12 October 19872
I shall not present my situation as if I were the only person who had been detained in South Africa but create the context in which I was detained and in which many others were detained. I am the Dean and Deputy Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in southern Africa.
The question we face today is: Why do five million racists continue to defy five billion people of the world? Unity is strength. Among his own the white Afrikaner preaches daily: eendrag maak mag - unity is power. From the same lips in the same breath, he preaches separation and division among the so-called non-white groups. He consciously and deliberately sows seeds of mistrust and incompatibility among the ruled oppressed. He tells us: you are different; you do not belong together; you cannot live and rule together; you are as different as cheese is from chalk. The white Afrikaner has perfected the strategy of divide and rule to its logical conclusion. He now uses blacks against blacks in Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Zimbabwe and, of course, South Africa. This he calls black-on-black violence, and much of the Western press rides comfortably on this white horse of apartheid distortion and racial perversion.
Listen to P. W. Botha as he whispers loudly to South African Germans, Italians, Poles, the English, Greeks, the Dutch, the French, Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Hungarians, Portuguese, Israelis, Americans, Australians, New Zealanders. He says: "We may have different origins; we may speak different languages; we may have different cultures; and we may be Christian, Muslim or Jewish - but we are one. Our skin, our race, our whiteness makes us one." He goes to the Japanese and the Chinese and announces to them what he regards as the good news: "You are no longer non-whites; from now on you are elevated - you are honorary whites." In biblical language, we can only laugh and wonder whether God created Adam and honorary Adam; Eve and honorary Eve. But we know that the Japanese and the Taiwanese - trade being what it is with South Africa - could not but earn themselves such well-meant insults.
We are faced with a great nightmare. When Hitler's herrenvolk mentality and actions threatened world peace and human existence, we all - with but a few exceptions, among them South Africa's white Afrikaners, some of whom occupy positions of honour today - stood together shoulder to shoulder, black with white, communist with capitalist, humanist with socialist, short and tall, male and female, to bring down Hitler's racial madness. You visit graves in the depth of the ocean, in the belly of the snow; you meet souls of those who died in the air and on land; occasionally today you come across the crippled and mentally deranged as a result of the two world wars, and what do you see? Black South African heroes standing tall among the tallest of this world. They stand unrecognized, unappreciated, undecorated, unrewarded - used in the worst sense of the word and dumped in the garbage bin of history.
Today those that supported Hitler, those that hated and still hate the Jews, get overt and covert moral, financial, technological, material and military support from those we helped to defeat Hitler, from those we helped save from Hitler.
If it were not for the support of some white freedom fighters in South Africa, like Neil Aggett and Beyers Naude; if it were not for the support of many white democrats in Asia, Europe and the Americas, we would long have concluded that blood is truly thicker than water; that if a black elephant found two white elephants fighting and knew which of the two was wrong, it would be unwise for the black elephant to assist the one that was wronged. At this moment, we have not concluded anything, but that does not mean we have not learned our lesson.
What is happening in South Africa today? All the social, political and economic smiles extended to Botha in the form of constructive engagement, cautious persuasion and prayerful intercessions have only made the racist regime more stubborn and intransigent. Helmut Kohl, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan and the Reverend Falwell will probably not agree with me, but that does not surprise me, as I do not believe that they agree with me that black people in South Africa should be free.
Today in South Africa there is increased repression. State terrorism is the order of the day; children and adults are detained by the thousands; barbaric hangings of democrats and freedom fighters continue at an increased pace; 30 are now on death row, of whom two were hanged recently; and Government-sponsored free-lance terrorists called vigilantes are trying hard to eliminate justice-loving black and white opponents of the apartheid regime.
Banning orders, banishments and restriction orders are imposed on the democratic leadership. For example, I am now under a restriction order, the Government is waging war against children, the country is waging war against its own future; aggression against and destabilization of the front-line States continues unmitigated by South Africa's forces or surrogate puppets like UNITA and the MNR; tortured victims die in detention - some are in hospital as I speak to you: Chief Makumbane, who at this moment is in a Pretoria hospital, and another friend, who, also at this time, is lying in Pietersburg after torture in South African prisons.
As you know, refugees from South Africa continue to pour into neighbouring countries every day because of repression. Information is censored and whatever is permitted to reach the outside world is senseless and nonsense. "Homelandization" and "Balkanization" of our country continues unabated, accompanied by the necessary "decitizenization" of the black population.
Those democratic leaders who are not in exile are in hiding; those who operate publicly live in fear; those who are caught and are lucky enough not to be shot are in prison or are standing trial for saying no to apartheid; those who are in exile are being assassinated. Kidnappings and abductions have been attempted, sometimes successfully, both in the front-line States and in countries as far away as Great Britain.
Lest I exhaust myself and the Special Committee before I exhaust the apartheid catalogue of evil, let me move to another matter.
