‘Looking inside SOUTH AFRICA Editor's note: Behind the headlines of violence, what is it really like in South Africa today? Peter Buckley recently returned from a special assignment in that country of contrasts. This is the first of his wide-ranging series of reports that go beyond daily events to explore the social, political and economic aspects of life Inside South Africa. Buckley ‘filed his reports in Canada. By PETER BUCKLEY Canadian Press JOHANNESBURG — “Our society is not normal,” says Johan Heyns, new moderate leader of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. “It is drenched with blood and tears.” The doleful criticism from the moderator of a church that had previously blessed the country’s oppressive race laws is a small measure of the changes that are overtaking this land — this rich-poor, beautiful-ugly, sophisticated- primitive land. Change has come slowly, in fits and starts, with or without the say-so of government. “Too little, too late,” say the leaders of a black community in sullen ferment. “Too much, too soon,” say white conservatives fearful of losing privilege and security. ‘Many whites appear to have only the vaguest idea of what their society is like’ The government has abolished or modified some race laws, ‘the so-called “petty apartheid,” while clinging to segregation in homes and schools. But blacks have begun infiltrating some white neighborhoods with the complicity of landlords and neighbors, and multiracial private schools are expanding. SHOWS PARADOX For a visitor coming back for the first time in 15 years to South Africa — or “Seth Africa,” as they call it here, with their curiously pinched vowels — the country remains a discouraging paradox: s0 much potential, so little hope. The glossy cities have become more ostentatiously powerful, the swimming pools in the white suburbs more numerous, the industrial parks more sleek, the whole infrastructure of highways, ports, hospital: and universities more modern and impressive. If life for a -white South ‘African is-“a-daily exercise of moral indifference,” in the pungent phrase of Canadian professor Heribert Adam, all too often it is also a pampered existence of servants, high-powered cars and imported clothes — perhaps the richest standard of living in the world. Tarnished in recent years by recession and internation- al boycotts, perhaps, but still rich. Even the blacks strike a returning visitor as walking taller than in the past. In the big cities, they dress better and laugh more freely and may work at jobs their fathers hadn't dreamed of. Relatively few seem to visit a black township or have « serious talk with a black. b Instead, their reports on black life are introduced with phrases like: “Well, my maid says... " Even driving on a highway near townships housing thousands of blacks doesn't offer so much as a glimpse of their life, since the landscape is deliberately shaped to conceal the reality. All too many blacks, on the other hand, are aware from first-hand experience as domestics, truck drivers, construc- tion workers, deliverymen and job-seekers that white life is more richly rewarded, more spacious and more secure than their own. In the past, the blacks merely argued and grumbled about their inferior status. No more. USE BOYCOTTS They've turned to boycotts and the burning tire “necklaces,” street committee and guerrilla cells, strikes and limpet mines —'and, in the process, they've changed the whole equation in South Africa. More than 2,000 blacks have died in the last turbulent 2% years and thousands have been jailed under emergency laws that have also muzzled the media. Black leaders still make the same demands for political equality that they have for years, and public opinion polls suggest that most ordinary blacks, while rejecting violence and armed revolution, have lost patience with the whites’ leisurely timetable for change. . ‘ In fact, the change that whites and blacks seem to be working on is different. One seeks alteration of the veneer, the other replacement of the basic structure. Picture Trouble Is Don’ have done fairly well,” a senior bureaucrat in Pretoria said recently. John Kane-Berman, a high-profile liberal, has said bleakly that a whit i regime is “ hed well into the next century.” For the blacks, an end to discrimination in everyday life is fine, but political control is the key issue. Without the same ability as whites to direct the levers of political and economic power, blacks fear they're condemned to commute ‘If the whites are hard-hit, the black communities must be surpassingly bad’ For the majority of whites, change would apparently come through gradual dropping of race discrimination in daily life. Some favor desegrating residential areas and schools; many don’t — including 71-year-old President P.W. (Pieter Willem) Botha and his long-governing National party. RETAIN POWER Few whites talk about giving up political control over their own lives to the black majority in the foreseeable future. That's not surpringly, since historians here cannot cite an instance in mankind's history where those in control of power have simply handed it over to the less powerful. “The issues are so convoluted that, if by the turn of the century we have an entirely equitable society, I'l think we perpetually between monstrous ghettos like Soweto and jobs sweeping floors. SUPPORT BLACKS. By and large, the world