITIZEN in English 7 Oct 83 p 13

[Text]

SOUTH AFRICA

THE publishers of the

Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Rapport and two

employees appeared in

the Johannesburg Regional Court yesterday

and were convicted of

contravening the Official

Secrets Act, after pleading guilty.

The Official Secrets

Act was still in operation

in April last year at the

time of the crime. It was

repealed during June last

year and replaced with

the Protection of Information Act.

Yesterday Rapport

Publishers (Pty) Limited,

represented by Mr T P

Boshoff manager of the

concern at the time of the

offence Izak Joubert

Perold (former editor)

and senior journalist

Eduard Botha, (now

Washington correspondent), appeared before

Mr T J le Grange and admitted they contravened

the Official Secrets Act.

They admitted that

they had possessed information relating to security matters in South Africa and had published or

publicised it and that at

the time of such publication they knew or should

reasonably have known

that the information related to State security

matters.

The trial arises from

the trial of the mercenaries involved in the abortive Seychelles coup.

When the trial commenced yesterday, magistrate Mr T J le Grange

ruled that it be held in

camera.

He later granted permission for the publication of the names of the

accused, the nature of the

charge without details

and the sentence.

The magistrate said it

was a serious crime to reveal the name and identity of an alleged agent of

the Intelligence Service.

It was detrimental to

the safety of the State and

detrimental to the safety

of that person and his

family.

He accepted a defence

counsel submission that

the newspaper publishers

"had taken legal* advice

beforehand" and that the

publication of the classified information "had

been a mere slip".

The court said "the

damage has however

'been done".

Rapport publishers

were fined R500. The two

co-accused were cautioned and discharged.

The trial comes after a

test case held in the Johannesburg Regional

Court in March this year

in which South African

Associated Newspapers

and the editors of the

Sunday Times and Rand

Daily Mail were charged

with contravening various

sections of the Protection

of Information Act which

replaced the Official Secrets Act.

The charges were restrospective and the accused were convicted under

the old Act with having

been in possession of and

revealed through publication classified information

from Seychelles Mercenary Trial which had a

bearing on State security

in South Africa.

At the March trial,

Saan, convicted on three

1 counts, was fined R2 000

of which half was suspended. Rand Daily Mail

editor Mr Rex Gibson,

was convicted on two

counts and fined R500 (or

five months) suspended

for five years. Sunday

Times editor Mr Tertius

Myburgh was convicted on

one count and received a

suspended fine of R300

(or three months) and

journalist Eugene Hugo,

convicted on three

counts, received a suspended fine of R800 (or

j eight months).

! In yesterday's trial Mr TJle Grange was on the Bench. Dr J D'Olivier

of the Office of the Attorney-General represented the State. The accused were represented by Mr Mostert,

SC, with him Mr J Henning, instructed by Couzyn, Hertzog andHorak.

CSO: 3400/65

97
SOUTH AFRICA

CHANGE IN PROVINCES' RULE INVOLVES LONG STUDY

Johannesburg THE CITIZEN in English 6 Oct 83 p 4

[Text]

TECHNICAL Investigations into the adaptation

of middle-level government and its accommodation in the new dispensation will continue for "at

least" the current terms

of office of provincial

councils, the Minister of

Constitutional Development and Planning, Mr

Chris Heunis, said yesterday.

He told the Administrator's conference in

Cape Town the investigations were comprehensive

and could not be hastily

concluded.

The investigations and

subsequent negotiations

with all involved parties,

once the advisory reports

were received, might take

up a further term of office

for provincial governments, he added.

It was notable that not

one of the provinces had

taken a standpoint that

adaptation and change

was not necessary.

"It is not possible to

provide final, answers regarding details of the anticipated middle-level

government before these

investigations and negotiations have been concluded," MrHeunissaid.

There were, however,

certain aspects that could

be considered definite at

thisstage.

Firstly, the position of

no official, whether employed at central, provincial or municipal level,

would in any way be endangered by the anticipated adaptations.

"Un the contrary, it is

envisaged that a co-ordinated strategy will be

necessary to train officials

to cope with the increased

requirements, and attention is already being given

to this."

The second aspect was

that more middle-level

structures would have to

be created within the

existing four provincial

administrations to bring

authorities closer to the

populations and "shorten

lines ofcommunication".

Thirdly, middle-level

government structures

would always be necessary in South Africa, as the

country was too extended

geographically to have

only central and local

authorities.—Sapa.

CSO: 3400/65
SOUTH AFRICA

RIGHT WING SCORES VICTORY AT TUCSA CONFERENCE

Johannesburg RAND DAILY MAIL in English 4 Oct 83 p 14

[Article in "Business Day" by Steven Friedman]

[Text] LAST week's Tucsa conference was a crushing victory

for its Right wing.

The meeting took place against

the background of mounting concern in Tucsa at its loss of credibility in the face of the growth of

emerging unions.

The congress rejected by big

majorities suggestions by the Boilermakers Society that it reassess

its direction and reject aspects of

the closed shop — and thus improve Tucsa's relations with

emerging unions. Instead, it

backed the solution favoured by

Tucsa's leaders.

This called for a sharp rise in

affiliation fees to finance increased Tucsa services and to refurbish Tucsa's image. The aim, it

seems,, is to heef up Tucsa's war

chest and enable it to step up its

battle against emerging unions.

That war is intended is confirmed by the overwhelming support for a motion calling on the

Government to make unregistered unions illegal — a call described by-the Boilermakers as

"imbecilic" and "selfish".

The Boilermakers are isolated

in Tucsa and seem sure to leave —

the general secretary, Mr Ike van

der Watt, was badly beaten in an

election for a Tucsa vice-presidency. But what chance has Tucsa

of winning its war with emerging

unions?

On the one hand, it can rely on

an arsenal of quasi-legal protection in the form of closed shops,

representation on Government

committees and the like.

It obviously seeks to rely even

more on official protection —

hence the call for a bar on unregistered unions.

But Tucsa's lack of sympathy

> for black worker aspirations

means it is unable to compete

! with^emerging^unions on the shop

floor — however many services it

offers members.

DDD

HOW widespread was the

stoppage by National Union of

Mineworkers members to mourn

those who died in the Hlobane

blast? "3,

The NUM called for a half-hour

stoppage, the mines replied that a

minute was adequate. The NUM

then said many members would

observe 30 minutes.

The NUM says about 30 000

members — mostly on the surface

— ignored management and took

30 minutes. Employers insist that

none did. The mines are insulated

from newspapers, so it is impossible to say who is right.

