23 March 19812
Your Excellency,3
I come from the country that you have described so well where one can speak of the claustrophobia of oppression. I come as one who can rightly say at this point, for this one purpose that I speak on behalf of millions in expressing on behalf of those many, a deep and very warm word of appreciation for all that you, your Excellency, and the Special Committee that you lead, stand for and have done and continue to do in striving to eradicate what I believe to be one of the most vicious systems since Nazism. Those who are voiceless, those who are without a vote, those who are without power in my country are deeply appreciative of the solidarity that your Committee and those who sit on it have demonstrated down the years. And, therefore, please accept from me, on behalf of those many victims of this pernicious evil in the world, the expression of thanks and please, on their behalf, convey it to your several Governments who have indicated that they regard apartheid as a system that should be eradicated. I believe, Sir, that at the present time we see a Government who are determined as never before to retain power in the hands of a white oligarchy, and who are determined as never before not to do anything that will undermine the hold that the white minority has on political power which is the key to all kinds of other power - to economic power, to social power, to education, and so forth and so on.
And the purpose of my own trip at this present time has been to see church leaders, government leaders and others who have influence in the international community to urge them to recognize that we are approaching a very serious crisis in our country, to urge them, therefore, please for the sake of our children, forthe sake of the children of all South Africans, black and white, for God's sake, for the sake of world peace, that they take action, that they exert pressure on South Africa - political pressure, diplomatic pressure, and above all, economic pressure - but really take action that will persuade the South African authorities to come to the conference table before it is too late.
I have said before, as many others of my fellow countrymen have said, there is no doubt in our own minds that we are going to be free. There is no question about this at all. I have even given a timetable and said that within five to ten years we are going to have our first black Prime Minister. So there is no question in our mind about the certainty of our freedom. I have said that the only questions that are still open are how and when we are going to be free. And we would like to see that freedom come reasonably peacefully - for it can no longer be said to be peaceful, to be without bloodshed when so many of our people have died and continue to die even since 1976 - but that we would wish to see this freedom come by reasonably peaceful means and we would like it to come soon.
And therefore it is in the interest of the international community to participate with us in our struggle to see that bloodshed is avoided or minimized. And to say that when we become free, not if we become free, when we become free, we will know who were our friends, we will know who participated with us in helping us to attain our goal of freedom and in the post-liberation period, this will have an enormous influence on whom we do business with. We say we are not threatening anybody, we are merely making a statement of fact. The natural resources of our country, which have been described by so many as being of strategic importance, belong to all of us - even we who are the voteless ones today - and we will have an important role in the determination of how those resources are going to be used. And therefore we believe it is very much in the interest of the world that they help to resolve that situation and help to resolve that situation quickly.
We do not want violence. Our people are peace-loving even to a fault. I wish again to say that if that situation is not resolved reasonably quickly, it could very well be something that triggers off World War III. Now for some people that sounds melodramatic but when you have been aware of what nearly happened between the United States and the Soviet Union over Angola then you can realize that what I am saying is not a hyperbole.
May I conclude then by saying, thank you again for the tremendous solidarity that you have shown with those of us who are involved in the liberation struggle and to say that all power to you as to us, as we strive to build a new kind of South Africa - a South Africa that bases worth on the fact that people are human beings and not on colour, that they are human beings created in the image of God. And to say that we are working for the building up of a more caring, a more compassionate, a more sharing society.
Thank you, your Excellency.
1. Then General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches
2. Source: Pamphlet published by the United Nations Centre against Apartheid.
3. B. Akporode Clark, ambassador of Nigeria, was the chairman of the Special Committee.