Word: botha
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...have a vote in favor of evolutionary reform." So proclaimed a buoyant South African Prime Minister Pieter W. Botha last week, and for once he was not merely wishing aloud. By a two-to-one majority, some 2.1 million voters - a fraction of the white-dominated country's 30 million inhabitants - had endorsed a proposal sponsored by Botha's ruling National Party to rewrite the South African constitution and soften its policy of whites-only rule. Botha also hailed the outcome of the referendum as "overwhelming." There Prime Minister was stretching matters a bit. Nonetheless, a milestone...
...Botha's new system divides nonwhites to insure white dominance--the strategic base of apartheid. The "yes" vote has also insured Botha a ticket to a future Presidency. Even more moderate South Africans joined supporters of the referendum, hoping that a large majority consensus would force Botha actually to step on the road to reform he has promised potential sympathizers in the West...
...more likely that Botha, who has dedicated his life to preserving apartheid, is not lying when he says that "there is no hidden agenda" for the later inclusion of Blacks in the political process. Botha will put up a colorful camouflage by incorporating those of brown colored skin, but he has already said that Blacks will not be given full political rights in his childrens' lifetimes (parroting a statement made by former Rhodesian leader Ian Smith shortly before Blacks took control). Instead Blacks, who from a majority of the population, will continue to be consigned to non-citizenship status through...
Some suggest that Botha must now answer with reforms to satisfy the constituents who voted "yes," while still trying to satisfy the substantial minority of Afrikaners who voted against "reform." But Botha has already hinted that his main concern has been to please the West, especially President Reagan...
...nothing else, Botha and his lot were reaffirmed by the "yes" vote last week. It's too much to hope that the U.S. will get out of South Africa, and its willingness to take some credit for Botha's so called softening of apartheid indicates that the U.S. is as entrenched as ever...