Volume 1, Number 4

June, 1991

NAMIBIA REVISITED

Initial Reflections on a Visit to Namibia, May, 1991by Solveig Kjeseth

Already as the Namib Air flight landed in Windhoek, it was clear that I wascoming " home " to a different Namibia than we had experienced in 1988 . Peoplewalked taller, they looked directly at us, the atmosphere of tension and dangerwas gone!

These first impressions were confirmed in the four weeks we traveled through thecountry . In the north, where for more than a decade the dusk to dawn curfew hadlimited people ' s lives . . .now folks walked about freely after dark.

In Windhoek, the sidewalks along Independence Avenue (formerly Kaiser Strasse)were filled . . . with both white and black faces . In 1988, the mood on the streetwas anger, depression, mistrust . At that time everyone was searched as they ientered stores ; the fear was not of shoplifting but of bombs . Except for workers,very few blacks spent time on Kaiser Strasse in 1988.

Now the atmosphere was different as people mingled freely, shopping or loitering,drinking coffee at sidewalk cafes, hurrying to appointments . It felt like mainstreet in a normal city.

Our group, from National Namibia Concerns, was given a wonderful welcome whereverwe went . From the delegation of beautiful faces which met us at the airport, tothe official reception sponsored by the Council of Churches on the evening of ourarrival, to old folks of the Senior Center at Mariental, to the children of thePeople's Primary School in Katatura, to the Ndonga King and Queen in the north,to the students of Paulinum Seminary, and the congregations that we visitedeverywhere we met old friends who were eager to celebrate a " free Namibia " withus.

Certainly, the struggle is not over . There were many sober reminders that" nation building " will be at least as difficult a task as liberation . . .and willtake years to accomplish.

For example, life in Katatura, the black township outside of Windhoek, lookedeven more difficult and unhealthy than in 1988 . One reason for this is that thereturn of 45,000 exiles and 20,000 soldiers has made shortages in housing andjobs even more critical . Unemployment is somewhere around 45% . Populationdensity in Katatura has increased drastically . One whole section of the townshipnow consists of people living in tents .

Near the so-called " single men ' squarters " sewage was running across the muddy sand streets.

Problems with alcoholism and crime have increased . And certainly there is noovernight remedy for inadequate health care, illiteracy (nearly 60%), arid land,external debts .

NAMIBIA REVISITED Co

But, in the face of these daunting tasks, there was still a sense of excitementand determination . For the first time in their history, Namibians are free totackle the problems of their nation.

Not surprisingly, there are many signs that the " new day " is not welcomed byeveryone . In spite of the apparent economic boom in Windhoek, several whiteNamibians used the phrase " if it lasts . . . " Some simply seemed dubious, saying " wejust keep our heads down and go about our business " . Others were more hostile intheir comments, bitter about the changes.

For example, the owner of a gift shop gave directions to some tourists, tellingthem the Post Office was " just across Kaiser Strasse " . Turning to another whiteclerk she said, " As long as I ' m still here, it will never be IndependenceAvenue! "

Traveling with black Namibian friends, we could see that old customs die hard.For example, a white farmer ' s wife in Outjo insisted (unsuccessfully) that she beallowed to be served first at the gas station, even though we had been waiting inline . And at the information center in Etosha Pan, the big game park, SelmaShejavali was told that the park telephone could only be used by employees.Moments later a white man asked to make a call, and was allowed to do so.Eventually, after a confrontation, and a conversation with a park supervisor,Selma was permitted to use the telephone.

Thus it was clear that life in Namibia continues to be difficult, and emotionallydraining, for black Namibians . But the difference is that non-discrimination isnow the law of the land . Apartheid laws are gone . The rights of all Namibians areprotected by their constitution!

There is much to be done in Namibia, and one of the frustrations is that all theproblems must be tackled at once . It is very difficult to prioritize when theneeds are so urgent.

Our group was inspired by the people we met, folks who are working hard to builda new Namibia . In kindergartens and pre-schools, in hospitals and communitydevelopment projects, making bricks to build their own homes, and working ingovernment positions . . . .their commitment and determination was evident.

Everywhere we went the message was the same : You have supported us in ourstruggle for liberation . . .now please continue to stand with us in the struggle tobuild a just and viable nation.

So that is our challenge--to recommit ourselves to this , new phase of thestruggle.

Through this publication in the months ahead we will highlight various issues orprojects with which we have been asked to help . Our hope is that you willrespond, that Namibia will not be forgotten .

Land rights

spark heatin Assembly

THORNY questions on tribal property, who haswhat rights to land in the communal areas, andwhether others can move in and claim land kept theNational Assembly occupied for several hoursyesterday.

141000

May 2a 19

They were continuing de-bate on a motion by KatuutireKaura, opposition spokesper-son on agriculture, about massmovements of people and theiranimals from one communalarea to another and the right oftraditional leaders to controlland until a council of tradi-tional leaders has been estab-lished.

Two examples were putforward . In the first the DTAalleges that Ovambo chiefs havemoved some 500 cattle into acamp at 0mutambomaue inKaokoland which they say wasused for quarantine of animalsmoved by nomadic herders.

Apparently the local peopleare outraged at the arrival ofpeople claiming their ances-tral land rights, and say theirown ancestral rights are some-

where in Etosha and they willcut game fences, or exercisetheir traditional practice ofattacking the new arrival.

The DTA adds that Kaura isonly bringing up the issue toavoid a flare-up.

The second example. givenwas in Western Caprivi, whereSwapo speakers assumed Kamawas referring to the arrival ofthe development brigades.

According to Agriculture,Water and Rural DevelopmentMinister Gert Hanekom, 500people arrived at Bagani intime for the opening of theproject on May 18, and morehave since arrived.

Allegations of stirring uptribal hatred, opportunism,cheap politics and hypocrisyflew around the house, as theissues are complicated and

emotive.Can the Government start

projects without debate in theNational Assembly? Hanekomand Information and Broad-casting Minister Hidipo Ha-mutenya said yes, as the as-sembly only comes in whenlegislation is involved.

Hanekom added that as af-firmative action is in theConstitution it does not needspecific legislation.

Opposition leader DirkMudge said that Hereros didnot have a right to his farm, ashe had ownership. But, he asked,would he be allowed to twit upin some communal area withhis cattle and settle there?

Mudge said his party hadagreed to affirmative action asstated in the Constitution butthat this should be exercisedafter proper debate and in aprogramme, not at the whim ofindividual ministers.

Ithete and Youth and SportMinister Pendukeni Ithana bothsaid they had grown up near0mutambomaue and remem-bered it as a land of harmonywhich Kaura was now tryingto disrupt.

Ithete said the camp was aformer army feeding camp thentaken over by the First Na-tional Development Corpora-tion and had never been acces-sible to black people.

Speaker MosE Tjitenderotried to keep the debate awayfrom issues to be discussed bya national land conference atthe end of next month, whiledeputy Justice Minister YekuiiRukc o said he personally wouldabstain as the House was stillunclear on many key facts. Mlledebate is set to continue .

'Optimism' that Namibia couldbeco'me a major oil province

In the light of recent findings of the OverseasPetroleum and Investment Corporation (OPIC),the country is potentially another major Afri-can oil province. The President of BrilundLimited, which owns Etosha Petroleum, Wil-liam E Schetten, who visited Windhoek duringthe third week of May announced that he was"optimistic" that there was oil in the Etoshabasin and that drilling operations would startin September.

In a subsequent NBCreport this week, however,he emphasised that therewere no concrete indicationsas yet that there was in factoil in the basin.

The area under review isvast, 24 840 000 hectares,and it stretches from theAtlantic Ocean to the fron-tierswith Angola, Botswanaand Zambia, and covers theentire area between theseborders and 19 degrees lati-tude. The first prospectinggrant dated 3 July 1959 wasawarded to Etosha Petro-leum Company but becauseof political uncertainty at thetime, the company halted itswork but the grant remainedin full force.

In 1989 the grant wasleased to Overseas Petroleumand Investment Corporation(OPIC), which together witha French company, CCG andExploration ConsultantsLimited (ECL), were con-tracted to carry out advancedscientific research for oil inthe huge concession thecompany holds in the north-ern portion of the country.

Interpretation of seismicdata then indicated that avery sizeable stratigraphicgas accumulation (5.50 tcfin place), could be presentbut required additional seis-mic information and moredrilling to define its limits.In 1989 Intera, ECL, andHalliburton GeophysicalServices Inc . shot a 10 000line km regional speculativeseismic survey off Namibia.

Follnwing the interpre-tation of the data they areconducting an in depth sur-vey of some 3 500line km .

Additionally, 5 000 linekm of old seismic data havebeen scanned and migratedto provide greater control.Onshore, Intera ECL recentlycompleted a comprehensiveanalysis of the petroleumpotential of the Pan-Africanand Karoo basins.

Two Pan-African "succes-sor basins" are present inNamibia.

they are the Etosha ba-sin in the north and the Namabasin complex in the south-east. The Etosha basin islargely covered by OPIC . Theannouncement by Schattenthat there is oil in the Etoshabasin is apparently basedon new seismic data acquiredin this area.

Writing in an interna-tional magazine recently,Malcolm Light, a seniorexploration geologist with

Intera ECL petroleum Tech-nologies, and HandupulaShimutwikeni, legal adviserof Namcor, had the follow-ing to say : Oil seeps and agas blow-out are evidence ofthe petroleum potential ofthe Nama basin.

Apart from some300 linekm of old seismic data and afew scattered wells, theNama basin remains virtu-ally an unexplored area ofsome 200 000 square kilom-etres.

Again, the offshore areacan be subdivided into fourmain basins - from south tonorth they are:

*Orange basin, whichcontains oil plays in a seriesof Jurassic grabens to theeast and gas fields to thewest.

Windhoek Observer Saturday May 25, 1991

*Lilderitz and Walvisbasins, both undrilled buthaving potential for largeplays.

*Nambbe basin north ofthe Walvis ridge, which ismore analogous to the Ango-lan basin.

Thick sequences of sap-ropelic (type 11) Aptian andAlbian source rocks havebeen penetrated at Deep SeaDrilling Project sites northand south of the Walvis ridge,whereas excellent Cenoma-nian-Turonian source rocksare present to the north.Thick oil prone source rocksare likely to be present off-shore Namibia in the un-drilled basins.

Furthermore, deep ma-rine sand accumulationsnorth and south of the Walvisridge have potential for largeturbidite plays similar toNamorado field in the Cam-pos basin, Brazil.

The Ministry of Minesand Energy has set things inmotion by organising pro-motion seminars overseas.The first seminar of thatnature was held in Londonon 14 May and the next onewas being held in Houston,Texas in the United Statesat the time of writing.

According to the Perma-nent Secretary, Leake Han-gala, the petroleum semi-nar held in London, was "agreat success" . He toldNampa that 114 peopleparticipated representing 71international oil and relatedcompanies .

Through the activities ofthe National PetroleumCorporation (Namcor), andIntera ECL, Namibia isemerging as one of the fewremaining countries of theworld where truly giant fieldscould be found.