community is on the blacks’ side. Outside nations of all political stripes have impésed economic sanctions to help drive the whites toward majority rule. While most black political leaders inside South Africa have renounced the use of violence to force political change = the alternative is a charge of-high treason — the exiled African National Congress believes bloodshed is needed to force the white government to negotiate its own demise. intentional ... "t bother Contemplating the last two years of internal turmoil and economic punishment from abroad, Denys Schreiner, head of the University of Natal at Pietermaritzburg, said wearily: “People settle issues in a political sense only when the costs are too high not to settle.” The costs in lives and personal liberty have been brat Economically, despite the aura of imperturbable wealth, South Africa has been wounded. Some of the wounds came during the worldwide recession earlier in this decade, but others are being inflicted by spreading world sanctions and a headk logs of fi in the busi ity. HURTS RAND Inflation has been close to 20 per cent for several years. The once-haughty rand has fallen two-thirds in value since 1980. The building industry is seeing its worst days since the Second World War. Unemployment, already rampant in the black commun- ity, has hit nearly 80,000 whites and, for the first time in memory, whites are working in car washes or lining up for municipal labor gangs. Skilled pi i are it in dred: International tourists have begun bypassing the wild game parks, beaches and natural beauty of the land. All of this hits white South Africans close to home. A recent public opinion poll found more than half were cutting vacations, restaurant meals and clothing purchases to match declining real incomes. Pees Notable dates in history By The Canadian Press Some notable dates in South African history: 1961 — South Africa be- comes a republic, is ex pelled from Common- wealth. 1964 — ANC leader Nel- son Mandela jailed for life. 1976 — Start of Soweto student riots that leave 575 dead in next year. 1977 — Black-conscious- ness leader Steve Biko dies in police custody. 1980 — Black, Indian and colored students start nine-month school boycott. 1981 — In last election for white parliament, Na- tional party wins 131 of 165 seats. 1983 — White voters approve new constitution giving limited voting rights to Indians and’ col. oreds; United Democratic Front formed to oppose ite LITRE BON AW ABLE Taonnore ip put Val) ‘ VCR's of BOXES re nvntan® oo STORES op CRMADA Ly 5 OF pers! APS 00 ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO WIN IS RENTAT | RIVERSIDE Just Open The Box And The Coupon May Be Inside new three-chamber parlia- NOW Telephone Extension ‘15 Miles ‘Chicago Tribune Map In the hard-scrabble countryside and the overcrowded townships, even the poorest may protest their fate with damn-the-consequenees pride. The passing years have also made blacks more segegated than before, more subject to police oppression, more often the victims of crime and intimidation — to the point where the dimly seen voyage to democracy and equality must become longer because it has so much old ground to cover again. “In my heart of hearts, I believe we are worse off politically than we were 38 years ago when the Nationalists came to power,” one longtime black activist said, sitting at home a few weeks after his fourth period of detention. “Then we could protest a thousand times more than now... . We have two generations of lost time to make up.” Apartheid has been officially declared an “outdated concept” but it’s likely to be decades before the effects of 40 years of racial segregation are reversed. The infamous Net Blankes (whjtes only) signs are disappearing from trains and buses, hotels and theatres, beaches and parks, but the physical separation of black from white in housing has been pursued so relentlessly that it will take ages to soften. Many whites appear to have only the vaguest idea of what their society is like They won't find out, of course, from government-con trolled TV. ment; car bomb outside air force headquarters in Pre- toria kills 18. 1984 — Rioting and strikes increase; colored and Indian voters largely boycott election for new chambers; Bishop Desmond Tutu wins Nobel Peace Prize. 1985 — First widespread state of emergency de- clared since 1960; thous. ands detained without Our Promise to You! At Riverside Video we have over 20,000 movies available for rotation to your store. You are en- couraged to leave the name of any movie you would like to see if the movie has been released on video we will make every effort to bring it in for you. OUR COMPANY POLICY is to provide home enter- tainment at an affordable price served in a clean pleseart environment by friendly, helpful staff. If you j|appen to have any complaints or suggestions please let us know by telling the staff or using the available self-addressed envelopes at the counter. charge; violence : 1986 — State of emer. gency lifted for three months, then reimposed; opposition groups estimate more than 2,300 dead since 1984 and more than 20,000 detained; pass laws abol- ished along with much of “petty” apartheid but seg: regation continues in resi- dential areas, schools; President Botha promises power-sharing but no cred- ible black leaders will negotiate. 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