Word: botha
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...been 35 years since apartheid became law for South Africans, and during that time, maintenance of the status quo--and even out-right regression--has often been masked by a show of reform. The latest such charade is a new constitution. Proposed by Prime Minister P.W. Botha, the plan calls for the creation of a three-chamber legislature, with separate representative houses for the country's five million whites, two and a half million coloreds and nearly one million Indians. But it excludes representation for the nation's 23 million Blacks...
...Botha constitution--adopted by the white parliament and awaiting approval of the electorate by referendum on November 2--is ingenious because it not only serves to keep Blacks "in their place" but effectively pushes them back a step as well by injecting more antagonism into their relationship with the Indians and coloreds. The major parties of the latter two groups have accepted the plan because it makes them feel a legitimate part of the system: Their espousal of the constitution is, they claim, based on the belief that it will allow them to push for change from the inside--change...
...Indians and coloreds are being given absolutely no real power. And Blacks perceive their willingness to go along with Botha as a poorly disguised sell-out, a "take-whatever-we-can-get-forget-the-other-fellow" attitude. Botha has been quite open in declaring that Blacks will not have representation during his lifetime, nor for that matter during his children's lifetime. So it's easy to empathize with the Black view that they have been the victims of the ultimate divide-and-conquer strategy...
Paradoxically, Botha's plan may not win white approval in the referendum. The small group of progressive whites that continues to fight for a semblance of equality sees through the initiative and wants to nix it. More important, the ultra-conservative whites--Botha, believe it or not, has somehow become a "moderate"--are afraid the constitution will give too much power to the Indians and coloreds and will pave the way for eventual Black representation...
South Africa had already approved much of a 1978 U.N. plan calling for a phased withdrawal of its 20,000 troops in Namibia, followed by U.N.-supervised elections leading to independence. But the negotiations became bogged down in arguments over details. Last week Prime Minister Botha broke the impasse by pledging to choose between two voting methods for Namibia's preindependence elections. He also dropped South African demands about the composition of the 7,000-man U.N. force that is to supervise the elections and the ceasefire. U.S. officials regarded the results as "much better than expected...