The Namibian govern-ment has formulated a na-tional energy policy and in-tends to assume an activerole in encouraging foreigninvestment in hydrocarbonexploration arid productionas well as in other sectors ofthe economy.

In 1991 the Petroleum(Exploration and Production)Act was ratified . However,the principal elements of thePetroleum Taxation Act area legislated royalty (nego-tiable for marginal fields),an income tax, and a threetier, partially negotiableadditional profits tax (APT).

These are the onlyamounts payable to the stateout of the proceeds of thesale of oil . The governmentof Namibia requires no sig-nature, levy, production, orbonus payments.

The Namibian profitsharing contract providesgood investment incentivescompared with many othercontractual terms availableinternationally. Companieshave got until 1 November,1991 to obtain licences forexploration, according to anannouncement from theMinistry of Mines and En-ergy .- Nampa

y

THE NAMI8IAN Friday May 171991

questions about questionson the Walvis Bay dispute

LOOKING at some of Preto-ria ' s principal political agenda,there is no doubt that internalpolitical developments in southAfrica are President FW DeKIerk's main concern.

Right-wing politics

The National Party and DeKlerk say they cannot afford togive back Walvis Bay nowbecause of present parliamen-tary politics in South Africa.Right-wing gt~ps have labelledDe Klerk as weak and a " sell-out" because of his politics ofcompromise . Criving awayWalvis Bay in the first instancemeans the loss of the WalvisBay seat forthe National Partyin Parliament, but with theirpresent overwhelming rnaj or-ity in Parliament, this cannotbe their main concern

Right-wing groups have alsoaccused De Kicrk of sellingone the Afrikaner communityat Walvis Bay to a NamibianGovernment run by S wapo.Their continued adherence tothe policy of apartheid doesnot reconcile that an Afrikanercommunity be governed by ablack Government.

they believe that Walvis Bayis an ideal place to "keep aneye on N.zmibia' ` . The right-wingersappear tostill want ioroster a policy of regional

. .. .

: .

.~~.Wt'Ci~`~ the'second : roisn~ : ot :.tat~: betv~e~n~< the:., ..,

.:iV~an~ib~an, : Government :: and Preto~fe . over ;:they. . .

. ...

:: .. . : ~ . ay~ . d : spate s~aning ~tla~f . ~~st~ons.~: about Sauth.~Afrfca'a oantlnt38d. +~latrn ovex newly. .

,.

.:.

,:-1nde~eaderrt t~anti~ia'~onl~ deed spa harbour ::.

.:. .

.;have been exha~~ted.'~a ~enerai feeitn~~ seemsto :be that :Sacrth A~lc~ ha$ ~u~ or~t flt exptar~-

..

.:#ions for (ts continued ~'a1n~ to 1~a~ivis 8ay~'~he:...arily quest~on,le~ 1s; W'~fl~'~ does Pretoria. -ahem:went?' ~~°,~NLEY` iEATZAO .takes a look g at the;:

~~

able to South African ownedcorttparues in return for WalvisBay. Reports to this eff~eci havealready appeared in the Na-mibianmedia

Some political analysts alsospeculate about the possibilityof Pretoria bargaining for fulldiplomatic status in Nanubia.This is important to Pretoria,as they want to have diplo-matic credibility is southernAfrica and foster regionalacceptab' 'ty.

However, this appears un-lileely before major politicalchanges in South Africa.

The idea of joint admini-stration, which South Africahas put forward before, col-lapsedbefore itwas even prop-erly proposed. Apart from itbeing practically difficult,Namibian polities would nothave allowed it. HistoricallyNamibians regard Walvis Bay

aS theirs.Other negotiations that may

feature in the Walvis Bay talksare questions of the remainingdebt which South Africa isclaiming front Namibia or howmuch Namibia should receivein payments from the SouthAfrican Customs Union.

Economic

considerations

Pretoria might fear thatWalvis Bay, if handed over toNamibia, could threaten itsfinancial benefits fromneigbouring countries whocurrently channel their mainexports and imports throughSouth African ports.

&sides that, it will also meanthat the Sou~hem AfricanDevelopement CoordinatingConference (SADCC} will geta vital boost, which Pretoriamight not want to see at thispoint in time.

However, there is lisle doubtthat the port has no economiclife separated from Namibiaand continuing uncertaintyabout its future will not en-courage its prosperity.

South Africa is already say-ing that the port is a financialliability not a benefit, so all theeconomic arguments pointrapidly towards incorporationin democratic Namibia.

deltab~tlization which is stead-ily disappearing from the rul-ing party ' s political agenda, asa warm wind of global politi-cal change thaws the rigid stra-tegic outlook of the cold warmongers.

According to some reports,South Africa has already toldNamibian President SamNujoma it just needs to softenup South African voters toaccept a handover without theNational Patty losing too manyvotes.

Quid Pro {duo

Walvis Bay is obviously alsobeingused as a strong bargain-ingpoint . South Africa will belooking at getting the most outof this valuable bargaining chip.

There have been rumours ofgigantic fishing concessionswhich might be made avail-

The Star Thursday May 16 1991

Prices inZimbabwerocketBp Rabin Drew

-Stu° Africa Service

Prices are becomingridiculously high inZimbabwe, The Her-ald newspaper saidthis week in an edito•rial commenting onthe recent sale of a

. Iwcury car for morethan a millioa Ziffi•babwe dollars.

The tnillion•dollarmark is now frequently ,

:~ passed in residentialproperty ~ of f err and,even basic homes In,high density suburbs,r the forffier townships,:~~aQ cost more than

~'. 80000 Zimbabwe dollars ,nearly R75 000) .

''~ 'The editorial said the

price levels and scale ofL

transactions in cars, ,homes aad importedluxury goods were an ,indication that buying

1for speculative purposesrather than personal usewas the chief motive be-hind the spending spree.

The paper said whilethe spree was by no

. means over, there was ahint at last that consum-er resistance, evenamong those withmoney to spare, couldbe starting to set in.

Some properties werebeing offered at "re-duced" prices, indicat-ing that speculatorscould be starting to un•load.

"UAless we ate t0 Seethe economy spin totallyout of control —and wehave to believe the gov-ernment has no totes•Lion of that happening— there has to come atime when prices be-come so ridiculouslyhigh that sellers willfind it impossible to findbuyers," said the paper.

The tragedy was thatuntil normal marketforces worked to bringdawn prices, investmentopportunities of benefitto the country as awhole would remainstarved of capital.

SA's sword oftotal strategyfalls ors Svvapo

UNDER the umberella oftotal strategy, the SouthAfrican Governmentpta,nned to deny Svvapo a

' t~vo®thirds majority in theUN elections and the de-taineeissue was but a smallelement in the strategy.

'This information emergedduring as interview with NicoHasson, a former SADF and-SwapoPropaganda expert, whosaid further that South Africawas intent oa disrupting Swapo~through along-term strategyand to u se the experiences thusgamed to su~y woticthe ANC.

Asked whether SA reallybelieved that Svvapo was Marx-ist, Basses said ha did trot lmowbut added that in the past hehimself had believed in thatpropaganda.

.Bassos said the aim of SAwas to disrupt S wipe by bring-ing about a split is the partythrough pitting the I~wanyamascagainst other ethnic groups, thussapping the orgatusation of itsintellectual resources or futureleadership°

He added that since Svvapostill possessed huge iatcllec•teal resources, SA might infuture utilise different meth-ods ofgetting rid of them.

Already in 1975-74, the SouthAfrican Military Intelligencehad infiltrated Svvapo and gaoledenough information far mili-tary operations against theorganisation's military wing,Plan, Bassos said.

He did, however, make itclear that SA did not as such

THE NAM~BlAN

"'— May X81991—"°

JGSEPH MOTINGA

create the detainee issue butonly made use of an alreadyexisting wrong.

In 1975-76, Svvapo .wasimpasoning people oA a smallscale but usually released themafter brief spells, the formerpropagandist said He describedthe reasons for these imprison-ments asnormal practice with

. recalled Marxist regimes tokeep their sub jeers under con-trol.

The South African ° °tart'Intelligence saw in this trendan opportunity to use it to its~owzi advantage, he noted.During 1979-80, the SouthAfrican spies in Svvapo startedspreading rumours about heavyinfiltration by South Afiicaaspies at the same time as theSADF escalated military op-erations against Plan, Bassosraid. These military operationscaused fear and panic withinSvvapo ranks, aad the partyhad no other option than tostart a massive witch hunt forreal spies, he went ot>e How-ever, he added, mass arrestsonly served to give SA moremilitary successes.

B arson reiterated his earlierstatement that the South Afri-can Military Intelligence hadsearched everywhere for themissing detainees but couldnot find any trace of them. Thepossibility was that they hadeither been killed or were insome unknown country.

He atentioned that the mill•tart' knew exactly where thedetainees had been held and

..added thlt a considerablenumber of Afiican armies wereinfiltrated by SA Military In-tclligcnce.

Bassos said it was possibletlilt South Akan spies withinSvvapo had a han~t in the April1 slau¢hter, but stated thatSvvapo had its own justifiedprogramme with the incursionas Ltrey felt it was necessary toshow a military victory.

On the question as to whythe South African Government.should still be opposed to theNamibrian Government in spiteof its moderate stance, Bassossaid SA had problems with theGovernment policy on WalvisBay, support for the ANC andNamibia 's foreign policy® Hestated that SA would likre Svvapoto thinkexactly the way the SAGovernment does.

Asked whether fears of anAngolan•type Marxist dicta-torship would not give SA agood excuse to interfere inNamibian politics, Bassos saidhe did not believe there wouldever be a one-party state inNamibia, but added that SAshould leave the people of thiscountry to do whatever theywantedo

A source within Svvapo saidit was naive of SA to regardSvvapo as Marxist judgingpurely from pro-Marxist pr+opa•ganda employed only to gainsupport fTOm the East . . 'Thesource said that realisticallyspeaking, free enterprise wasthe onl}~ system to follow, andhe deplored the fact that SouthAfrica should still be set ondisrupting the Namibian Gowernment.

Learning fromZimbabwe

'The knowledge gained from problems experi-enced in the Zimbabwean land reform program-mes could be applied to Namibia, as they have a10-year head start and we have some catchingup to do," said Mr Sakkie Coetzee, manager ofthe Development Fund of Namibia in an inter-view with the Observer.

due to inexperience of thefarmers and the lack of nec-essary support, more thanoften produced lower yieldsand farmers became unpro-ductive.

The Zimbabwean com-mercial farmers Union hadpointed to the tobacco in-dustry as an example. Prior,

to the implementation of

A controversial issue in

resettlement schemes, to-

Zimbabwe at present is the

bacco production had been a

Land Acquisition Act which

strong earner of foreign ;would allow the governmentexchange. The money now to decide unilaterally and

without consultation with theaffected farmer, which landwill be used for resettlementpurposes and also the amountto be paid as compensationto the farmer.

