PONDERS SOUTH AFRICA
By Franz J. T. lee
In accordance with the resolution of the Security Council of December 7, 1963, a group of independent experts from Sweden, England, Yugoslavia, Ghana and Tunisia was appointed by United Nations Secretary General U, Thant, to study the possibility of transforming South Africa into a multiracial state, oe
In January this delegation was refused entrance by the South
African Republic "as interfering in the internal affairs of the South African state," ;
Is such UN intervention "practicable"? Although : a "multiracial" state in South Africa is practicable, yet this word has different con= notations to a "freedom fighter" in Afrioa, a UN diplomat and. an overseas investor,
The Afrikaander Nationalists have unleashed the blind forces of anarchy in South Africa, The police force has been turned into a lawless group, The Bantu chiefs have lost the support of the African population and have been handed firearms for use on the masses, With the last draconic laws, a permanent state of emergency hangs over the country. The whole population has lost respect for law, This break~ down of law has become a permanent feature and one of the. expressions of the need for an immediate radical change.
Ever since Sharpeville, the oppressed and exploited masses have been aware of the immediate need for unity of action and a national united front for the liquidation of the present Herrenvolk state, In South Africa and South West Africa the "National Liberation Front" (NLF] uniting various democratic and socialistic organizations, has been formed. Recently the ANC fafrican National Congress], PAC. [Pan- Africanist Congress], and CPSA LCommunist Party of South Africa] have also decided to form’ a united front, The February 14 Spark states. that "a basic unity of purpose and action among the forces of. national ‘liberation ia necessary." 7
How determined the oppressed population is to win its freedom can be judged from the current witch-hunt trials in Cape Town, Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown and Bellville, where Dr, Alexander, Sisulu, Mandela and 188 others stand on trial, their lives at stake because of their political views,
In spite of the mass arrests of over 6,000 members of the NLF PAG and ANC, the struggle has gained ground. Many formerly dormant sections of the population, including whites sincerely interested in the liberation cause, are showing an awakened interest in throwing off the yoke of apartheid, by means of a radical socio-economic transformation of the South African society, destroying the present status quo based on undemocratic principles, oppression and exploita~ tion.
-A head-on collision between. the forces of liberation and the Herrenvolk government is thus inevitable... Thus far the mass move= ment has not put up a serious challenge to the rule of the Afrikaander nationalists; even the wave of sabotage is only a minor embarrassment, calculated to annoy the government. Having learned from their past errors, the real revolutionary forces in South Africa are preparing a revolution that out of necessity will effectively sweep away Afrikaander rule,
Afrikaander nationalism, however, is pushing on relentlessly
with its apartheid policy in the very teeth of history and era of imperialistic decline, Backed by a huge army, these nationalists are still the strongest political group and will be so for still quite a time, The Verwoerd regime is clearly hell=bent on NOT letting up the pressure on the mass movement and will not change its policy of complete political domination and complete exploitation of the nonwhite working class,
Now what do the UN diplomats and overseas investors fear?
The following South African advertisement in the Paris daily Le Monde, February 28 and March 3, 1963, provides an answer: "The 14,000 enterprises of South Africa have an annual production of 26,000,000,000 francs ($5,200, 000,000]. - « the economic situation. of South Africa is stabilized, national income is high, living standards steadily increasing, industries in full swing, investments amount to 19,500,000,000 francs [#3,900,000,000] and it has been calculated that American investments brought a 27 per cent profit per annum. . .« Here everything smells of opportunity, development and wealth. . . Western Europe invested 5,948,500,000 francs [$'789 ,'700, 000] in South Africa,"
The overseas investors as well as the domestic industrialists and mining magnates are fully alive to the fact that Afrikaander Nationalist rule is endangering the security of their investments (and sky-rocketing profits) more:and-more,- The pressure from the mass of nonwhites ~= who exist far below the breadline level because of low wages, lack of opportunity in all spheres of public life and lack of political rights ~=- has reached such a pitch that at least a top section of the mass movement must be bribed in order to release the tension and stabilize the very volatile and explosive situation.
In a nutshell, what is giving the diplomats at the UN sleepless nights is the fear that the coming revolution may sweep away capitalism and imperialism from South Africa, The longer Verwoerd resists change, the greater the possibility that this may occur, Cum grano saolis, the real purpose of the UN. Committee is to work out ways and means of transforning South Africa into a state that will protect the interests of foreign and domestic capital; concretely, a plan has to be devised to introduce a neocolonialist regime, without using violence, in South Africa,
The UN can avoid a murderous massacre and guarantee the economic balance of the West only if it sincerely considers. the democratic aspirations of the black, brown, yellow and white masses, This seems a most unlikely outcome, But without it, intervention is doomed to catastrophic foilure,.
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