STATEMENT OF MR. ALFRED NZO (A.N.C.) BEFORE THE SECURITY COUNCIL AT ITS 1633^RD MEETING

1 February 1972, Addis Ababa

On behalf of the President of our organiza­tion, the African National Congress, its entire membership and all the oppressed people of South Africa, permit me to place on record our sincere thanks for the opportunity to appear before this all-important and leading organ of the United Nations, the Security Council, whose very name is a symbol of hope for the defence of the security of the peoples.

How has it been possible for this meeting to take place on the sacred soil of Africa? The defeat of German and Italian fascism and Japanese militarism and the subsequent emergence of the world socialist system created favourable conditions for the resolute advance of national liberation movements. The peoples of our continent, and also those in Asia, rose up in revolt against their colonial masters, who were forced to retreat in the face of the ever-mounting onslaught. The year 1960 is written down in the annals of history as the year of African independence. The immediate result of this revolutionary change was the ever-mounting strength of the progressive voice of the peoples in organs such as the United Nations and its agencies and in many other international bodies. Gone for ever are the days when the hegemony of the imperialist countries in the United Nations gave them the right to dictate their will to other countries. This historic meeting of the Security Council is the direct result of the irrevocable change in the balance of forces in favour of progress. The venue itself, Addis Ababa, which has become known to the people of Africa as the cradle of their revolution, reflects this situation.

We of the African National Congress have followed with great attention the uncompromising stand at the United Nations of the independent African countries and their closest colleagues and comrades in arms in Asia, and especially the Republic of India, and in Latin America and the socialist countries, against the racist tormentor of our people, the fascist Republic of South Africa.

It is to the great credit of the Afro-Asian bloc that the fundamental right to a free life of all the colonially and racially oppressed people has been zealously defended in the United Nations. South Africa and Portugal have become the perpetual outcasts, despite the all-round support they receive from the imperialist countries, especially the United States, Britain and France.

At the same time we cannot fail to register our deep  appreciation of the assistance rendered to the just cause of our people by the socialist countries. It was at the initiative of the delegation of the Soviet Union that the historic 1960 Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was adopted by the United Nations. There can be no doubt that this Declaration has had a great impact on the liberation struggles of the oppressed peoples. As is known, it came at a time when the anti-colonial struggle of the African people had reached a high peak, and the support of progressive mankind was most timely.

Today the unity of the socialist countries and the Afro-Asian bloc in the United Nations represents an impregnable bulwark against the strategic designs and machinations of the dark forces of imperialism and war. We highly appreciate the reassurances made to this present session by representatives of the Soviet Union, China and Yugoslavia of the continued support by their Governments and peoples for the just struggle of our people.
We have often wondered why countries such as the German Democratic Republic, the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have not yet been admitted as States Members of the United Nations. Yet their admission would be in the interests of progress in that Organization. We urge that that situation should be put right, for the further enhancement of the prestige of the United Nations.

We have listened very carefully to the statements so far delivered during this session of the Security Council, and especially to the statements of representatives of African countries. Nobody can escape the conclusion that the solution of the problem of decolonization on our continent has become very urgent indeed. The problem facing the racially oppressed people of South Africa is very well known to the members of the Council. Thanks to the activities of the United Nations agencies, such as the Special Committee on Apartheid, the Committee of Twenty-Four, and so forth, a lot of documentation has been done, and is being done, on this question. The General Assembly has adopted numerous resolutions on these problems. However, the racist regime of South Africa has not only maintained its obstinate posture of rejection of these resolutions but is escalating its reactionary violence on our people. Briefly summarized, the situation in our country at the moment is as follows: First, the intensification of the oppressive apartheidsystem; secondly, the intensification of the repression of all anti-apartheid and revolutionary forces; thirdly, the aggravation of the political and economic crisis of the apartheidsystem of white domination and super­-exploitation; and, fourthly, the further refinement and continuation of the enemy's counter-revolutionary offen­sive, as seen through the dialogue manoeuvre.

For the past decade the South African racist regime has, with the conspiracy of international imperialism, dangled a poisonous carrot in front of our people through the Bantustan programme. At the time they first put this scheme across, it is known that the onslaught of the ANC-led liberation movement and the international pres­sure against the criminal policies of the racist regime were so great that they were forced to put forward an alternative of separate development for all races in their so-called homelands, with a promise of eventual independence for the Africans in these areas. What are these Bantustan areas?
They are the same arid areas which occupy 13 per cent of the land area of our country, as decreed by the Land Act of 1913. Then they were referred to as native reserves; now they are known as Bantustan areas. To these areas the racist regime is driving thousands of our people who had long settled in the urban areas.