Many Zimbabweans arein uproar as their livelihoodsare to be directly affectedand it would be difficult forthem to start again else-where. They also feel thatthis is not in the interests ofreconciliation as the desig-

Land ownership rather

nated areas form part of the

than a form of tenure has

backbone of the economy . If

also been strongly advocated

the economy suffers all will

by the Zimbabwe National

suffer, they told the Namib-

Farmers' Union as they feel

ian delegation. A farmer frostfarmers would be more-strongly motivated towardssuccess in caring for the land.In Namibia the governmenthas shown willingness forpeople to own the land, MrCoetzee said.

A question asked by theNamibian delegation waswhat would comprise aneconomically viable land unitfor a farmer to maintain areasonable standard of liv-ing. The Agricultural andFinancial Corporation saidthe unit is to be determinedby the farmer, whether itcomprises 100 hectares, 300hectares or whatever.

The Namibian delegationdid not agree with this viewas they pointed to the prob-lems of Rehoboth where hugefarms have been overdividedamongst families over theyears making previouslyproductive land commerciallyunviable.

Mr Coetzee, along withother Development Fundmembers recently returnedfrom Zimbabwe on a three-fold visit to inform them-selves of processes and work ,done by Zimbabwean finan-cial institutions, to assesstheir agricultural develop-ment and also to look at theprogress of their land re-form policies. Broadly, thevisit was to focus on how tolend support to an emergingfarmer.

The Namibian delegationmet with the CommercialFarmers' Union, NationalFarmers' Union (for commu-nal farmers), ZimbabweNational Farmers' Union (forsmall farmers), ZimbabweDevelopment Bank, SmallEnterprises DevelopmentCorporation, the AgriculturalFinance Corporation and alsothe Deputy-Secretary forPlanning in the Ministry ofAgriculture.

Mr Coetzee added thatin Zimbabwe they had learntthat land resettlement issimply not enough and thatit should as far as possiblebe accompanied by agro-industrial development (thishe described as "forcefulurbanisation") . This is be-cause there is not enoughagricultural land to accom-modate each and every per-son and a reasonable stan-dard of living will be fos-tered by these "forceful ur-banisation" programmes.

Concerning the failure ofZimbabwe's land reformprogrammes, he said that itis common concensus inZimbabwe that schemes hadfailed partly as a result ofthe government's obligation

to election promises whichwere unable to be fulfilledas great expectations hadbeen raised and they couldnot be realised.

Inexperienced people('farmers') were also ran-domly resettled and were notselected on merit - some hadnot really wanted to bemoved. Coupled with this,no comprehensive supportprogrammes such as creditfacilities, training and ex-tension schemes were initi-ated and there had also beena lack of infrastructuralsupport . The governmentadmits they have wronged,he said.

The environmental im-pact of resettlement is also.crucial as Zimbabwe experi-enced great problems inresettlement schemes forcommunal farming whereareas underwent serious soildegradation due to neglectand overgrazing.

In the future they willalso definitely be looking ateconomic viability. This couldhave lots of "spin-offs" , MrCoetzee said, as soil deterio-ration could eventually leadto destruction of the entireeconomy. "This would beparticularly applicable inNamibia as we have a frag-ile ecosystem. We also haveto look at it in the light ofZimbabwe having a greaterrainfall than Namibia Theirclimate is also more favour-able for dry-land crop pro-duction such as maize, sun-flower and cotton."

Often large tracts of onceproductive land were dividedinto smaller units for com-munal farmers. The farms,

being earned from foreignexchange has dwindled dras-tically due to the same prob-lems of lack of support andinexperience. Maize produc-tion had however increasedand it appears that generalsubsistence farming hasexpanded. Subsistence farm-ing has now developed morestrongly whereas the nettvalue of the country's for-eign exchange has lessened,Mr Coetzee said.

An aspect to be consid-ered for an economicallyviable land unit would bewhether it would support areasonable standard of liv-ing to uplift the farmer andthis would have to be seri-ously examined as standardsof living differ for each per-son, he said.

the Commercial FarmersUnion warned that by re.dressing the imbalances ofthe past one should notjeopardise the country's fu-ture, Mr Coetzee said.

In Zimbabwe about 800000 families occupy 16,3million hectares of commu-nal ground, 4 800 commer-cial farmers use 11,3 mu .lion ha and about 10 000small-scale farmers utiliseabout 1,2 million ha.

The government has al-ready resettled 52 000 fami-lies on about 3,2 million haand intends resettling about110 000 families on 5 mil-lion ha. It also intends buy-ing another 1 million ha forstate farms. The land to beused for resettlement fallswithin the highly productivetobacco producing areas.

Windhoek Observer

May 25.1441 7

2. '41441ve.

Goromonzi Journal

GOROMONZI, Zimbabwe — At atime when most of Africa cannot feeditself and deserts are eating into fer-tile soil, Zimbabwe stands as an oasis.

Despite a growing population, thissouthern African country is self-suffi-cient in food and even able to sparesome to help impoverished neighborsteetering on the edge of famine.

Sairas Gukwe, a 68-year-old farmerwhose ancestors were shoved off thecountry's richest territory by theBritish , imperialist Cecil Rhodes acentury ago, is well aware of this ashe contemplates the Government'splan for redressing the wrongs of thepast. He frets about what might hap-pen if the Zimbabwean Governmentrushes into redistributing white-owned farmland among poor blacks,as has been announced.

"I am worried that if the Govern-ment gives the land to people whodon't know how to use it, there will behunger in this country," said Mr.Gukwe, a gnarled man with handsand feet calloused from wrestlingwith the second-rate land he inheritedfrom his dispossessed forebears.

"We are self-sufficient now, evensupporting other countries with food.Bitterness from the past won't helpanything. I want . the plans of the Gov-ernment to be properly considered."

Mr. Gukwe is not a paid operativeof the powerful white membership ofthe Commercial Farmers Union, al-though the white farmers would nothave much argument with what hehad to say. Rather, he was echoingthe sentiments of his own union, theZimbabwe National Farmers Union,and of many ordinary Zimbabweanswho think it is a good idea to give landback to blacks, but preferably toblacks who are proven farmers ;

.Eleven years after independence

from the British, the ZimbabweanGovernment plans a version of whatCecil Rhodes wrought, but in reverse.

In January, President Robert G.Mugabe signed a constitutionalamendment that gave his Govern-ment the right to order the compul-sory purchase at a fixed price ofwhite-owned land, formerly owned byblacks like Mr. Gukwe's great-grand-father.

The new constitutional amend-ment, which must be backed by a spe-cific land bill before the land can beprocured, does not propose returningland to precise descendants of thosedisinherited . But it is intended to giveblacks now crowded into poor agri-cultural areas or unemployed in thecities a better deal.

A Promise Never Kept

Last year the independence agree-ment expired. And at the same time,the Mugabe Government faced rest-lessness among the growing urbanunemployed and hundreds of thou-sands of peasants who had beenpromised resettlement on better landbut for whom the promise had neverbeen delivered.

Mr. Mugabe said 162,000 familieswould be resettled. Instead, only52,000 were resettled and in ways thatguaranteed failure: unskilled farm-ers were moved onto land with fewsupport services . They produced lit-tle.

In an effort to live up to its pastpromises, the Government passed theconstitutional amendment, saying

more than 110,000 poor familieswould be moved onto 15 million acresnow owned by the white farmers.

Predictably, the white-dominatedCommercial Farmers Union vigor-ously denounced the amendment . Butso did the Catholic Commission forJustice and Peace, the nation's chiefhuman rights organization ; whichusually fights for the rights of poorfarmers, not rich ones . The commis-sion said that by denying the whitefarmers a right to court arbitration,the Legislature was excluding the ju-diciary from an important legal pro-cess.

And while the union representingfarmers like Mr . Gukwe said itwanted to see the pressure on thecommunal land relieved by resettle-ment on white farmland, it haspressed the Government to givepreference to skilled farmers whowill be able to keep up the country'sfood production.

Since the exultant singing anddancing in the aisles of the Legisla-ture when the amendment waspassed, the Mugabe Government hasshown signs of retreating . Some be-lieve the amendment was a cynicalshow of solidarity with strugglingpeasants and the urban poor and willnot be acted upon. There is alreadytalk of the Government's being moreflexible. In any event, economistspoint out that the national treasurydoes not have the resources to buymuch of the 15 million acres.

If the redistribution does start, Mr.Gukwe said he was too old to move.

But his 30-year-old son, Josphat,who is struggling on six acres ofsandy soil across the road, would beeligible and an ideal candidate to goback to the red loam of his forebearsonly 20 miles away, he said . His son isqualifying for a "master farmer"certificate awarded by the Agricul-tural Department to farmers with ex-perience. "The land is getting weakerhere, and we have to put on a lot ofmanure to make it produce," Mr.Gukwe said.

The rains were scanty this yeararound Goromonzi . Mr. Gukwe willnot have enough corn or tomatoes tosell to pay off the year's loan for fer-tilizer. But at least, he said, unlike thecase in many other African countries,there will be plenty to feed his family.

TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 1991

Should the Good EarthS tay in Whites ' Hands?

By JANE PERLEZSpecial to The New York Times

The amendment and the accompa-nying bill that is now being draftedtouch the rawest emotional nerve inZimbabwe, not just the practical mat-ter of how the country of 10 millionsees itself.

The central question in Zimbabwehas always been: Whose land is it,anyway? The guerrilla war to over-throw the white minority Govern-:ment of Ian D. Smith was fought inlarge part on the premise that theland held by the whites would be re-covered by the blacks.

But at independence, the new ma-jority-rule Government settled on apolicy of reconciliation. It agreed thatthe more than 4,000 white farmers,who own about 40 million acres, all ofit the best agricultural land, shouldstay and continue to churn out the to-bacco, beef, cotton and corn that earna good:chunk of the country's foreignexchange. Under the arrangement atindependence, their properties wouldbe purchased by the Governmentonly on a "willing buyer, willing sell-er" basis.

1

i7

rL1_1

o =aNOL0 11

I‘

Police battle with rightshakes South Africa

terday in Rapport, the coun-try's largest Afrikaans-lan-guage newspaper: "The bloodflows ."

This was probably the firstclash between security forcesand rightwingers, at least in-volving gunfire, since thesecond world war. And thistime it was not fought over themerits or otherwise of theThird Reich, but in defence of acommunity of black squatters.

The rightwing farmers,reportedly led by the neo-Nazileader, Eugene TerreBlanche,mounted what appears to havebeen a well-planned raid on thesquatter community of Goedge-vonden on horse-back and in.vans . But they were driven offby police and troops who at onestage opened fire on farmerstrying to destroy squatters'shacks with their vehicles.

Later the frustrated farmers— many of them imported tothe area for the occasion — at-tacked homes in anothernearby township, injuring anumber of black residents in-cluding a one-year-old childwho may have lost an eye.