But it does seem the one minute

was widely observed, which may

show thatthe NUM is making progress in mobilising members.

. If half-hour stoppages did take

place, it seems they occurred

mostly on the surface and that

most underground workers did

not defy management.

This may show that the union is

too young to mount a widespread

symbolic stoppage in defiance of

employers now.

Papers filed in the NUM's industrial court test case against

Gold Fields West Driefontein

mine — it is challenging the dismissal of 17 men who refused to

work in an area they consider unsafe — contain startling charges.

These include claims that a

rockfall occurred in the area the

men refused to work in two days

99
CSO: 3400/65

after they were fired and that the

irien were subjected to verbal

abuse. Gold Fields will contestthe

action.

DDD

ONE of the industrial court's key

functions has been challenged in

the court itself.

Last week, Barlows Manufacturing, a Barlow Rand company,

argued in a case brought by the

Metal and Allied Workers Union

that^ the court could not grant

temporary status quo orders rein- *

stating sacked workers if an

employer had given them adequate notice. (The court would

still be able to pronounce on dismissals, but not as a matter of

urgency).

This would largely remove the

court's right to grant urgent status quo orders no matter how unfair the sacking might seem to it.

One of the court's chief roles

has been to grant such orders.

This has given workers speedy recourse by removing the need for a

long wait before the court pronounces on firings. In many cases,

the granting of these orders has

led to speedy settlement of a dispute.

The company wants this referred to the Appeal Court.

DDD

THE Metal and Allied Workers

Union's new strategy of using official machinery to declare disputes with employers seems to be

paying off in Natal.

According to the MAWU's

newsletter, disputes at McKinnon

Chain and Scottish Cables have

*been settled, and one withtledore 1Tools is close to settlement. The

MAWU also settled its. wage dispute with WB Cameron after a

strike ballot.

But in the Transvaal, the wage

dispute with Highveld Steel entered deadlock last week and

others with major firms are not

settled.

, "The MAWU also claims signifi-

: cant growth in Rosslyn, Pinetown,

] Witbank and Springs and lists 12

recognition agreements. It says

another 23 are being negotiated.

The union cites as a reason for

its growth during a recession its

decision to concentrate only on

important sectors of the metal industries.

100
SOUTH AFRICA

GOVERNMENT SEEN CURTAILING STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE COUNCILS

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 3 Oct 83 p 6

[Article in the "My View" Column by Marimuthu Subramoney, managing editor of

the Press Trust of South Africa]

[Text]

The struggle for the establishment of autonomous and democratically-elected student representative councils seems to be a

perennial issue at all black universities in South Africa.

Over the past few months students at the universities of Turfloop, Fort Hare^riii the Medical University of South Africa

(MEDUNSA) have had to contend with harsh actions by heads

of universities — most of whom

areHhe whites and approved by

the National Party — in their

attempts to set up independent

and free SRCs.

The University of DurbanWestville, which was^established

more than 20 yeaK^agb to cater

for the academic requirements

of Indian South Africans, has become the latest campus this

year to earn the wrath of the

university authorities.

For some time the students

have been locked in a bitter and

acrimonious struggle with the

university administration after

the Rector, Professor J C C

Greyling, suspended the SRC

and banned all "political" meetings on the campus.

Professor Greyling cited as

his reasons the financial position of the SRC and the "illegality" of the SRC constitution.

His action had not come as a

surprise to the SRC leaders, because, over the past six months,

the students were subject to harassment and intimidation by

the campus police and attention

by the security branch of the

South African Police.

The students cite the follow-

, ing actions against them:

•The refusal of entry into the

campus of a community leader

and part-time student, Mr Roland Parshotam;

• The banning of a student

meeting that was to have been

addressed by the recently unbanned leaders of the Natal Indian congress (NIC), Mr George

Sewpersadh and Mr Mewa

Ramgobin;

• The alleged arrest of students

by campus police and handing

over student to the security police;

•The confiscation of pamphlets

and documents belonging to the

SRC;

•The banning of the Azanian

Students Organisation (AZASO),

to which the SRC if affiliated;

• Alleged co-operation between

the campus police and the security branch policemen.

The students claim that all

these actions and the subsequent

banning of the SRC are part of a

concerted effort by Professor

Greyling to limit and inhibit student activity because the SRC

had promoted the ideals of democracy and non-racialism.

With all student activities suspended because of the banning

of the SRC, the students have

now approached attorneys to institute legal action to challenge

Professor Greyling's decision.

The students are not surprised

at the curtailment of academic

freedom because they claim "it

is all part of the grand scheme

to crush all independent thought

on black campuses."

But they will like to know

how is it possime that principals

at white universities allow SRCs

on their campuses to operate

without any interference, yet

their counterparts at black

campuses try at all times to stifle and "control" SRCs.

CSO: 3400/65

101
SOUTH AFRICA

REPORTAGE ON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Gandhi Issue Divisive

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 28 Sep 83 p 3

liextj Mahatma Gandhi — and his philosophy of nonviolent action — became a religious football yesterday as his name was bandied about in the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church of

Southern Africa.

Some delegates at the assembly took exception

to what one called Gandhi "somehow having

swayed the heads" of the committee responsible

for drawing up a report and a recommendation

on non-violent action.

The objectors put a counter motion calling for

prayer, fasting and repentance to bring about an

"outpouring of the Spirit".

The original recommendation proposed by the committee asked for a mandate

from the assembly to inform

congregations on non-violence and its Biblical basis.

This was the third year in

which the issue — seen as a

crucial aspect of division

within the Church — was debated.

The decision adopted was

a compromise which included both a call for prayer and

repentance as well as education on non-violence, j

Heresy Motion Rejected

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 29 Sep 83 p 3

[Article by Carina le Grange]

[Text] Tne Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa

(PCSA), at its general assembly in Boksburg, yesterday defeated a motion which sought to en102
dorse the decision taken by the World Alliance of

Reformed Churches (WARC) in Ottawa last year

that apartheid is a heresy.

The PCSA is the only mainline English-speaking church-in South Africa which has not endorsed

the decision.

The motion was put to the assembly before a

recommendation on relations with the Ned Geref

Kerk (NGK) because the decision on heresy "had

direct bearing" on the PCSA's contact with the

NGK.

The NGK was suspended from the WARC at the

same time as the theological justification of

apartheid was declared a heresy. One of the reasons for the reluctance some PCSA delegates felt

about endorsing the WARC decision was that they

would also be endorsing the suspension.

The assembly also passed a motion noting

"with deep regret" the failure of the NGK to

enter into the debate between the two churches to

which the NGK had previously agreed.

