Word: durban
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South African politicians may still be unschooled in diplomacy, but they have made great strides on the public relations front. A year ago, government leaders advertised that State President P.W. Botha would unveil a package of far-reaching reforms at a provincial National Party congress in Durban. When Botha's "manifesto for the future" proved to be largely a manifesto for more of the same, an international outcry ensued. Last week, as Botha returned to Durban to address a full party congress, officials tried a different tack, this one designed to thwart untoward expectations. One administrator warned foreign correspondents, "This...
Last week, however, the White House had to confront another sticky matter. At a press conference a few hours after the Durban speech, Reagan embraced what he termed Botha's call for a meeting between South African and Western leaders to help end apartheid. Reagan spoke in Chicago, where he was campaigning for Republican candidates, and he had not yet reviewed Botha's speech. When it became plain that Botha had merely offered to meet with Western leaders to discuss regional issues, the Administration admitted that "there has been no such proposal" to dismantle apartheid...
...Durban, meanwhile, a three-judge Supreme Court panel struck a body blow at the country's ten-week-old state of emergency. On Monday it ruled that two key provisions of the emergency regulations concerning arrests and detentions were invalid. The court held that Botha had overstepped his bounds by empowering security forces to detain without charge anyone considered to be a threat to public order. The suit had been brought on behalf of Solomon Tsenoli, a black detainee who was arrested June 12. After Tsenoli was released, there was a rush of activity in all four provinces as lawyers...
...aggression to South Africa. "We do not condone any South African raid into Angola," said a State Department spokesman. In Pretoria, South African officials denied that any of their troops were involved but did not respond to the U.S. scolding. They preferred to let the spotlight remain on Durban, where Botha's performance, after all, was just what many white South Africans had wanted to hear...
...finding their position increasingly difficult. Last week he denounced President Botha's confrontational "Boer War diplomacy" and warned of a "time when the government's actions (will) demand that I revise my & position." This week Botha will address an important federal congress of his ruling National Party in Durban. Speaking in the same city last year, Botha gravely disappointed Western governments by failing to include in his address a list of widely anticipated racial reforms. This year Botha was simply expected to hang tough, and so there was little hope that he would say anything encouraging about releasing Nelson Mandela...