The Minister of Law andOrder, Adriaan Vlok, flew tothe scene and managed to calmthe farmers, promising a fur-ther meeting with them after acourt decision on the fate of thesquatter camp, due to be an-nounced on May 28. The campis occupied by former residentsof Goedgevonden who weredriven off' the farm by the gov-ernment about 13 years ago andreturned to reclaim the landlast month.

The incident is likely to workto the advantage of the govern-ment, in that it gives at leastsome credibility to PresidentF. W. de Klcrk's claim that hisadministration is determined tobe even-handed in dealing withpolitical violence.

And, although the rightwingcommunity will be incensed, itis not likely too enhance the

David Beresfordin Johannesburg

AT least 2.5 people werekilled in the latest ram-page by Inkatha "war-

riors" in the Transvaal town-ship of Kagiso yesterday.Residents of the Swaniesvillesquatter camp said the raidersstruck at 6 .30 in the morningwith spears and machetes,hacking their way through thetumbledown dwellings to thewest of Johannesburg.

Police said 30 people werewounded and 82 squattershacks burnt down by themainly Zulu occupants of anearby migrant workers'hostel.

The government last week. banned "dangerous weapons"

in townships wracked by vio-lence between the mainly ZuluInkatha and ANC supporters,but it has specifically excludedspears and other "traditional"Zulu weapons.

'Blanket-covered bodies,

many charred and badlyhacked, lay strewn around thecamp after the attack . Resi-dents gathered what was left oftheir belongings and trudgedover the fields to safety. "I don'tknow where I'm going, but Ican't stay here . It is finished,"one said.

. Despite its horror, the massa-cre was over-shadowed by anincident with near-farcicalovertones on Saturday which islikely to go down in history asthe Battle of Goedgevonden.

The battle -- which was notmuch of one, but neverthelesshas- stunned South Africa —was fought between extremerightwing farmers and securityforces on a state-owned farmnear the town of Ventersdorp.Casualties were low, two right-wingers being peppered withbird-shot . But the shock to theAfrikaner psyche was summedup by the tanner headline yes-

standing of militant extremistsof the likes of Mr TerreBlanche.

Journalists at the sceneclaimed he was seen "stagger-ing around" and that an openbottle of brandy was spotted inhis van.

Meanwhile there was specu-lation in political circles that anew organisation launched yes-terday by some leaders of theanti-apartheid organisation theUnited Democratic Front — andincluding supporters of theblack consciousness movement,Azapo — could pose a futurechallenge to the ANC.

At a consultative conferencein Bloemfontein attended by 160delegates including the UDFgeneral secretary, Popp Molefe,it was agreed that the neworganisation — a nationalparent body for township"civic" associations — would belaunched early in August.

Political commentators pre-dict it will become a home fordisaffected members of theANC and will bid for an inde-pendent seat at the negotiatingtable in future constitutionaltalks with the government.

THE GUARDIAN

Monday May 13 1991

Southern .Africa is produced monthlyby National Namibia/Southern AfricaConcerns, 915 E . 9th Ave ., Denver,CO 80218 . (303) 830-2774.Editor : Solveig Kjeseth

"~~"%\emu',

By WALLY MBHELEFSPITE attempts to explain their

Vinaction, police still face a numberof questions on their role in Kagi-so township near Krugersdorp onSunday, when about 900 Inkathasupporters attacked Swanieville

squatter ramp, killing 28 people.•Why was a curfew declared in a calm

Kagiso on Saturday — the day before themassacre? Did the police suspect some-thing the residents did not know about?

*How was it possible that more than900 armed men were able to move be-tween five and eight kilometres in an un-rest area without being detected by police?

•If indeed the attack happened when po-lice were changing shifts, how long did ittake them to change shifts? Could it havetaken more than three hours as, accordingto their own admission, the first sign of vi-olence in the area reached them at about6 .30am? The attack, according to resi-dents,started atabout3am.

*Could it have been passible for the po

lice not to notice the activity at the hostel -

agiso.which is mimes from the police station?

:

*Why did the police escort the at-

•sackers back to safety after the massa-

cre rather than escorting them to the po-

the

o7 !lice station for arrest?

c eKagiso activists this week angrily weremarched to the house of the local Afri-can National Congress chairman,Uhuru Moiloa, calling on the ANC tostay out of talks with the governmentand provide them with arms to defendthemselves."Police and Inkatha are killing us,"

they saidMoiloa says he didn't know how to

respond.Inkatha has already accepted respon-

sibility for the killings. On Tuesday,Inkatha Freedom Party representativeSuzanne Vos said squatters were at-tacked in response to the earlier kidnap-ping of two Inkatha hostel dwellers onSaturday night.She promised a full report would be

issued later on Monday but at the timeof going to press no Inkatha report hadbeen received.At a press conference in Kagiso on

Tuesday, residents of Swanieville con-firmed "there was no sign of any vio-lence before the curfew was declared.It completely took us by surpise ."

WEEKLY MAIL1~

May 17 to May23 199

Even the police admitted at -a pressconference on Monday there was nosign of violence in the area at the time.Terrified Swanieville residents told

The Weekly Mail how police camearound the squatter camp on Saturdayat about 9pm telling them to remain in-doors as the place had been declared anunrest area.They were also warned they would be

arrested if they walked the streets atnight, as unrest regulations were inforce.

However, they were awoken at aboutSam on Sunday morning by the soundof rifle fire . .During the next hour, adults and

young children alike were shot at, andhacked with pangas and spears,Shacks were blown up with handgre-nades and property looted.

The impi left a trail of burning shacksand bodies strewn around the camp.

Swanieville resident Vuyani Radebesaid he heard shots fired and, when he

looked through the window, he saw agroup of people wearing red head-bands firing at the shacks.

"I jumped out of the window and hidin the toilet and saw them hurling hand-grenades at the shacks," he said.

He said there "was a lot of confusionas people were screaming and runningin different directions, hacked withspears and pangas as they tried to flee.

"Police came to tell us not to movearound the streets after 9pm and wewere not aware that they were invitingInkatha to kill us."

A young boy who did not want to benamed said he saw white men standingby while residents were attacked . Heclaims white police who were armedwith shotguns and driving in a FordSierra and Opel Monza arrived whenthe attack was already underway."They did nothing to stop Inkatha

from killing. I saw them with my owneyes, they only stood and watched aswe were attacked," said the young boy .

"As they drove away, they laughed atthe dead and injured people."

In a hard-hitting statement respondingto the massacre, Lawyers for HumanRights this week called for a "totally in-dependent" commission of inquiryconsisting of eminent and credible jur-ists as investigators.

"What we fail to understand is howthis large group of armed men wereable to move totally undetected from thehostels to the camp, which is approxi-mately 10km away.

"The fact that police Casspirs were onhand immediately after the attack to es-cort the attackers to the hostels, lendscredence to the allegation that the policehad been involved in the attack," saidLHR.The organisation said it was astound-

ing that while the police escorted the at-tackers back to the hostel, not a singleperson was arrested immediately."The arrest of only six persons where

several hundred persons had been in-volved in the attack makes a mockery ofour criminal justice system."The statement called on the govern-

ment to take urgent action and drasticsteps to address the violence.•At the time of going to press the

South African Police had still not re-sponded to the article .

Bitter speech atscene ofweekendmas s acreaccuses

of racismBy GAVIN EVANS and WALLY MBHELE

ELSON Mandela yesterday delivered histoughest speech since his release fromprison 15 months ago, warning the gov-ernment that violence would spill over tothe white areas unless drastic moves were

made to stop the carnage.Mandela was speaking on the eve of a crucial Af-

rican National Congress National Executive Com-mittee meeting to consider the government's re-sponse to the ANC's ultimatum on violence, withtalks between the two groups balanced on a knifeedge.

In an angry off-the-cuff speech at a commemora-tive service in Kagiso, the scene of a massacre of28 people on Sunday by Inkatha-supporting hos-tel-dwellers, Mandela warned there would be nonegotiations unless the government banned thecarrying of spears and sticks -- and said he hadbeen unable to move President FW de Kierk onthis issue.

The ANC deputy president accused De Klerk of. racism, said lnkatha wanted to "rise to power on

the corpses of dead people" and blamed the gov-ernment and security force for actively promotinganti-ANC violence.

Addressing a commemorative service at the Ka-giso Hall for the 28 people murdered at the Swa-nicville squatter camp, Mandela warned the gov-emment that the violence would spill into the whiteareas, and that white civilians would be hit, unlessdrastic moves were made to stop the carnage.He warned the community against taking such

action . .Addressing the issue of the ANC's

ultimatum for the banning of spears,Mandela said the ANC was "puttingtremendous pressure on the govern-ment", adding that there was "noquestion of negotiations in this coun-try" unless De Klerk conceded .

He repeated this point several times,but noted that "I was not able to moveMr Dc Klerk because like all averagewhites he has no regard for the blackman's life".He said De Kierk told him that if the

government found that there wasabuse of spears and sticks he wouldtake action."I told him that over 8 000 blacks

had died in the violence since 1984,and that these spears are being abusednow. How many more people shoulddie before you ban these dangerousweapons?"

He added that "if only 50 whites hadbeen killed there would have been arevolution in this country" and thegovernment would have banned allweapons immediately.

"But because it is blacks, we , have towork for years to convince him that heneeds to protect the lives of our peo-pie, and for spears to be banned."

Referring to Inkatha as "an organisa-tion with no membership in the Trans-vaal", he said they were unable to getmembers by "appealing to the peopleto join them" and therefore were usingforce for this end."They want to rise to power on the

corpses of dead people ."He added that Inkatha had a habit of

bussing people to rallies in areaswhere they didn't have a "single mem-ber"Dismissing police claims that they

had been unaware of Inkatha plans forSunday's massacre, he said the policehad spies in every hostel, and if hosteldwellers "decide to attack tomorrow,the police will know immediately"It is therefore not true when they

say that-they were not aware of whatwas happening when the hostel at-tacked."Mandela said these massacres were

happening because "it has become thepolicy of the government to allow thisin order to weaken the liberationmovement".

the

State

. He warned that when people realised"the government is working with theblack organisation which is killing ourpeople", they would move into thewhite areas and kill innocent people.

"The liberation movements will notsupport it because there are many in-nocent people there who have nothingto do with the violence . There aremany whites who value the lives ofour people, and in any attack both in-nocent and guilty will be killed . . . Wedon't want you to do that."

He added the government was mak-ing a mistake because one effect of itssupport for violence was to help forgeunity between the ANC, Pan-Africanist Congress and the AzanianPeople's Organisation . He firmly em-braced these organisations, referringto the unity which had been forged be-tween them on Robben Island.

"By killing so many innocent peoplethey have succeeded in bringing us to-gether."

Yesterday's service was co-hostedby the three organisations and ad-dressed by Dikgang Moscneke of thePAC and Pandelani Ncfolovhode ofAzapo, as well as by SACP generalsecretary Joe Slovo and UmkhontowcSizwe's Chris Hani.Outside the hall about 15 000 people

gathered, many toyi toying, and somearmed with "traditional weapons".