Presbyterian Church Needs To Be updated

A call was made this week for the Presbyterian

Church of Southern Africa (PCSA) to "shed some

of its outmoded traditions and creaking structures" in the interests of growth.

In his annual report to the Church's general

assembly in Boksburg, the convener of the Life

and Work Committee, the Rev D L Crawford of

Durbanville, identified lack of direction and a

smouldering racism as other weaknesses of the

denomination.

"The Church needs to be reminded of the thousands of men and women who walk past our

church buildings on their way to a Christian eternity, while we haggle over details," he told the

delegates.

The assembly was also

addressed by the Rev Frank

Retief of the Church of England in South Africa, who

shared some of his experiences as the minister of one

of the country's most rapidly

growing local Churches.

Other visitors to the assembly this week were Bishop Desmond Tutu of the

South African Council of

Churches (SACC), a delegation from the United Presbyterian Church of the United States, representatives of

several South African denominations and the Rev A

McCay from New Zealand.

CSO: 3400/65

103
CISKEI-TRANSKEI BOEDER FENCES TO BE CHECKED

East London DAILY DISPATCH in English 24 Sep 83 p 7

[Text]

SOUTH AFRICA

EAST LONDON — South

African Government sur-'

veyors and land inspectors are expected to start

checking the bori'er

fences of Ciskei and

Transkei within the next

two months.

This was disclosed

yesterday by an official

of the Department of

Community Development, Mr Gerhard Olivier, when he addressed members ofthe Eastern Cape Agricultural

Union at a special "consolidation and border

problem" meeting in

Queenstown.

Mr Olivier said a start

to checking border

fences is to be made in

the Queenstown area

"seeing that the fences'

are in the correct spot,

measure up to the required minimum height

of 1,8 m and are made up

of the stipulated 13

strands of barbed wire."

"Farmers are responsible for erecting

the fences and are then

reimbursed with all

costs plus 10 per cent,"

he said.

Meanwhile, i,t also

transpired at the meeting that the Eastern

Cape Agricultural Union

is strongly opposed to

Ciskei and Transkei suggestions that border

fences be erected only

on the South Africa side

where rivers are concerned.

The chairman of the

ECAU's consolidation

committee, Mr Gus

Peinke, said: "This proposal is completely unacceptable to us."

"We feel it will be far

better if the old giveand-take principle is

adopted...by this I mean

the fence should run

along one side of the river in some places and oh

the other side on other

stretches," he said.

The South African

Agricultural Union suggested that the borderseparating fences should

be put Up on both sides

of a river with the waterway becoming a sort of

no-man's-land.

Both Ciskei and Transkei authorities have,

however, rejected this

and say the fences must

be put up on the South

African bank only —

leaving the actual river

and its water to fall on

their side of the border.

The South African

Ambassador to Ciskei,

Mr Matthys Botha, told

the meeting that special

"interview committees" -

are being created to

help farmers who have

problems where rivers

are concerned.

"The Ciskei Government appreciates what

the South African Government is doing for it

and I'm sure that after

we have heard from

South African farmers

and present their cases

to the Ciskeian authorities, things will be able

to be worked out to

everyone's satisfaction,"

he said.

The deputy director of

general services of the

SA Agricultural Union,

Mr Hans van der Merwe,

said farmers should feel

assured that organised

agricultural authorities

were "looking after their

interests" as far as the

consolidation problem

is concerned." — DDR.

CSO: 3400/65

10l*
SOUTH AFRICA

SUNDAY TIMES LITERARY AWARD SHARED BY NOLUTSHUNGU, VAN NIEKERK

Johannesburg SUNDAY TIMES in English 2 Oct 83 p 29

[Article by Fleur De Villiers: "Is There Anybody Out There Listening?"]

[Text]

' "Everybody's

talking at me. I

don't hear a

word they're

saying ..."

THE long silence is

broken. The silence in

which South Africans

of every political persuasion appeared content to leave politics to

the politicians — with

perhaps an academic

or two thrown in for

good measure just to

keep the Rapportryers

happy on Republic

Day.

•' Now, suddenly, under the

goad of the coming referendum, it is no longer quiet.

Everyone from the Cape

: to Kaapmuiden has an opinion to air and is vigorously

giving tongue.

Neither is the babble of

voices restricted to those

with a vote in the referendum or a role in the new

constitution.

Change, as Mr P W Botha

is discovering, possibly to

his surprise, affects everyone.

And by the very act of

excluding blacks from the

new deal he has paradoxically, if unwittingly, put

their future back on the

agenda and given them a

right to enter the debate.

But if everybody's talking, is anybody out there

listening?

In this fragile moment as

South Africa pauses on the

brink of a decision which

must alter the course and

pattern of her history, its

people should listen to each

other as never before.

They are not. If we have

suddenly discovered the

heady alcohol ofspeech, we

have still to taste the wine

of true conversation.

South Africans remain

locked into their own

groups, each with its own

fears, aspirations and obsessions, and they are talking almost exclusively to

fellow members of the

same club.

True communication

with others who share their

country with them has

never been more desirable.

Never has it been at a

greater premium.

It is therefore timeous

that two books which attempt to bridge tha< communications gap at this

critical point in our history

will share the R2 500 1983

Sunday Times literary

award for political writing.

IrräTionaT

And it is even more appropriate that one, "Changing South Africa, political

considerations", is by a

black academic, and that

the other, the aptly titled

"Dominee, are you listening

to the drums?", is by an

Afrikaner theologian who

realises better then most

the desperate need for communication between South

Africans divided by a common country.

As the Rev A S van Niekerk puts it in his thoughtful work: "Many still value

their national identity so

highly that they prize it

above all else, to the extent

that this preoccupation assumes irrational proportions, i

Aspirations

"They find it difficult to

communicate in a spontaneous and meaningful way

with other groups ... they

tragically shut themseles

into a single exclusive category: the essence of apartheid."

Dr van Niekerk, a young

NGK theologian who is currently working on an NG

Kerk in Afrika mission in

Sibasa, has not shut himself

up within his group.

Instead, through this

book, which examines the

work of four black South

African poets, he attempts

to create an understanding

of black aspirations and

frustrations.

His co-winner, Dr Sam

Nolutshungu, a South African academic who is a lecturer in the Department of

Government at the University of Manchester, has

written a very different

book.

But the effect on white

readers of his scholarly assessment of change in

South Africa will be much

the same — the discovery,

[possibly for the first time,

that this country's concerns

and problems appear

strangely altered when

viewed from another perspective.