It will be of interest to this Council to know that a specialist in apartheidhas estimated that the Bantustans must have 181,000 job opportunities annually if the Africans are to be resettled from the white areas, but only 945 vacancies were created during the six years ending in 1969.

We view the Bantustans as nothing but an intensifica­tion of what we refer to as colonialism of a special type - a system which seeks to perpetuate the colonial-type oppres­sion of our people in the Bantustans for the interests of imperialist white South Africa and those of international monopoly circles which reap super-profits from the intense economic exploitation of our people.
One of the aims of this political counter-revolutionary offensive is to destroy the influence of the ANC-led national liberation movement over the masses of our people and thus weaken their onslaught on the apartheidcitadel.

The external policies of the South African apartheidregime are geared to serve the imperialist interests of the capitalist monopoly groups in our country whilst at the same time they spearhead the aggressive neo-colonialist penetration of the independent African continent by international imperialism. During the middle 1960s it had dawned on the South African white minority ruling circles that the aggressive designs of this policy could not be realized whilst South Africa remained isolated, especially by the independent African countries which had been singled out as the main targets of this counter-revolutionary onslaught. The so-called outward-looking policy of the middle 1960s, which later developed into a policy of dialogue, is designed to extricate South Africa from the dilemma of isolation so that it can put its schemes into operation.

It is quite gratifying to note that the African countries were quick to see that the dialogue policy had been especially designed, on one hand, to divide and weaken the Organization of African Unity and expose the independent African countries to neo-colonialist penetration and, on the other, to isolate the revolutionary forces of change and render them ineffective.

The dialogue policy has been massively rejected by the African countries, although it is still necessary to remain vigilant. The South African fascist regime continues to press more and more for the success of this policy.

The collaboration between the terrorist regime of South Africa and international imperialism is too well known. It is this collaboration which made the fascist regime forcibly annex Namibia in violation of international law, and also makes it violate all United Nations decisions with impunity.
It is this collaboration which has made South Africa the centre of the aggressive unholy alliance in southern Africa, the other members of which are the colonial regime in Rhodesia and the fascist regime of Portugal. This collaboration has made South Africa strong enough to issue time and again bellicose threats against African countries, such as Tanzania and Zambia, for their so-called crime of resolutely supporting the national liberation movements.

As a member and leader of the unholy alliance, South Africa has also participated in Portuguese aggression against the Republic of Guinea, Senegal and the People's Republic of the Congo. South Africa has been drawn into the aggressive NATO bloc and this no doubt militates against the security of the African continent.

It is therefore with full justification that we un­equivocally condemn the imperialist circles in Britain, the United States, West Germany, Japan and France for their continued military and economic backing of the fascist regime of terror in South Africa.

Regarding our proposals, the African National Con­gress takes this opportunity to re-emphasize the urgent need for the implementation of all United Nations decisions adopted so far on the question of the violation of fundamental human rights by the South African regime of terror. Steps ought to be taken to ensure the adherence to these decisions by the imperialist countries. They must be

stopped from continuing to behave like international gangsters. In particular, we should like to urge the Security Council to adopt mandatory sanctions against South Africa which would be enforceable under the strict supervision of the Security Council.
We fully agree with the suggestions already made for the immediate expulsion of South Africa from the United Nations. It is anomalous that a regime which represents only 15 per cent of the population in South Africa and which has amply demonstrated its contempt for the United Nations should continue to be a Member of that body.

We urge all progressive, peace-loving States of the United Nations to assist in all possible ways the revolutionary struggle of the people of South Africa.

Our strategic objective remains that of seizure of power from the white minority regime, using all revolutionary methods, including armed struggle. The victory of our struggle which has been long awaited not only by our people in South Africa but also by mankind in general, will ensure the destruction once and for all of the hotbed of imperialism and aggression on the continent of Africa. Our courageous people are fully conscious of this great internationalist task and they will certainly carry it out.

We reiterate our full support for the just struggles of our comrades-in-arms in beleaguered Viet-Nam and in the rest of Indo-China against the brutal American aggression; of our Arab and Palestinian brothers struggling against the imperialist-backed Israeli aggressors; of our brothers in Guinea (Bissau), Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the Comoro Islands. We also support the struggles of the Latin American peoples against American imperialism, and also the struggle of the black people in the United States itself for their national dignity.

In conclusion, we should like to express our appreciation to the United Nations and to the OAU Administrative Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Diallo Telli, for placing his high office at the service of liberation movements at all times.