•Inkatha leader Mangosuthu Bu-thelezi on Thursday night accused theANC of "moving in for the kill" bycalling for the banning of culturalweapons by Zulus.

"One does not call for the banning oflollipops when you are confronted byserious drug abuse amongst teenag-ers ."Buthelezi said the ANC cynically

knew that it was putting tremendouspressure on De Klcrk to decide wheth-er to placate the ANC by banning tra-ditional weapons . He said if Dc Klrrl~did not do this, he would have to de-cide between confronting the ANC orconfronting the IFP.

THE WEEKLY MAIL, May 17 to May 23 1991

Johannesburg : May 19, 1991

SOUTH AFRICAN CHURCH LEADER SAYS WEAPONS MUST BE BANNED

Saying that "the spear is the only obstacle " to bringing backthe negotiation process, South African Council of Churches (SACC)leader Rev Frank Chikane said this week there will be no solutionfor South Africa until the government "acts in a responsible way toprotect all the people of this country and bring an end to theviolence . "

Rev Chikane was speaking from first hand experience . He and hisstaff spent the week trying to help the . suruivors of a raid by 1088spear-and-gun carrying members of the Inkatha Freedom Party on asquatter camp near Swanieville, west of Johannesburg . Twenty sevenpeople were killed by Inkatha in that attack, for which Inkatha hasadmitted responsibility.

Current negotiations between the AMC and President de }clerk arestalled over the government ' s refusal to ban the carrying of all

"traditional weapons" in public by political groups.SACC investigations of the Swanieville incident reveal that

police did not protect the residents of the squatter camp and may,in fact, have set them up for the Inkatha attack.

According to the SACC, police arrived at the squatter camp at 9PM Saturday, May 11, telling the residents to stay indoors because

"their ' s was an unrest area . " When residents said they wanted someof their youth outside to keep watch, the police said they wouldput a 24 hour patrol on the area.

At five o ' clock Sunday morning, 1888 or so followers of ChiefButhelezi' s Inkatha Freedom Party walked five kilometers fromtheir hostel to attack the Swanieville camp . They spent two hours,unimpeded by police, destroying the squatters ' huts and shootingand stabbing the residents.

Rev Chikane said the police had promised to protect theresidents, were at the scene and had all the evidence necessary toarrest the guilty, but did not do so.

"The bodies were still where they had fallen dead, the weaponswere still in the hands of the murderers and the murderers werestill among the IMpis (Inkatha regiment), " said Chikane . "We findit outrageous that they escorted the Impis back to the men ' s hostelto avoid further bloodshed, " he said . "We would like to know whythey did not arrest those guilty of murder and destruction ofproperty at the scene of the crime . "According to Chikane, violence is "ravaging the communities" and

there is "no possibility that there will be negotiations that willproduce a solution" until the government takes strong steps to haltthe violence.

The church leader said that if President de K l erk refuses to ban"traditional weapons" and goes ahead with his own "peace "conference, the ANC, the Pan African Congress and the BlackConsciousness Movement will refuse to attend.

"Then the process is back to the pre-February 1998 period, wherethe old order will again refuse to deal with the liberationmovements, which I think will be a disaster . "

According to-Rev Chikane, both Inkatha leader Chief Butheleziand President de Klerk know that the SACC supports the banning of"traditional weapons" . " You don ' t need a mass conference to get agovernment to ban a weapon that is used to kill people, " he said.(SACK)

From : John Evenson, Southern Africa Church News

Former officer alleges campaign of dirty tricks toorchestrate townshi violence and fix elections

SA militarygiving armsto Inkatha'The South African Defense Force(SADF) has deliberately fannedthe township violence of recentmonths, including' funding andsupplying weapons to MangosuthuButhelezi ' s Inkatha FreedomParty, as part of a comprehen-sive " dirty tricks " strategy toensure F .W . de Klerk ' s NationalParty remains in power afterthe end of apartheid, a retiredSADF major alleged yesterday.

Nico Basson, who said he workedfor military intelligence inNamibia in 1989, added that theSADF was also working on plansto attempt, through intimida-tion, to engineer the electionsin neighboring Angola next yearin favour of the Unita leader,South Africa ' s old ally, JonasSavimbi . He said he himself hadbeen a key player in an elaborate SADF orchestrated schemedesigned to prevent victory inthe 1989 elections in Namibiagoing to Swapo, the eventualwinners.

Mr . Basson said the SouthAfrican Ministry of Foreignaffairs had worked, and wasworking, hand-in-glove with theSADF in the deployment of thevarious stages of the plans,which were given the codenameOperation Agree when firstdevised at the end of 1988 bythe Minister of Defence, MagnusMalan, and the Minister of For -eign Affairs, Pik Botha . InApril, Mr Basson wrote to Pres.de Klerk with a broad outlineof the allegations.

The SADF said yesterday that MrBasson was " bandying aboutunsubstantiated allegations forreasons of his own " . The state-ment added : "The Defence Forceknows nothing about theseplans, which are ridiculous . "

Inkatha denied the allegationsof involvement with the SADF." I ' m flabbergasted . . . I knownothing about this, " said aspokeswoman, Suzanne Vos.

In a two-and-a-half hour inter-view yesterday morning withfour reporters, Mr . Bassonprovided a wealth of detail,including names of senior mili -tary officers, names of allegedSADF front-companies in and outof South Africa, and names ofindividuals allegedly runningthose companies,to substantiatehis claims about the DefenceForce role in Namibia.

Namibia, he said, was intendedas a " dress rehearsal " for themuch more ambitious operationcurrently afoot in South Africaitself . He had continued toobtain information on thatoperation from numerous sourcesworking within the DefenceForce with whom he is in regu-lar contact .

They share hisdisgust and disillusionmentwith the SADF ' s activities butfear to speak out, he said.

He also described Namibia as " atrial run " for the SouthAfrican electoral game-plan, inwhich the same structures ofthe SADF and the Ministry ofForeign Affairs were beingemployed.

"The SADF is buying AK-47rifles on a large scale,notably from Mozambique, andsupplying these weapons toInkatha, " Mr Basson said . Theviolence in the townshipsaround Johannesburg, in whichInkatha supporters have beencentrally involved and in whichsome 1,500 people have died inthe past nine months, had beendeliberately orchestrated bythe SADF . " They could stop itimmediately if they wished, "Mr . Basson said.

The strategy behind theviolence, he said, was tocreate ethnic divisions ; todiscredit the ANC, whosemilitary wing has long beenassociated with the AK-47, andforce it into political mis-takes ; and to build Inkathathrough intimidation so as toform a strong alliance with theNational Party in the firstpost-apartheid elections . Tothat end, the SADF had not onlyprovided weapons to Inkatha,but also assistance in setting .up township cells .

Pointing to the estimated 8 percent of the government ' sdefence budget which, it isknown, is employed for secretprojects, he said it was onprecisely such ventures thatthe money was being spent . Mr.de Klerk has in recent monthsrefused to answer parliamentaryquestions on where the secretmoney is going.

Mr Basson, an SADF officerbetween 1982 and 1986, saidthat he saw Operation Agreeunfold in Namibia, where he wassummoned by the SADF in January1989 in his capacity as avolunteer member of the CitizenForce, the army reserve.

He was ordered to set up anostensibly legitimate operationcalled African CommunicationsProject with SADF funding -hepersonally received 64,000 rand(L13,700) a month - whose aimwas to manipulate informationin favour of the pro-SouthAfrican " democratic " partiesopposing Swapo, which hadfought a war of liberationagainst South Africa for 23

years . The then head of theSADF, General Jannie Gelden-huys, and the present head,General Kat Liebenberg were themoving spirits 'behind theoperations.

Mr . Basson, who said that hehad survived three attempts onhis life, told Mr . de Klerk inhis letter that he had beenmotivated in his actions by a" road to Damascus" experiencein 1989, when he underwent aradical shift in his politicalcommitment . He added yesterdaythat he was appalled at the useof state resources for partypolitical ends.

The SADF has initiated legalaction against Mr . Basson interms of his alleged contra-vention of the Protection ofInformation Act .

)T3

SA military plots itssurvival strategy

? =Sow Ahicua DefenceForce realised wane pmts ago thatthe key to political power lay nosIn massy mbut is aarsipala-tits of piabbic pauptioas. a foe-met SADF major saidyestciday.

The destabilising of Angola andMozainbitpie and the dictionof their ecoaotaies duo* sup

-poet ci the Roca and Umla ia-helped lo eons y lbw

impression t h a t back ieft4wiegauk did not work. But only themost# rodof v orieswcie pos-ailsie while the government theSADF repftsaged remainedcmnmiued to apartheid and te-taking s+m

my raaiaafuU yo Nani Nino anion said inas interview.

-Winning harts and m . orWHAM. 'is what they call it incounter-iescrgeocy manuals.Much the same state was em-ployed, ultimately with more suc-cess. by the United Sores throughsupport for tbeCootras in Nicara-gua. ?he Ameriarn were incitesuoaessful as Central America wasin El Salvador and Guatemala,where military cfictatocships westiegitisod after chilia' n cketians.

Mr Batson. who poioteed outthat the oaken who n theSADF ltrre delved into teat-boobof counter-insurgency and mili-tary political wawa said it wasonly now. *hen rpanhe d eras go.

From John Carib.in Johannesburg

itg and ` electionswere 1* the olEag. dal SADFstrategists true' beginning to secthe prospect of a axopreb eWHAM success.

Them cut be few sore bn7bmtSouth Africa' n ntids in the 5ddthan Mr Bassos-3k a Feychologygraduate and cominueiadvospostgraduate. who as a major in1984 and i9B5 rose to become thepublic mid right-hand a of General JamieGcide hugs, then chief of thearmy and later bead of dieItt 1989 Mr Bassos was summeredbatch from civilian lire and given£14A00 a month by the SADF tomu its -communications- strategybefore the Mulligan elections.

"Communications Opera-tions-. be said. is the name givento the aim of the SADF mattingWHAM operations. -CommOps" has an officer in everySADFunit and. besides, has man-aged to infante the South Asti:mu meta moss the board.

But it is not cc* a question ofmedia manipulation. 1n the sameway that R3no and Unita ~rctacemployed to communise a mees-sa, so were the was sent towage war in the townships around

Joarg is the

t 10moths. Mr B.mon =pinned.