Both books, each in its

i own way, more than fulfil

| the requirements of the

: Sunday Times politicalwriting award.

When the award was first

launched in 1980, we said

that never before in South

Africa's history had there

been a greater need for original, innovative thinking

by political scientists,

economists, sociologists >

! and other writers in fields

that touch the nation's affairs.

The prize was intended to

stimulate the debate and

thus break the logjam in

South African politics.

Today, that logjam is

breaking up, but while the

debate has certainly been

stimulated - if the 30

books entered for the 1983

j prize are any measure — it

j still has to cross those

I seemingly impenetrable

! barricades of language

i prejudice, culture and

colour which South Afri-

! cans have erected around

each other. .

AIPS.6"

0168 ran

«

e

from Alf Ries and Eben DomL misse's account of the 1982

105
i. split in the National Party,

"Broedertwis", to "Soldiers

Without Politics", an analysis of the South African Defence Force by American

academic Kenneth Grundy.

Disappointed

Many, however, were der voted to two dominant issues in white politics — the

moral dilemma of the Afrikaans churches and the

search for a new constitution.

Nevertheless, the panel

of three judges — educationist Franklin Sonn, Professor Gerrit Olivier of the

University of Pretoria, and

' Professor John Barratt,

of the South ^African Institute of International Affairs — confessed

that they were disappointed.

"Not," says Professor

Barratt, "because of the

standards of the entries, but

by the limited scope of the

debate.

"There appears to be a

paucity of original thinking

and ideas.

"Instead, we are going

around in circles, examining the same old issues,

while there are areas —

such as our position in

Africa — which remain entirely neglected.

"And all this does is to

promote our own isolation

on the continent on which

we live and in which we

have to secure our future."

South African academics, he believes, have abandoned the true role of the

scholar-scout — examining

the field well ahead of the

political pack, thinking the

unthinkable, breaking new

ground, unafraid of offending the established norms

and interests of either the

right or the left.

"Instead", he says, "we

appear to be locked into answering each other's questions, rather than perceiving other questions which

have not been raised."

The result is that the

critical appraisal essential

for policy formation in

South Africa is woefully

lacking, while "the scholars

and researchers who should

be making those assessi ments are gnawing on old

i bones".

The problem, he suggests, may lie with the politicians and policy makers

who are unwilling to listen

to anything which exceeds ,

the narrow bounds they

have imposed on the debate.

: Surely nowhere else in '

the non-communist world

are politicians äs inattentive to what the scholars

say.

But, languishing on the

periphery of the debate,

they too must must surely

bear some responsibility

for their irrelevance.

Blind spot

Unwilling to rock the

boat by questioning basic

assumptions, they appear

only too ready to leave issues such as South Africa's

role in Africa to the "people

who know", or to the instant

experts from abroad on

whom, to our constant embarrassment, we rely for

information and opinion

about our part of the world.

Other panel members

were equally depressed

about the current state of

academic debate in South

Africa — a debate which

reflects a profound moral

crisis, a deep uncertainty

about this country's path

into the future and, at the

same time, reveals a distressing absence of anything new to say.

South Africa's persistent

ignorance of Africa was

one of the judges' main

complaints — an ignorance

which is leading both this

country and its academics

into endorsing official attitudes and policies without

question or critical analysis.

Despite the recent proliferation of institutes formed

to study particular international and African issues,

there appears to be an emphasis on form rather than

substance.

The institutes are desperately undermanned, and

too many of them look at

Africa within the current

parameters of Government

policy.

The fearlessindependent

research which should precede long-term policy formation and help determine

our attitudes to Africa for

the next five, 10 and 20

years is simpl^,not being

i done. v

An example which South

Africa should have followed years ago is Israel's,

whose institutes and universities produce inter-

; national leaders in research and expertise on the

Arab world.

In sharp and humiliating

contrast, there are precious

few South African academics who know much, or even

care about the situation in

f this country's closest neighbours.

All this could be remedied, it has been suggested,

if South Africa's corporate

community were to show a

little more interest in the

region in which it operates,

which provides its markets

and in which its future will

be determined.

But there are surely other reasons for this blind

spot in our intellectuallife.

One certainly is white

South Africa's passion for

introspection; the abiding

conviction that until we get

our own affairs in order,

the rest of the world can go

to hell in a handbasket.

Which, given the complexity of our problems, is

understandable — but dangerous.

For just as our foreign or

regional policies cannot be

divorced from our domestic problems, so too are interracial attitudes within

our borders inseparable

from the threat or the opportunity which lies beyond

them.

Gateway

Navel-gazing is endlessly

fascinating, but if we value

our future we cannot allow

it to be the only game in

town.

One reason for this selfobsession, a panel member

suggested, is that white

South Africans still suffer

from an "identification crisis".

Despite frequent claims

that they are Africans, they

have failed to look at either

Africa or the black man

I and tried to connect them

I with the whites' own existence on this continent.

One book which breaks

through this barricade is

"Dominee, are you listening

to the drums?"

And its contribution is all

the more important because so few white South

Africans appear to realise

that if this country is to find

a solution to its problems,

its people will have to find

a common moral and intellectual basis for their^inderstanding of each other.

But there can be no mutual understanding if they

i don't begin to communicate.

| Dr van Niekerk's book is

a scholarly work — indeed,

it was originally a doctoral

thesis in theology written,

ironically enough, under

the guidance of rightwing

\ Professor Carel Boshoff ofl

the University of Pretoria.

It examines the work of

four leading black South

African poets — Oswald

Mtshali, Wally Serote, Sipho Sepamla and Pascal

Gwala — as a gateway to

an understanding of the interaction between Christianity, western civilisation

and Africa.

But for all its emphasis

on theology, it must also

deepen white understanding of black South Africans,

of the way in which they

experience white civilisation, the city and religion.

As such it must help to

: create the/common intellectual foundation which

| this country so desperately

\ needs.

As Professor Barratt

says: "It goes to the root of

I the problem, not merely of

j the Afrikaans churches, but

[of all churches in adapting

to theTpösitlöiToTtfc white

man in Africa."

Dr Sam Nolutsnungu's

"Changing South Africa"

was obviously not written

with a South African audience in mind.

Indeed, this expatriate

Fort Hare graduate, who

has taught at the universities of Ibadan, Lancaster

and Manchester, did not

even know that his book

had been distributed in his

home country.

106
Challenging

Nevertheless, he is

pleased that it has reached

the audience which "ought

to read it".

