6 July 19891
(Summary from the official record of the meeting)2
Mrs. Sisulu said that UDF was honoured to address the Special Committee, which had worked hard to support the South African people in their struggle against apartheid. In South Africa, the situation had grown worse. People were being restricted, detained without trial and assassinated. They were also disappearing. Under the state of emergency, they were forced to remain in their homes from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., could not address gatherings and could not meet in groups of more than 10 people.
Worse still, the repressive measures had been extended to children. Nine-year-old children were being detained and tortured or placed under house arrest, which meant that they had to remain indoors from 2 p.m. to 6 a.m. They were required to report to the police station twice daily, which left them no time to attend school. If they went out to play and forgot to return home on time, they would have no choice but to run away, knowing that if they remained, they would be arrested, jailed and tortured. As a consequence, South Africa had many displaced children and they were going hungry. People were being uprooted from their homes and forced to live in the open. In the process, children were dying.
The people of South Africa had presented a number of demands to the South African Government, including the elimination of apartheid; the removal of bans on their organizations and on the African National Congress of South Africa, which spoke for the majority of the South African people; and the release of Nelson Mandela and other imprisoned leaders and the return of those who were in exile. The people of South Africa longed for peace, not war, and did not wish to see a division between the Government and the nation itself. In that regard, if children could not attend school and were deprived of their education, South Africa would have no future as a country.
UDF had urged the President of the United States of America to impose comprehensive mandatory sanctions on South Africa, for that was the only means of inducing the South African Government to initiate change peacefully. The United States President should also call on the South African Government to cease the hangings of political prisoners, especially young people. Many of those young persons had been displaced, or exiled from the country. If, on their return, they committed crimes, those crimes were not their doing, but rather the product. of apartheid itself. The international community's support had given the South African people the strength to carryon their struggle in the face of repression and that support was needed more than ever.
The Government was responsible for the current situation in South Africa. The Government was responsible for the many deaths in Natal. Mr. de Klerk, who, by all indications, would become the country's next leader, was no better than his predecessors. His policy of separate development was unacceptable to the South African people and could only lead to revolt and violence. If he had truly been a man of the people, he would have listened to them and considered how their demands could be met.
Footnote
1. Mrs. Sisulu led a delegation of the United Democratic Front to the United States, composed of:: Titus Mafolo, national organizer; Sister Bernard Ncube, a Roman Catholic nun who was first President of the Federation of Transvaal Women; Azhar Cachalia, UDF Treasurer; Curnick Ndlovu, UDF National Chairman; and Ms. Jessie Duarte, member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Transvaal Women. The delegation was received by the President of the United States, George H. W. Bush.