The end of the violence ltas notbeen to desttoy peepertyes w kill® that has only been a means.The

obiectMa base been. . . tunas& the criminal

goal of sa:trhpg we a amid intheF.post-apastheid sett

rut. the vi*nce has paned abloat lo the morale and organisa-tional caps* of the African Na-tional0 Seooediy, the aimhas been to bolster MangosuthnButbeie a conservative Z.zluparty. fnta ls& -lust to get tteissum known and fixed in the pub-1kamc

a

has beensou ,• said Mrcontends that the SAD

Batson. 'rhoF has been

arming ldntha figblers and or-chestrating their enter straitly.Thirdly. the intention is. thtarghthe io ice. to split black peoplealong trim] lints. tocreate tensionbetween the two biggest ctsi"g

the Zulus and the Xhosa.The end goal is a divided and

undermined ANC, and an allianceof the ruling National Party.Inkatha and Oka "moderate"black o nisstiom, + willsweep legitimately" to peruser.with theSADFsosvo power struc-ture :maiming intact

Mims of poQads of scantstate funds are diverted to this ea-tcaprise. which cipmees itself in

eDOrousdem way. only the mostovert of which. Mr Boo said, ist6ee dip violence. Foe cons-pie. the SADF is stoning emir-moots q ian1it S net mooety towardsievangelic' al

ons avety blackin bea

douches.t. which stress

icalaati-comnanino andmoderation.

A melt motion of The Stir re-potted en National Patty pig toform an -alliance of moderates-which old ire In aiha.kadetsof the black "homelands"and the uonsewative blackchurches. NP strategists refer to deThe Star said. as the ChristianDemocratic Alliaocee

Mt won said the choice ofthe amid -Christian - ri the titlewas biilliutt. designed to SUMthe one cunt which powerfullyunite' vutualh the tint* blackmajority of the population andwhile. h. at the same time. drag at-tention to the ANC's alliance withthe Communist Pam. a sure elec-toral albatross,

Mr moo said that althonhthe SADF w the engine behindthe strati, the Ministry of For-eigo Affairs was also centrally ia-%vIvdla what was a co-ordinatedstrategy appte*i by key sectorsof the stagy 'ent's the wwbokthing about South Africa," MrBatson said . -It's ran in secret andin omen.-

BUTHELEZI VISIT TO WASHINGTON, NEW YORK

Gatsha Buthelezi, Chief Minister of the Kwazulu " homeland" and leader of theInkatha party, will find some open doors in his visit to the United States thisweek . In spite of his history as a brutal, ruthlessly ambitious politician (see"The Killing Fields : Who is Gatsha Buthelezi and Why is He Killing People? " in thelast issue of Southern Africa, reprinted from Southern Africa Report ., November,1990 .), Buthelezi continues to be a favorite of conservatives in this country.

During his D .C . visit, Buthelezi is expected to meet with both the President andthe Vice President, State Department officials, members of Congress, and theNational Press Club.On June 19th, he will speak at a Heritage Foundation Luncheon.

In New York, Buthelezi is scheduled to make presentations before several ForeignPolicy groups, and will have lunch with the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies who havemaintained their company presence in South Africa . He also has appointmentsscheduled with the editorial boards of the New York Times, the Wall StreetJournal, and the Washington Post.

One wonders if the revelations of the confessed South African agent, Nico Basson,regarding the provision of weapons and other support from the South AfricanDefense Forces to Inkatha will dampen Buthelezi ' s reception .

Johannesburg : June 12, 1991

i r

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION SAYS 972 POLITICAL PRISONERS STILL IN JAIL°

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) announced yesterday that 972 politicalprisoners are still being held by the South African government as of June 3rd.The HRC also severely criticized the government ' s handling of the indemnityprocess in a special briefing paper.

With the release of political prisoners an important prerequisite tocontinuing negotiations, the actual number of political prisoners has been widelydebated . The HRC asserts that its finding of 972 persons is in strict accordancewith the principles of the Pretoria Minute which was accepted by the governmentand the ANC ten months ago.

Recent statements made by government officials about the number of politicalprisoners remaining in jail were dismissed by the Commission as "patently false,misleading or misinformed " . As an illustration they referred to Presidentde Klerk ' s statement made in London on 23 April about " well below 200 " prisonersyet to be released . In reality, the Commission said, the government itself hasreleased 488 prisoners since that date . . ..

The South African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) also issued a statementon June 11 in support of an independent body to assist the government with theurgent release of all political prisoners . The SACBC said they were " saddened bywhat appears to be a bureaucratic snarl-up " and urged this action to be taken " sothat the entire negotiating process is not further delayed to the detriment ofall ."

Mafeking, South Africa : June 12, 1991

BOPHUTHATSWANA POLITICAL PRISONERS PLEA FOR HELP ON HUNGER STRIKE

According to Amnesty International, there are 120 political prisoners in theSouth African " independent " homeland of Bophuthatswana . Following is the text of ahand written letter sent by two of them on behalf of the others in BophuthatswanaCentral Prison . The letter was sent to Southern Africa Church News by the MafekingAnti-Repression Forum (MAREF), a church-based human rights agency.

Dear Friends,We are political prisoners in Bophuthatswana Central Prison . We are here in

prison for our political beliefs . We are serving different jail terms for HighTreason and Terrorism . . ..

Most of us are here because of the part we took in the February, 1988abortive coup . We believe that this region (bantustan) is South Africa.Bophuthatswana, the region in which we stay is a product of Dr . H .F . Verwoerd ' sGrand Apartheid.

We abhor apartheid and the balkanisation of our country.We have decided to embark on a hunger strike, from the 15th June until we

secure our release.Three of our comrades are well advanced in age . Mr . Samuel Slamini, Mr.

Shadrack Motswatswa and Mr . Soloman Bapalamo are well over 65 years of age . Someour comrades are not physical fit . And some of us are very, very young . Our livesare wasted ; we implore you to use your influence in whatever sphere you can, inhelping us in our fight.

We are treated as common-law prisoners . We are denied political status . Weare not eligible for parole and remission . We are in the hands of a viciousautocrat.

We ask for prayers from you and the international and local churchescommunities.

Please put us in the homilies in the church across Bophuthatswana, theRepublic of South Africa, and wherever your influence reaches.

Visit us please, in the name of our Lord . Our people are mesmerized byfear . . . .

Southern Africa Church News►MI 0111a Na aim. Landon WCIX Oil U .K TM

K NI Oii ZOOS ice: 071 047 4147 Tds 04070000 NAW 0

April 26 ® May 21991 Now Marton

Churches De Klerkr

must come out cleanU

NLESSstate pres-ident F Wde Klerkmade it

clear that all citizens ofthe country had the rightto decide upon a futureconstitution, the churchwould call upon its mem-bers to resist his endeav-ours to negotiate a newConstitution.

The warning came aftera six-day session of the'third General Conferenceof the South AfricanAlliance of ReformedChurches (SAARC) inMamelodi, Pretoria, lastweek.

The SAARC said thatfrequent statements by DeKlerk that any new consti-tution for the country'would first have to beapproved by the whiteelectorate, compelled thechurch to believe that hisgovernment continued toallow the ideology ofapartheid to dominate thepolitical mechanisms ofthe country .

"Mae is no moral jus-tification for submitting anew constitution to 15 per-cent of the inhabitants ofthe country for theirapproval," the SAARCsaid in a statement.

The Conference alsoaccused the NP govern-ment of being illegitimatesince 1910.

Conscience"The Conference wants

to express its convictionthat only a representativegovernment based on aone-person cm-vote elec -toral system, is acceptableto the Christian con-science," said the state-ment.

A call for the resigna-tion of the cabinet minis-ters who are behind theexistence and functioningof the Civic Co-operationBureau (CCB) was made.

The church said thatbecause the CCB mem-bers were paid by the gov-ernment for their work,their actions should beopenly called "state ter-

ronsm".The conference also

evaluated the declarationsmade during the Rusten-burg Conference last year.

They criticised theSteering Committee of theNational Co-ordinatingCommittee (NCC) of theRustenburg conference onthe consultations it hadwith the various politicalleaders.

The Conference regard-ed the consultations as athreat to the creation of anew and parallel ecumeni-cal body .

DivideIt said in the statement

that this could only furtherdivide the already dividedChristian body in SouthAfrica.

"The Conference callson its member churches inSouth Africa to considertheir participation in suchconsultations very careful-ly," a statement releasedafter the conferencewarned.

The attack on the NCC

came shortly after theymet with the NationalExecutive of the ANC todiscuss issues raised dur-ing the Rustenburg Con-ference last year.

ConfessionThe Dutch Reformed

Church ' s confession ofguilt at the RustenburgConsultation and the claimthat it henceforth deservedto be accepted by allchurches in the world, alsocame under heavy criti-cism.

"Although forgivenessand repentance are essen-tial components of recon-ciliation, the justificationof the sinner must notbecome reconciliationwith the sin or sinful struc-tures that ensued, " thestatement added.

However, while accus-ing the consultation, theConference said it appre-ciated the coming togetherof the churches in Rusten-burg, but that it had reser-vations about the "burningpolitical issues", which it

felt were not fullyaddressed.

The Conference alsoresolved that a committeeof willing participantsfrom the theological, legaland political fields as wellas from the newspaperswho were later persecutedfor their coverage of theCCB activities, be initiatedto study:

*How Biblical andConfessional traditioninforms and shapes "our"understanding of "StateTerrorism".

*How the revelations ofthe existence of covert,terrorist military andpolice brigades relates toreality in order to uncoverto what extent the Nation-alist South African Gov-ernment is judged by Bib-lical and other evidence.

It further considered anInterim Government,elected to pave the way forjust and fair negotiationsof a new constitutionmorally necessary.

Nov NA'rfoN May 17 — May 23 1991,

Lord, give Us Shelter (I (err, gib uns sin Obdach) lloltschnitt 1974

/6

Rightwingers leave DRC

wt him the ` Dutch KeformOChurch (DRC) since the chum'sconfession to the sin of apartheidat the Rustenburg conference ofchurches early this year.

Professor Johan Heyns confirmedthat there was an exodus of minis-ters and members who subscribedto right-wing politics. He said about70 ministers and 30 000 membershave already left the church

Most of those who left havejoined the newly forced AfrikaanseProtestant Kerk, an exclusivelywhite denomination.

He said, however, that this was asmall fraction when compared to theDRC's total membership of 1 .5 mil-lion.

Asked about the main causes ofthe exodus, Prof Heyns said thatthose leaving the church were underthe influence of rightwing politicalorganisations. "It is purely on polit-ical grounds that they are leavingthe church," he said.

He added that although the groupcomprised mainly of older mem-bers, a number of youth had alsoleft.

ExclusiveThis group was trying to keep the

DRC exclusively white by justifyingapartheid biblically. Professor CardBoshoff was named as one of thoseseeking to reform the DRC to theold apartheid denomination.

Prof Heyns said the drop in themembership of the DRC did not

Professor Johan Heyns,former Moderator of theDutch Reformed Church

begin after the Rustenburg confer-ence but has been ongoing since1986, when the church adopted areport distancing itself from the sin-ful realities of the apartheid system.

Despite the mass exodus the DRChas not stopped trying to convincethe breakaway group and thoseintending to leave of the wrongs ofapartheid.

OptimisticSounding optimistic about the

future of the DRC, Prof Heyns saidthere were individuals who weretrying their best to reform the DRCfrom within.

In response to Prof Heya 's com-ments, Prof Boshoff told New

glgtans, wtx had` "gamm•i con ftrot*7111

General Synod, were headingtowards ending the historical natureand character of the DRC.