Whether that audience

will be pleased with his

findings is another matter,

for he says: "I argue that no

reform short of full extension of democratic rights to

all the citizens of the country will succeed." '

Nevertheless, as Professor Barratt says: '"Chang-

' ing South Africa' is important precisely because it

tries to tackle some of the

underlying questions in

South Africa.

"And in doing so it asserts the primacy of political considerations and rejects the economic

determinism of both capitalism and Marxism.

"Profound and original in

its thinking, its impact

could be limited by its

scholarly approach.

"But it is a challenging

book, questioning the basis

of elitist reform which, it

argues, is suspect because

it cannot be purveyed to the

great mass of blacks."

Franklin Sonn agrees. "It

deals with a whole series of

subjects which lie at the

heart of the complicated

and twisted South African

situation.

| "Erudite and objective, it

examines the various ideologies — Marxism, liberalism, black consciousness,

nationalism and capitalism

— which have a bearing on

the South African situation.

"The reform initiatives

are perceived as an attempt on the part of the

regime to incorporate a

black elite — a measure

which, at this late hour and

in the manner of its conception and execution, more

resembles a strategy of

i counter-insurgency than a

commitment to fundamental and genuine reform.

"One stäfemenf in his"

book perhaps depicts more

than most the heavily polarised conditions of our

society: 'The problem for

those who rule is order, security, stability; for those

that are ruled, the problem

is freedom.'

"In a time of cliches and

slogans, when South Africans are anguished about

their future, and when fundamentally important concepts are bandied about in

a simplistic manner, this

book forces the reader to

look in depth at the issues.

"Whether one agrees

with his conclusion or not, it

is a timeous, challenging

and rewarding study."

As Professor John Barratt says: "Perhaps Nolutshungus most important

contribution is the insight

he provides into the issues

and the nature of black

politics.

"The debate within Mack

political circles is vital to

the future of this country.

Whites will not be able to

settle their future without

taking it into account."

As the broader debate

over South Africa's future

rages, and the noise level

increases, perhaps we

should all pause to listen to

what writers like Sam Nolutshungu are saying.

Indeed, Dr van Niekerk's

warning plea, "Öominee,

are you listening to the

drums?", should be addressed not merely to his

fellow churchmen, but to

all South Africans.

For we must all eventually realise that the great

argument about this country's future cannot be resolved by decibels, but only

by mutual understanding.

The full list of entries IN DIE STROOM VERSNELLINGS by F E O'Brien Geldenhuys

(Tafelberg)

D DIE PAD VAN HERVORMING by

W P Esterhuyse (Tafelberg)

BROEDERTWIS by Alf Ries and

Ebbe Dommisse (Tafelberg)

D AFRICA BETWEEN EAST AND

WEST by L H Gans and Peter Duigsan (Tafelberg)

D PRAGMATIC IJBERALISM by F

M Joyner

AFRIKANER POLITICAL

THOUGHT by Andre do Toit and

Hermann Gttiomee (David Philip)

QCHIMURENGA by Paul Moorcraft and Peter McLaughlin (Sygma

Collins)

D POLITICAL ALTERNATIVES

FOR SOUTHERN AFRICA by D J

van Vnuren and D J Kriek (Batterworths)

D Dffi VERENIGDE PARTY by S L

Barnard and A H Marals (Batterworths)

CHANGING SOUTH AFRICA by

Sam C Nolutshurrn (University of

Manchester/Davit.' Phillip)

D PROFILE OF DISEASE AND

HEALTH CARE IN SOUTH AFRICA

by H C J van Rensborg and A Mans

(Academics)

D THE PARTING OF THE WAYS by

Hermann Giliomee (David Phillip)

D THE ROOTS OF NATIONALISM

by J J Degenaar (Academica)

D OUTCAST CAPE TOWN by John

Western (Human and Rousseau)

GPERSPEKTffiF OF DD2 OPE

BRIEF by David J Bosch and Adrio

König and Willem I) Nicol (Human

and Rousseau)

DSOLDHSRS WITHOUT POLITICS

by Kenneth W Grundy (University of

California Press)

DDIE NASIONALE PARTY IN

NATAL by A J van Wyk (Perskor)

D VAN RIEBEEK TOT P W BOTHA

by F A van Jaarsveld (Perskor)

O EDUCATION, RACE, AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN SOUTH AFRICA

by John A Marcum (University of

California Press)

D JAMESON'S RAID by Elizabeth

Longford (Jonathan Ball)

DSUID-AFRIKA — OORLEWTNG

IN POLITIEK PERSPEKTEEF by P

Hugo and H Kotze (Jonathan Ball)

D SANCTIONS by Tony Koenderman

(Jonathan Ball)

D FOR VOLK AND FUHRER / \XR

VOLK EN FUHRER by Hans Strydom (Jonathan Ball)

D APARTHEID CHANGE AND THE

NO KERK by J H P Serfontein (Taunts)

D CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE IN

SOUTH AFRICA by B Dean and D

van Zyl Smlt (Juta)

D SONDER HOED OF HANDSKOEN by Erica Theron (Tafelberg)

D AFRICA BETWEEN EAST AND

WEST by L H Goon and Peter Dulgnan (Tafelberg)

DTER WILLE VAN HIERDIE

WERELD by Ben Engelbrecht (Tafelberg)

DDOMINEE, ARE YOU LISTENING TO THE DRUMS? by A S van

Ntekerk (Tafelberg)

D SE GOß SO? by Ferdinand Deist

(Tafelberg)

CSO: 3400/65

107
SOUTH AFRICA

SA COMPANIES PROVIDE TRAINING FOR NEIGHBORING STATES

Johannesburg INDUSTRIAL WEEK in English 27 Sep 83 p 3

[Article by Lynn Carlisle]

[Text] TRAINING courses

provided by South

African companies are

improving relations

between this country

and neighbouring

states.

This claim by Saiister

Diesels of Vereeniging is

backed by Dr John Burns,

executive director of the

Manpower and Management Foundation, who

has worked here, in

Bophuthatswana, Zambia

and Zimbabwe.

And while some SAbased firms operating in

Black states need to improve this training, a

greater effort is also needed by workers in those

countries, says Dr Burns.

Efforts so far have,

however, created an interdependency which has

helped remove friction

between SA and other

states.

"I agree with Saiister

Diesels that it helps to

establish bonds and

break down barriers. Yet I

have been disturbed by an

unwillingness at times by

Blacks in ihese states to

avail themselves of training on offer," he says.

Based on several years

of training workers in

Botswana, Lesotho,

Swaziland, Transkei,

Ciskei, Venda and

Bophuthatswana the

Stewart & Uoyds company — Saiister — says

customers in those countries have increased their

confidence in Saiister products.

