Word: botha
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...Over the past five weeks, 13 whites have died in explosions that are believed to have been the work of the A.N.C. Accusing Lesotho of allowing the outlawed organization to give "crash courses in the use of explosives" to militants who flee into the country, Foreign Minister Roelof ("Pik") Botha initiated the slowdown at the border. Lesotho has long angered its neighbor by its open expressions of solidarity with the A.N.C. and its willingness to accept South African refugees...
...proclamations that have severely restricted the ability of blacks to move freely within the country. The laws, said an official white paper announcing the reform, are a "relic of the past" and will be replaced by a non-discriminatory program of "planned, positive urbanization." Declared State President P.W. Botha: "Today we have arrived at the emancipation from guardianship of the black and the brown and the rejection of the colonial domination of the past...
Under the new policy, blacks will no longer be required to carry passbooks that stipulate where they can live, work and travel. Parliament, which is dominated by Botha's National Party, still must approve the new proposals. But in a gesture of goodwill, Pretoria released 245 blacks who had been imprisoned for pass-law offenses. The hated passbooks will be replaced with identification cards issued to all South Africans over 16 years of age. Although the new documents will indicate the bearer's race, no one will be penalized for failure to carry them...
...seems unlikely, however, that the proposed reforms will do much to quell the seething discontent in the country's black townships. Indeed, even as Botha delivered his brotherhood message last week, there were yet more tragic indications that the wounds inflicted by apartheid will be difficult to heal. During one 24-hour period, 60 homes were fire-bombed and 30 private cars and police vehicles were damaged as police tried to control a clash between militant youths and vigilante squads in the township of Alexandra, near Johannesburg. --By Janice C. Simpson. Reported by Bruce W. Nelan/Johannesburg
Scarcely a week after Congress overrode President Reagan's veto and imposed a new set of economic sanctions against South Africa, the government of State President P.W. Botha retaliated. It had always warned that the first people to suffer from stronger sanctions would be the blacks of South Africa and neighboring countries, and last week it took steps to fulfill that prediction...