Criticising the General Synod, ofwhich Prof Heyns and 'moderator ofthe DRC, Prof Piet Potgieter aremembers, Boshoff said that the pairsided with the social revolution inwhich political institutions, schools,residential areas, etc were beingopened to all races while theAfrikaner was being deprived of hisfreedom and right to an own area.

PoliticisedIt said that the church therefore

did not stand in isolation to whatoccurs in state and society.

In fact the leaders of this move-ment have politicised the church andhave played an active role in the lib-eration theology movement," saidthe statment from Prof Boshoff.

It added that the AfrikaansReformed League, which opposesthe Rustenburg resolution to con-fess that apartheid is a sin, regret-ted this turn of events and "in addi-tion, the Afrikaans ReformedLeague calls upon leaders in theDutch Reformed Church, to con-sider seriously the ecclesiasticaldeviation by the General Synod andthe fatal participation of the churchin the social revolution and to pro-vide guidance to members as towhat they should do" .

SADF tried to stopcommunities fromreclaiming land

Tha SW 1MnUS/ Mry 181991

Thousands offarmers headfor Pretoria

THE SouthAfricanDefenceForce(SADF) has

tried to stop two dispos-sessed communities fromreclaiming land that wastaken from them in themid-1970s.

The controversial roleof the SADF wasdescribed by members ofa committee representingsome 100 000 people from13 uprooted communities,who gave evidence beforea select parliamentarycommittee in Cape Town.

Matlakosi Shabalalafrom Roosboom in Natal,whose community re-claimed its land in Dccem-

ber, said the SADF hadwarned them to leave afterthe police arrests of tworeturned families hadfailed to halt the re-occu-pation.

"Some army peoplecame and told us that thiswas now SADF land to beused for a shooting range,"he said.

Inquiries by the com-munity revealed that itwas in fact the PublicWorks and Land AffairsDepartment which ownedtheir formerly freeholdland.

Further SADF action,apparently intended todeter the return of anothercommunity to its ancestralland, was reported by

Abey Maloma fromDoomkop in the EasternTransvaal.

He said that just weeksafter his communityannounced an early returnto their unoccupiedground, the SADF erect-ed a no entry sign on itthat declared the area as ashooting range.

The National LandCommission has identifiedanother site where theSADF makes use of dis-possessed land – at Boje-lakgomo in the northernCape.

And in Border region,the Ciskei Army has longhad a base on expropriatedland, now owned by theSouth African Develop-

ment Trust, at RcleasctArea 60.

Shabalala and Malomtwere in Cape Town as 4part of a delegation thaturged a select committerof MP's to agree to restorethe land rights of dispos-sessed people . and to setup a Land Claims Corn-mission.

Their delegation wasinitially refused entry intoparliament. despite havingan appointment.

However, representativeStar Motswege said thatthe group had subsequent-ly received a good hearingand it was "satisfied thaithey might do somethingabout our situation ."

NEW NATION ApRu.26 — MAY 2 1991

By Carina le Grange

Thousands of farmers areexpected to converge onPretoria tomorrow to"determine" the future ofwhite farmers.

Among the issues underdiscussion will be the pro-posed repeal of the 1913 and1936 Land Acts, the formingof area defence units in con-junction with the South Afri-can Defence Force, and theeconomic plight of farmers.

The conference, under theauspices of the TransvaalAgricultural Union (TAU),comes in the wake of in-creasing tension betweenfarmers and the Governmentover, among other issues,squatters and the proposedscrapping of the Land Acts.

Defence units were moot-ed three weeks ago in re-sponse to what farmers callthe increase in murder andcrime because of squatters.

Last weekend, policewounded two farmers whenmore than 2 000 farmers,some armed, gathered inforce to "remove" 'squattersfrom the Government-ownedGoedgevonden farm nearVentersdorp . At least 18squatters were injured andmany shacks demolished.

Among those invited to to-morrow's conference is theChief of the SADF, General

George Meiring, accordingto TAU deputy general man-ager Jan Human.

Mr Human said threeissues would dominate themeeting: plans for the estab-lishment of "area defenceunits" (gebiedsbeskermings-magte) in co-operation withthe defence force, the pro-posed scrapping of the LandActs of 1913 and 1936, andaction plans on the economicsituation of farmers.

He stressed that althoughthe farmers were opposed tothe scrapping of the LandActs, tomorrow's conferencewas not a protest meeting,but one at which plans wouldbe formulated that, it washoped, would later be rati-fied by the TAU generalcouncil .

StrifeAccording to sources, the

TAU believes the conferencewill determine the continuedexistence of the "white com-mercial farmer".

It is expected that themeeting will overshadow theexisting. strife between theSouth African AgriculturalUnion and the TAU.

The SAAU is consideredmoderate and Government-supporting . The TAU favourswhite right-wing interests.

Yesterday the SAAU dis-sociated itself from "any ac-tions by groups who took the

law into their own handswhen it came to squatterproblems", referring to theVentersdorp incident.

The SAAU decided at ageneral council meeting yes-terday to appeal to agricul-tural leaders who hold politi-cal office and occupy parlia-mentary or other seats tomake a choice in the inter-ests of agriculture and todedicate themselves to a sin-gle cause.

Mr Human said the SAAUas well as all provincial andregional agricultural and

farmers associations hadbeen invited. No restrictionhad been put on the numberof delegates from any oneparty.

He said neither the Afri-kaner Weerstandsbewegingnor any other political, cul-tural or semi-cultural bodyhad been invited.

"This is purely an agricul-tural matter . If other peoplearrive, they would have tocome in their capacity of or-ganised agriculture," he said.

"It is purely a meeting todiscuss action-plans to seehow we can best serve agri-culture in the interests of thetotal population of the land.

"The police were not invit-ed as we believe defenceunits are covered by consul-tation with the army, andfarmers are used to the com-mando situation," MrHuman added .

SADF denies

training Inkatha

THE South African DefenceForce has denied that its mem-bers are involved in the trainingof Inkatha paramilitary fighters ormembers of "third force" teams.The Weekly Mail last week pub-lished allegations that membersof the military were training Inka-tha members at a base near Bar-berton . It also noted reports thatmunicipal workers in Klerksdorpwere being recruited for trainingas anti-ANC fighters."There are two bases in the

Barberton area . One of thesehouses troops from the CapeCorps who are deployed for bor-der protection tasks . The other isa training base for Citizen Forcemembers (all white) and servesas a transit base," said a state-ment issued by the SADF'."As far as the allegations about

Defence Force involvement inthe training of members of Inka-tha are concerned, the Defence

Force is already on record that itdoes not train, arm or equip any-one other than its own mem-bers."

17

4YIPIA14040

17 –May–91MDISPUTE OVER AGENDA STALLS MOZAMBIQUE PEACE TALKS

By John Follain

ROME, Reuter - Peace talks aimed at ending Mozambique's16-year-old civil war have stalled, with the government andrebels at loggerheads over the agenda, mediators said Friday.

A spokesman for the religious community of Sant' Egidio,which is hosting the Rome talks, said mediators would propose analternative agenda.

The sixth round-of talks between the Frelimo (MozambiqueLiberation Front) government of President Joaquim Chissano andright-wing Renamo guerrillas began May 6 . The previous round ofpeace talks in Rome was broken off in January with no agreementon a cease-fire.

Mozambique has been torn by civil war since Renamo(Mozambique National Resistance) was founded in 1976, a yearafter independence . A recent peace accord for Angola, anotherformer Portuguese colony in southern Africa, raised hopes of anend to fighting in Mozambique.

Spokesman Leone Gianturco said the mediators would draft aproposed new agenda and put it to the two sides before the endof the month.

He gave no details of the disagreements . Political andmilitary matters are at the center of the round of talks.

On Wednesday, Renamo guerrillas accused the government ofblocking the talks by refusing to discuss several key issues.

Renamo said the government side would not discuss thedismantling of private armies and the secret police, the releaseof political prisoners and the return of refugees.

Diplomats said the term "private armies" referred tosecurity forces maintained by several large companies to protecttheir interests in Mozambique.

The government side is led by Transport and CommunicationsMinister Armando Guebuza . The Renamo delegation is headed byRauld Domingos.

The mediators include an Italian diplomat and ArchbishopJaime Goncalvez of the northern Mozambican city of Beira.

The government abolished one-party rule earlier this yearand the first general elections are due to be held in 1992.

REUTER

Thousands of Mozambicans seek refuge in kaNgwane

rst44,71e)---,

NEw NATION April 26-May 2 Page 9

THOUSANDS of Mozambicans from thesouthern provinces of Gaza and Maputo,who have fled from atrocities of Renamobandits, have found a temporary refuge inthe kaNgwane homeland near the bordersof Swaziland and Mozambique.

But the recent resignation of the chief min-ister of kaNgwane, Enos Mabuza, and hisstatements that the homeland is preparing forfull reintegration into South Africa, could turnthe 20 000 Mozambican refugees here intoillegal immigrants, subject to immediate depor-tation by the South African police.

Many of these refugees can be found in theregions of Nkomazi, Mbuzini, Mangweni andTonga, about 500km east of Johannesburg,near the Mozambican border.

IntegratedThe Mozambican community appears well

integrated into kaNgwane, living in families inhouses built on small plots of land distributedby the homeland authorities.

Some women cultivate tiny gardens besidetheir huts to produce a little food to supple-ment what is distributed by humanitarianorganisations. But one cannot really speak ofsubsistence agriculture among the refugees.

Relief aid is distributed once a month, but

the food is only sufficient fora fortnight . Thisobliges the refugees to find ways of acquiringmoney to buy more food . Many of the wom-en therefore brew and sell traditional alcoholicdrinks.

Refugees say that it costs between 10 and 15rands per day to feed a family of six.

EvadeBut even those who manage to evade the

South African police and work clandestinelyon commercial farms do not earn more thanUrea to five rands a day. So many look foradditional odd jobs, as mechanics or carpen-ters, or helping build houses for kaNgwaneresidents — anything that might put a few morerands in their pockets. However, such employ-ment is always irregular, and has no guaran-tees.

Those Mozambicans who have been settledhere for a long time, and have established theirown businesses could, in theory, help theirless fortunate countrymen . But in practice,with rare exceptions, they are among the worstexploiters of refugee labour.

The men among the refugees, in general, donot consider returning to Mozambique: theirdream is usually to seek boner paid jobs insideSouth Africa . Many of the women, however,

say they would go back if they were guaran-teed security, a minimum of assistance to reset-tle, and schooling for their children.

Currently the Mozambican children studyalongside kaNgwane children in local schools- leading to overcrowding and an increasingpupil-teacher ratio.

The refugee bureau of the Roman CatholicChurch tries to provide some cultural input inPortuguese or Shangaan for the refugees, butmuch of this is purely of a religious nature.

A project for teaching refugee children in .Portuguese is now getting off the ground.Young adults are selected from among the bet-ter educated refugees, and are being trained, incollaboration with local teachers and schools,to teach Portuguese to the children.