Frank Tjasink, service

manager of Saiister, has

carried out this training as

far away as Malawi with

the objective of teaching

the users to get the full

benefit from an initially

large investment.

This means teaching

maintenance and

mechanics now to strip,

overhaul and reassemble

engines completely.

Classes

Tjasink decides where

to conduct either elementary, intermediate or advanced training for

Government employees

and other major users.

Candidates bring their

own worn-out engines so

that actual work can be

completed on these. All

they pay for is spare

parts.

Dr Burns says SA civil

engineering contracts

Stocks & Stocks and

Wimpeys also carry out

thorough training in their

fields abroad.

"Yet 1 know of cases involving multi-million-rand

contracts where good,

free training is ignored by

neighbouring locals. This

training would uplift their

skills on a large term

basis. There is still a need

for worker attitudinal

changes towards learning

new skills and improving

their existing ability," Dr

Burns 'adds.

CSO: 3400/65

108
DECLINE OF LABOR PRODUCTIVITY REPORTED

SOUTH AFRICA

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 3 Oct 83 p 12M

[Article by Sheryl Raine]

[Text]

South Africa's labour productivity declined by 0,7 percent in

1982 after an increase of 2,6 percent in the previous year, according to figures published by

the National Productivity Institute (NPI).

In it's first publication on

macro-productivity matters,

"Productivity Statistics 1983",

The NPI notes with concern that

* only between 1978 and 1981 did

multiple input productivity contribute positively to the average

annual growth rate of 6,2 percent experienced during this period.

"This is a matter of great

concern because in many of

South Africa's major trading

partners productivity growth is

responsible for as much as 60

percent of their economic

growth rates," the NPI said in

a statement.

As a result the economies of

these countries were continously

becoming more competitive,

compared with the South African economy, where productivity played a small or even negative role in its growth performance.

"It is little wonder that South

Africa is, even at this stage of

the business cycle, struggling

with an inflation rate more than

double that of its major trading

partners," the NPI said.

The decline in the real gross

domestic product for every

worker in the non-agricultural

sectors of the South African

economy in 1982 was attributed

to the net result of declines in

output and employment of one

percent and 0,3 percent respectively.

LABOUR INPUT

The figures published by the

NPI said the South African

economy became relatively

more capital-intensive since

1970.

Tj'he labour input index was

29 percent higher in 1982 than in

1970, compared with the real

capital input index, which increased by 101 percent during

the same period.

The capital labour ratio was

56 percent higher in 1982 than in

1970.

CSO: 3400/65

109
SOUTH AFRICA

PRETORIA-MABOPANE ROAD PROJECT STIRS CONTROVERSY

Johannesburg THE STAR in English 29 Sep 83 p 11M

[Text]

The official opening of the R69,4 million Pretoria-Mabopane freeway next month is the culmination of one

of the Transvaal's most ingenious road projects.

But the controversy over the designer's right to

play "Creator" and blast a 45 m deep poort up to

500 m wide through the Magaliesberg, is probablv far

from over.

While most seem to accept that the P200-1

(PWV-9) had to be built

and that as there was no

natural poort through

which it could pass, the

designers did the best

they could in blasting the

Beetgasberg cutting, conservationists will fight

against any further

breaks in the range.

From reports commissioned by the Transvaal

Roads Department as

early as 1970, it became

clear there was little alternative but to build a

freeway bypass west of

Pretoria to link the black

residential area of Mabopane and the industrial

area of Rosslyn, first

only with Pretoria's

Apies River Road but later with the Johannesburg

Western bypass.

In a subsequent report the department rejected

the proposal of twin tunnels 400 m long and 11,1m

wide as being too expensive and time-consuming to

construct, and settled instead for a proposal for a

cutting in the Magaliesberg, landscaped to resemble

a natural poort.

The first 13 km of the P200-1 between Mabopane

and the Rosslyn turnoff is a single carriageway (built

CSO: 3400/65

at a cost of R8.4 million) but the road then widens

into a dual carriageway with additional "climbing"

lanes on hills.

The road will eventually be widened into eight

lanes. . • " -,- The road and poort have been open to traffic for

some weeks but will be officially opened by the Administrator of the Transvaal, Mr Willem Cruywagen,

on October 27.

At the same time the

poort will be named the

TF Martins Poort, in

honour of the former

MEC in charge of roads.

In designing the poort

engineers claim they

have done what could

have taken nature mil-,

lions of years of weathering to produce. To do this

convincingly seven different categories of topsoil were stockpiled separately to be replaced

at their previous depths

on the slopes of the poort.

About 140 000 tufts of

indigenous grass were removed to a special nursery and replanted on the

new slopes while 10 000

, ,. . indigenous trees — including karee, kiepersol and spiesdoring - were

planted.

All the rock and soil removed from the mountain which was not used in reshaping the slopes —

some 2,5 million cubic metres — was crushed and

used for fill on the freeway and other roads in the

surrounding area.

The road will eventually carry hundreds of buses

from Mabopane, as well as the traffic from Rosslyn.

110
BLACKS BUYING POWER PROPS UP DROOPING CAR MARKET

SOUTH AFRICA

Johannesburg RAND DAILY MAIL in English 4 Oct 83 p 19

[Article in "Business Day" Section by Priscilla Whyte]

[Text] BLACK buying power is

helping the motor industry to

weather the storm of recession.

Commentators frequently dismiss the buying power that the

black market has shown in the past

seven years in the expectation that

the motor industry will lie down in

the recession, says Mr Colin Adcock, managing director of Toyota.

"Black purchases have not

dropped at the same rate at which

the white market has fallen. The

car market is underpinned by

blacks," says Mr Adcock.

Toyota's plant use is 100% — 425

cars are coming off the line daily. It

is planning to reach a 520 a day. Mr

Adcock expects the 520 target to be

reached by the end of 1984. . -

Toyota's earnings a share rose

400% in 1980 and Mr Adcock says

there is no reason why in the next

boom the shares should not perform

well. "They are not performing badly in the recession."

Toyota's policy is to keep as

much capital as possible in the business because enormous amounts

are required for investment in

plant.

Toyota in Japan is looking good

"as the highest earner of all Japanese corporations."

Mr Adcock estimates that there

are 162 variants of cars on the SA

market. Toyota uses the yardstick

that if fewer than 70 cars of a variant are not sold a month then it is

not possible to cover the administrative costs involved irrespective

of the production cost a unit.

"Since the fuel crisis every major

motor manufacturer has been

working to producing a lighter,

more fuel-efficient and powerful

engine and Toyota in the 1980s will

phase out the passenger car engine

as part of the local content. The

engine will be imported from

Japan. The majority of our competitors are going the same way."

The turbocharged engine "bluffs"

the engine it is always driving at

sea level. "Sea-level performance

on the highveld at our speed limit

can be achieved in many other

ways. The turbocharged route is expensive and it is a matter of fashion

overseas at the moment." Toyota

does not see turbocharged vehicles

as a serious contender in the SA

market with an official speed limit

of 100 km/h.

Car ownership in the white sector

is near saturation point. It is second

only to the US in the vehicle per

head of population ratio. Mr Adcock

views this sector as a replacement

market of the the future. He believes that official statisitics rate

the growth potential of the black

market too low. Even the motor

industry itself does not seem to

realise the importance of this sector. Toyota spends a "reasonable

amount" on advertising on black

TV.

These statistics reflect par ownership by race group:

AII._„.„. „.....: 3 538 046

White ; .... 2267 032

Other (company) 555 796

Coloured 178 355

Asians 153 069

Blacks 383 794

111
Ownership per 1OOO people is:

White.... . 439

Colonreds ..... . ........ 51

Asians . . .. 140

Blacks , r 13

The fleet market is important,

but he believes it has been overstated by some motor manuacturers

who claim that it accounts for 60%

of sales. He estimates fleet ownership at 38% for cars and 45% in the

light commercial market.

He believes the 1983 sales year

will be better than even the most

optimistic elements in the motor

trade have estimated and 1985 and

1986 are likely to be boom years.

CSO: 3400/65

112
PLAN FOR W. CAPE RAIL SERVICE DETAILED

Cape Town THE CAPE TIMES in English 24 Sep 83 p 7

SOUTH AFRICA

[Text]

THE RAILWAYS are to

spend more thar, R124-

million in the Western

Cape over the next two

or three years to improve the local train

service — and nearly

R5-million to get more

people country-wide to

"go rail".

By 1986, a completely

independent line will

join the Cape Flats to

the City, cutting the link

with the Bellville service.

"This will eliminate

existing bottlenecks at

points where the lines

converge, cutting delays

drastically," said the

systems manager for the

Western Cape, Mr E W

Kirsten.

He added that there

was no likelihood of a

fare increase this year.

The massive improvements programme includes the building of

four lines between Maitland and Salt River; six

between Salt River and

Woodstock; lengthening

platforms and providing

five staging roads at

Steenberg; extensions

to platforms, rolling

stock and signalling

equipment on the'

Nyanga-Bonteheuwel

run; a ticket-barrier system on the Cape TownKraaifontein line; and

additions to facilities at

Cape Town station that

include automatic fare

and gate-control systems, new rolling stock

and extra platforms.

"There might not be a

visible improvement in

our suburban services

for the next 18 months

or so, but when all the

projects are complete, I

can promise Capetonians a service second to

none," Mr Kirsten said.

Describing the growth

of the commuter population in the Western

Cape as "phenomenal",

he said that nearly

480 000 people used

trains daily to come to

work.

"We are facing stiff

competition from cars

and planes as far as passenger transport goes,"

said Mr H Hamersma,

the Railways' national

director of passenger

services.

"We have taken a decision to embark on an

ambitious marketing

and advertising campaign to attract our passengers back to our

services."

CSO: 3400/65

113
SOUTH AFRICA

DROUGHT TO COST SA BILLION RAND IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Johannesburg SUNDAY TIMES-BUSINESS TIMES in English 2 Oct 83 p 1

[Article by Alex Hogg]

[Text?THE bought will cost South Africa Rl 000-mil-;

lion in foreign exchange, and account for at least

half the fall of 3,5% in economic growth this yearl1

This emerges in a major study of the drought undertaken

by Professor Roger Gidlow, head of the department of economics at the Wits Business School.

In his study,for stockbrokers Mathison & Hollidge, Prof

Gidlow concludes:

• Agricultural output for the year as a whole is likely to be

'down 20% on 1982. This follows a drop of 30% in the first six

months and 7,5%_in_1982.

"• The spm-offoh loocTprices couid be the major stumblingblock in the Government's stated objective of getting inflation down to single digits.

• The effect on incomes of the farming community will be

disastrous, pushing the net

earnings down to a level

which is less than half that

enjoyed in 1981.

In a broad economic sense,

the drought is set to push the

agricultural sector's contribution to the country's output

down to an all-time low of

6,5% this year.

By comparison, the smallest contribution from this

sector in the last decade was

1973's 7,6%.

Just three years ago, when

the economy enjoyed a

growth rate of 8% and the

gold price was booming, agriculture still accounted for

8,5% of gross domestic product.

A factor which will be of

concern to Government on

the eve of its November 2 referendum is the sharp decline

in the farming community's

earnings.

It is estimated that the

agricultural community's net

income could fall to Rl 200-

miilion this year.

Farmers' net income was

more than double this at

R2 600-million in 1981 and a

more normal Rl 800-million

last year.

Prof Gidlow says: "The fall

in incomes of the agricultural

sector will lead to marked

cutbacks by farmers in expenditures on fertilisers,

tractors and other capital

equipment, as well as encourage a further rundown in

agricultural inventories.

"When the multiplier effects of these reductions in

expenditure are taken into

account, the total negative

impact on output could easily

be in the region of 2% of gross

domestic product in 1983."

He adds that this takes no

account of the effects of water shortages in areas such as

northern Natal, where the

possibility exists that certain

coal mines and a power station could experience disruptions in production.

Looking more specifically

at Government's attempt to

bring inflation down, Prof

Gidlow states that several

factors suggest strong upward pressure on prices

which emanate from the

drought still have to work

through.

He cites meat, fodder and

dairy prices, while there is

also a strong possibility that

the drought will "help precipitate a sharp increase in

electricity prices" because

Escom is being forced to rely

on less-efficient power stations in certain areas.

Taking these factors into

account, Prof Gidlow predicts that "a fall in the rate of

inflation below 10% in the

next year or so will be made

more difficult."

11U
Agriculture at * percentage of grast domestic product

CSO: 3400/65

115
CRITICAL MONTH FOR SA AS WATER SUPPLIES FAIL

Johannesburg THE CITIZEN in English 6 Oct 83 p 9

[Article by Dave Spiro]

SOUTH AFRICA

[Text]

THE next few weeks

will be critical for

South Africa if the

drought is to be broken

in time to avert the

possibility of strict

water rationing over

wide areas of the country.