Some of the adults, particularly those withan urban background, speak Portugueseamong themselves, and listen at night to RadioMozambique, thus maintaining a basic linkwith events in their home country.

TradeNot every Mozambican who crosses the

border is a refugee. Some come to trade, andan informal market has sprung up at one ofthe gates in the electrified fence along the bor-

der — a few hundred metres from the monu-ment at Mbuzini that recalls the tragic planecrash in which Mozambican president Samo-ra Machcl lost his life in 1986.

Every Friday, women from the Mozambicantown of Namaacha come here to sell — in fullview of the frontier guards — Mozambican tex-tiles, saucepans, cans of paints and other goodsto kaNgwane residents.

WelcomedThe kaNgwane authorities have, with their

limited resources, welcomed the Mozambicanrefugees, regardless of whether they arc flee-ing from Rcnamo, or whether their real goal isto seek employment in South Africa.

No such welcome can be expected from theSouth African police . Once outside the limitsof the homeland, refugees can expect speedydeportation if they were caught.

South African legislation regarding "illegalimmigrants" is among the most merciless inthe world. It allows any police or customs offi-cial to deport any person merely suspected ofbeing in the country illegally, and there is nopassibility of appeal to a court . Unless the vic-tim can prove to the police's satisfaction thathe is legally in South Africa, he is liable to besummarily dumped over the border .

/R'

NATIVE LIFE IN SOUTH AFRICA

by Sol T . PlaatjeOhio University Press, 1991

This excellent book, the first of its kind,first published in 1916, and then reprintedin South Africa in 1982, was mentioned inseveral contexts in the March number ofSouthern Africa . One might ask, with thedizzying pace of events in South Africa,why take time to encourage people to read abook published in 1916?

Quite simply, it provides an in-depthperspective on some of the very basicissues which comprise the current complexsituation in South Africa : voting rights,land, housing, protest and resistance,racism and prejudice . It also gives theearly history of the ANC.

The Land Act, passed in June, 1913, by theall white parliament of the newly formed(1910) Union of South Africa, forbad blacksto own or rent land in "white areas " . Thisact was an attempt to solve two problems,the perennial labor shortage on white ownedfarms and in the expanding mining industry,and the fear of whites that land " gained "by conquest should be " lost" through themarket . (Francis Wilson, The Oxford Historyof South Africa 1971)

As we know today, this act was to have far-reaching consequences since it was one ofthe chief factors in developments which ledto 13% of the people having 87% of theland . The immediate effect, in 1913, was touproot thousands of blacks and send themwandering over the countryside in the coldSouth African highveld winter.

Plaatje gives heart-rending accounts ofspending nights with some of these" fugitives " whose " skin is died with apigment that does not conform to theregulation hue . " Having lost homes, jobsand livestock, they suffered immensely fromshock, hunger and cold . Plaatje relateshow the Kgobadi family had tosurreptitiously bury their young child atnight---little children, whose only crimewas that God didn ' t make them white, weredenied even a burial place in the land oftheir birth.

There was some opposition to the act inparliament, and some churches and missionsprotested, but to no avail . The Act wasnot even translated into African languages,laments the author.

"LamQn f" Ay flzma he N

.i

k0e'604'ki,k

Plaatje, a writer and newspaper editor, wasthe first Secretary General of the SouthAfrican Native Congress, which later becamethe African National Congress . TheCongress, formed in Bloemfontein inJanuary, 1912, attempted to peacefullyprotest various aspects of the new SouthAfrican constitution which excluded blacksfrom political participation . Quickly theLand Act became one of the main targets ofthe Congress.

When polite but firm appeals to the SouthAfrican and British governments fell ondeaf ears, the Congress voted to send adelegation of five, including Plaatje, toLondon to make an appeal in person . Theauthor gives a fascinating account of thediscussion in parliament and of debates inEngland over the matter . In the end, theBritish government concluded that the landissue was an internal matter to be sortedout in South Africa, not withstanding thefact that the blacks had no politicalrights! In other words, " be patient andwork within the system . " This they largelydid until 1960 when the ANC and othergroups were outlawed.

Throughout this outstanding book, thewisdom, strength, courage, dignity,patience and fairness of these early blackleaders shine through . This is even moreironic when we realize that at this latedate, nearly 80 years after these events,white South Africans are seeking to redresssome of the wrongs and injustices whichhave their roots to a large part in theearly years of this century . It issignificant that a person like NelsonMandela, who inherited the mantle of thoseearly leaders, is still providingleadership at this critical juncture.

Reviewed .4y 7b7z Knutson

Supplement to THE WEEKLY MAIL, May 10 to May 16 1991

a1 '

GROUNDS FOR DISSENT:ANDREW MELDRUM reports on Zimbabwe's battle for land equality

The huge gulf whichMugabe has to bride

URVEYINO the wilted maize in hisdry, sandy field, Ephraim Nyakujara(76) recalled better days when his fami-ly farmed on rich land."We could grow everything there. ItS had good soil and it had good water,"

said Nyakujara.His hair and beard are flecked with grey and

his face is deeply lined, yet the spark in Nyaku-jara's eyes shows he is still sharp . Sometimesspeaking in English and sometimes in Shonathrough an interpreter, Nyakujara animatedlydescribed how Rhodesian authorities movedhis family off their land in 1946, so the landcould be taken over by whites.

"Transport was offered to move our things,but people were. resisting " said Nyakujara."Then police came and burned down people'shomes and harvests . Their property was de-stroyed Our people were dispersed all over thecountry ."

When asked if people were paid any compen-sation for their land, Nyakujara laughed bitter-ly.

"Not a shilling, not a penny," he said ruefully."We weren't paid a thing . And we weren't giv-en any help in settling these new lands . Wewere just dumped here and had to developeverything from scratch. Those were very hardyears . This forced our spirits to bring up theChimurenga (the war against Rhodesian rule).

"Even up to this day I still want that landback," he said emphatically, pointing in thesouthwest direction of his old land. "It be-longed to my ancestors and I should have it"

A rutted dirt road leads from Nyakujara's sub=sistence farm across the rocky hillside anddown towards the valley where 45 years agoNyakujara and others had lived. Once in thevalley, the thatched mud huts and scraggly plotsdramatically give way to the wide gran stretch-es of irrigated fields that denote the white-owned land."You went to the communal areas?" asked a

tobacco farmer incredulously of the visit toNyakujara's faun. "What on earth for?"

As he pours tea in his elegantly appointeddrawing room, the farmer gleefully de1cribesthe high prices his tobacco has fetched at theHarare auctions. He hopes to have sales well

over Z$600,000 (about the same in rands) thisseason . Overall tobacco exports should earnZimbabwe more than Z31-billion in chronicallyshort foreign currency."When we're earning so much foreign ex-

change, how can the government actually takeus off our land?" asked the tobacco farmer ofthe Mugabe government's plans to resettlepeasant farmers on half of the 12-million hec-tares owned by whites."Do you think the Africans will produce crops

that earn foreign exchange?" he asked. "Thegovernment can't go ahead with those plans.Practicality will win out in the end ."

It is mind-boggling to visit the peasant farmand then the nearby tobacco farm back-to-back.Yet the stark contrasts give an indication of thehuge gulf that the Mugabe government is tryingto bridge over the land issue. The war againstRhodesian rule was largely fought over landand now, 11 years after independence, landownership is once again a burning issue.

In the country's rural areas, home to 75 per-cent of the population, there is widespread feel-ing that the plan is necessary to redress a long-standing grievance . There are indications thatthe peasant resettlement may not bring the dis-astrous collapse of the country's agriculture_that doomsayers predict.But diplomats, businessmen and Zimbabwe's

white farmers criticise as unjust and uneconom-ic Mugabe's new plans. They argue that the 12-million hectares owned by white, large-scalefarmers is one-third of the country's arable landand to turn half of that over to subsistance farm-ers would threaten Zimbabwe's agriculturallybased economy.Zimbabwe's 4 000 large-scale farmers, all

but a handful of them white, object moststrongly to the constitutional amendment whichenables the government to purchase any land it

chooses and to set its own price."It is completely against the standards of inter-

national law," said a Western diplomat . "Anycompulsory purchase must at least have judicialarbitration of the price.""Where were the standards of international

law 40 years ago when the land was taken fromour people?" retorted a lawyer who is also amember of Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF. To mol-lify that criticism the government is consideringsome form of tribunal, separate from the judi-cial system, to arbitrate the prices to be paid towhite farmers.The Mugabe government is hoping to strike a

balance between the very different needs of thewhite and black farmers . By purchasing sixmillion hectares of the commercial farm land,the government will be leaving half of the whitefarmers on their land . The government intendsto select land most suitable for redistribution topeasants and, at the same time, retain whitecommercial farms which produce strategic ex-port crops like tobacco and horticultural pro-duce. Most white farmers are now hopingagainst hope that they will be in the lucky halfthat can keep their farms.The Mugabe government is also hoping to sat-

isfy the intense desire for more and better landamong the black peasants, who are its main po-litical constituency . The communal areas,where the blacks were restricted in Rhodesiantimes and where most remain today, have thepoorest soil and the least rainfall . These margi-nal farming areas are overcrowded and over-farmed . A significant amount of peasants needto be moved off the communal areas to relievepressure on the land.

The new plan calls for 110 000 peasant fami-lies to be resettled, more than double the52 000 families that the government has man-

aged to resettle since 1980 . In addition to thedifficulties in redeveloping the commercialfarms for peasant use, the government mustalso carry out a thorough redevelopment of theexisting communal lands to prevent further landdegradation there. All in all it is a very dauntingtask.

Such large scale land redistribution has oftenbeen attempted in other African countries andthroughout the Third World, and has seldomsucceeded. Zimbabwe's limited land re-settlement since independence has resulted inmany thriving peasant communities with somenow reaping harvests that approach the produc-tivity of the white-owned commercial farms.But the programme has been time-consumingand expensive, with resettlement costs averag-ing three to four times the purchase price of theland.The government is now keenly studying the

Malaysian model which maintains land produc-tivity and is carried out on a commercial basis.The Malaysian peasants have been resettled onportions of large-wale plantations and then pur-chase the land over a 20 to 40 year period. Theindividual ownership stressed in Malaysiawould fit in well with Zimbabwe's economicstructural adjustment.The government planners hope that with time

and careful planning Zimbabwe ,will be able tosucceed in carrying out far-reaching land re-form and become a model for other Africancountries, most importantly South Africa.Ephraim Nyakujara approves of the govern-

ment's resettlement efforts."Some of the resettled people are getting good

harvests," he said of those in the resettlementscheme. "Many had lost hope that the govern-ment would get good land for the people."

But the resettlement is coming too late forNyakujara himself. He shrugged his shouldersat the suggestion that he could be moved ontorich soil.

"How can I move now?" he asked . "I am oldand I don't have the strength to farm newfields. The younger people should go to the re-settlement areas . I may never get my family'sland back, but it would be good to see theyoung people farming that good land and get-ting good harvests."

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