A spokesman for the

Weather Bureau in Pretoria told The Citizen yesterday: "There is a possibility of thunder showers

in the next twenty-four

hours in the north and

north-eastern Cape, the

Orange Free State and

the south western Transvaal.

"The prospects for rain

this week have generally

been better than they

were last week but things

are not all that bright yet

and people should not get

their hopes up."

Should the rains fail to

arrive soon the prospect

of strict water rationing

will increase.

A spokesman for the

Department of Environmental Affairs said yesterday the Government

would have to consider

emergency plans which

would cover every aspect

from water rationing to

pumping water from the

few dams that still have

water.

"Pumping water from

these dams will be very

expensive and if it does

not rain by the end of October we will have reason

to be concerned," he

said.

Meanwhile the drought

continues to have an increasingly severe effect

on the farming community. Grain fanners in particular are watching crops

fail and costsrising.

The chief economist of

the South African Agricultural Union, Mr B J

Willemse, said yesterday

the annual grain crop had

slumped from 15,9 million tons in 1980-81 to 4,8

million tons in 1982-83 —

a drop of nearly 70 percent,

Mr Willemse said the

drop represented a 58

percent deficit in the

gross value ofcrops.

"In 1980-81 the value

of the grain crop was

R2 046 million, but in

1982-83 this fell to R853,5

million," he said.

"The mealie crop was

particularly hard hit,"

"said Mr Willemse, "production has dropped to

4,3 million tons from the

14,6 million tons produced in 1980-81."

"Other grain crops produced showed similar declines and the prospect is

dismal," he said.

Mr Willemse also

pointed out that this year

farmers had to borrow

over Rl 100 million because ofthe drought.

CSO: 3400/65

116
SOUTH AFRICA

BRIEFS

PRIORITY OF FARMING COMMUNITY--The prime minister, Mr P.W. Botha, says the

government regards the stimulation and maintenance of the dynamic rural

community as a high priority because this is the heartbeat of the farming

community. Opening the annual congress of the Lower Orange River Development

Association at Upington, Mr Botha expressed regret at the increasing white

depopulation of most of the South African rural areas. He said the recently

announced population development program, as well as the national community

development strategy, were tangible proof of the government's intentions of

raising standards of living by means of policy measures which ensured a

prosperous future for everybody. [Text] [MB070855 Johannesburg Domestic

Service in English 1900 GMT 6 Oct 83]

DEFENSE MINISTER ADDRESSES MEETING--The minister of defense, General Magnus

Malan, says South Africans have to realize that victory within the country

and over the onslaught against it rests in their own hands and ability, and

that no support can be expected from any other part of the world. Addressing

a referendum meeting at Geduld near Springs, he said South Africans had to

find political solutions while saying to the arnachists: So far and no

further. Referring to the proposed constitution and the opposing arguments

from the far right of the political spectrum, Gen Malan said it was politically irresponsible to polarize whites and other population groups for cheap

political gain. He said sweeping up of emotions between whites and the

coloureds and Indians, as was being done on conservative political platforms,

was only in the interests of South Africa's enemies. [Text] [MB070913

Johannesburg Domestic Service in English 1930 GMT 6 Oct 83]

BOTHA ON BLACKS SHARING BENEFITS—The prime minister, Mr P.W. Botha, says

the black people of South Africa should share in the benefits of decentralization and regional developments. He is also prepared to talk to them about

a constellation of Southern African states. Mr Botha said at a public

meeting at Vryburg that the government had looked at, and would in future

again take a look at, ways in which all people in the country could enjoy

constitutional rights. Turning to the referendum, Mr Botha said that

November 2 would not be the end of the government's attempts to create a

South Africa in which all people would be able to live in peace and harmony.

[Text] [MB080702 Johannesburg Domestic Service in English 0500 GMT 8 Oct 83]

117
DEFENSE MINISTER ON ESCALATING 'ONSLAUGHT'--The minister of defense, General

Magnus Malan, says the biggest obstacle of a Marxist revolution in South

Africa is the acknowledgement and fulfillment of the aspirations of all

population groups in the country. Speaking at the openeing of a recreation

center for the Modderfontein commando, Gen Malan said the completely integrated onslaught on the political, military, economic, and psychological

fronts would escalate in the years to come. He said that the more the South

African government suceeded in its fights against Marxism with evolutionary

process, the more the country's enemies could be expected to become desperate

in their attempts to cause chaos to achieve their goals. Recent statements

by terrorist organizations clearly showed their anxiety about any evolutionary; development and progress in South African politics. [Text]

[MB080937 Johannesburg Domestic Service in English 0900 GMT 8 Oct 83]

PAP

PAPERS URGE 'NO' VOTE—The official newspapers of the Anglican and Methodist

churches have for the first time published a common editorial, and they are

calling for a "no" vote in the November referendum. The editorial is published in the October issues of SEEK and DIMENSION. The two churches are

the largest nonracial church groups in Southern Africa. The editors of

the newspapers, (Theo Cogan) and Ivy Shapiro, say both churches have

majority black memberships, and the new constitution excludes blacks from

participating in the South Africa of the future. [Text] [MB120165 Umtata

Capital Radio in English 1900 GMT 11 Oct 83]

CSO: 3400/67

118
TANZANIA

BRIEFS

EAC REACTIVATION INTEREST--Dar es Salaam (Agencies)--Tanzaniaii Prime Minister

Edward Sokoine said Wednesday that Tanzania is ready to re-establish the defunct East African community (EAC) provided that its former partners, Kenya

and Uganda, are also prepared to do so. He told a 17-member royal defence

college team from Britain that the community would help generate smooth handling of problems facing various sectors of common interest to East Africa.

He said Tanzania's stand was unity, adding "the East African heads of state

are people of calibre who can bring about the community, but the desire to do

so must be common." Mr. Sokoine said Britain, the former colonial ruler of

the three states, could help bring them together because of its influence in

the area. Recently the Tanzanian Prime Minister spoke of the need to normalise

relations between Kenya and Tanzania, which have been bad since the collapse

of the community in 1977 and the closure of their common border. [Text]

[Addis Ababa THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD in English 17 Sep 83 p 4]

CSO: 3400/47

119
TOGO

BRIEFS

AGREEMENT WITH FRANCE--Togo and France signed a loan agreement worth 180

million CFA francs yesterday in Lome. This agreement, which falls within

the framework of cooperation between the two countries, will enable Togo

to increase its production in coffee and cocoa. [Text] [AB060738 Lome

Domestic Service in French 0615 GMT 6 Oct 83 AB]

CSO: 3400/63 END

120