Why are we not free today in South Africa? Is it because we blacks are cowards? Is it because we are not united? Is it because we do not know what we want? The answers to those questions are all in the negative. We are not yet free because the powers that be keep on moving the goal-posts. Three hundred years ago we were denied power because we could not read and write the white man's letters. When we mastered the Latin alphabet we were denied power because we could not utter the white man's prayers. When we mastered "Our Father which art in heaven" we were denied power because we were not "civilized". When we mastered fork and knife we were denied power because we did not have property and fixed assets. When we called for just rewards for our sweat we were called "communists", as we still are, and as such we are not considered human beings. No wonder Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela is still in Pollsmoor prison; no wonder Zeph Mothopeng has not walked as a free man since I saw him in Howick police station when we were detained together in March 1977.
We are not free yet because behind every black police officer there is a white police officer, behind every homeland government there is the Pretoria Government; and behind the Pretoria Government there are powerful forces, powerful interests, powerful Governments. There is a sense in which Botha is fronting for somebody else. Every time we push the racist regime into a corner, someone bails it out, materially, diplomatically, covertly or overtly. At the United Nations, in the Security Council, the South African Government owes its life to some brothers who have exercised without fail a protective veto. Every time we brave Mandelas and Mothopengs, we courageous Alan Boesaks and Beyers Naudes, we selfless Cyril Ramaphosas and Naidoos conquer a Verwoerd hill we see a Vorster hill beyond; every time we dwarf a Botha hill we see taller, tougher, more powerful mountains behind it. If you go to Samora Machel's grave, if you go to Angola, if you go to Zimbabwe, if you go to Zambia, they will tell you the same.
Is it now clear why we are not free yet? There are other reasons as well. Those who do everything to sabotage the black struggle and bust sanctions are the same people who say that sanctions do not work. Which countries have secretly entertained Dawie DeVilliers, the South African Minister of Trade and Industry - the sanctions-busting ministry? He went on more visits last year than any other minister. Who owns and runs Luxavia Airways? Who helped South Africa become a nuclear mini-Power? Who are the members and supporters of the South Atlantic Treaty Organization (SATO)?
Is the Committee aware that the people who call for sanctions against other countries are the same people who say that sanctions will not work in South Africa? Is it aware that those who call for human rights in some countries are the same people who oppose the release of Mandela and other prisoners and threaten to boycott television stations that show the Mandela story? Is it aware that people who have labelled the liberation movements against the white racist regime as terrorists are the same people who have wasted no time in calling UNITA and the Mozambique national resistance (MNR) freedom fighters. By now the Committee will know why we are not yet free. But soon we shall be free. Why is it that we South Africans have gained two Nobel peace prizes and other peace awards - but not the award of freedom? That topic needs a seminar of its own.
I know what I am talking about. I have been engaged in dialogue with Government people in South Africa; I have tried to work on reconciliation and conversion as a Dean and Deputy Bishop of the Church. Suffice it to say that every time the Government of South Africa has kicked me and my fellow church leaders in the nose; we are still bleeding from those kicks. I do not need slogans. I need not exaggerate the evils of Hitler's heirs.
I know what I am talking about. I have been uprooted, with my community, on three occasions in my short life of 40 years: in 1951, 1959 and 1961, and another attempt was made in 1977 or 1978. I have worked as a labourer, and I know what it is to be exploited. In the South African Students Organization and as national President of the Black People's Convention - now banned - I came to know how dangerous racism can be. Among those who died in detention or suspicious accidents, some were very close to me: Mohapi; Tiro Abraham; Shezi; Steve Biko, with whom I twice shared a single bed, in Durban, and in 1975 at his home in King William's Town; Isaac Muofhe, who was killed within 24 hours of his detention in 1981, was my personal and family friend - I baptized him, so to speak, with my own hands.
I myself have been detained four times in the past 10 years and interrogated innumerable times; I have faced plots and threats; I have been tortured almost to the point of death at Pietermaritzburg, Howick, Masisi and Sibasa. On none of those occasions have I been charged in any court of law; in fact, I sued the Government and on 5 March 1984, 10 minutes before the Supreme Court was to convene, it settled out of court, paying me in money for the wrongs they did to my mind and to my human rights.
I experienced psychological and physical torture at Howick; I slept in dirty, smelly cells and on blankets without a bed; I ate dirty, worm-infested food; I had no change of clothing; I was exposed to naked, tortured detainees, men, women and children; for continuous nights and days I was relentlessly interrogated, without food, water, sleep or toilet facilities; I was suspended on a stick between two tables, from a window; I was stood barefoot on blunt nails; I was punched, kicked - and many other things. At the end of that torture at Howick, I had to receive extensive medical attention.
At Masisi I was tortured very, very badly. I was beaten, banged against the wall, kicked on my private parts and hooded and blinded; electrical shocks were applied to my ears, thighs, toes and genitals.
The consequences have been many. I have lost my teeth, and I have scars all over my body. During my second detention I had to drink water from the toilet. The third detention was terrible. I had swelling of the head and bloodied eyes, nose and lips, gaping wounds on my body and knees, broken ribs. I was placed twice in the Madimbo military base hospital, twice at Donald Frazer Hospital; three times in Tshilidzini Hospital, where I spent 106 days under police guard. After my release I had to go to Wynberg Medical Centre, Groote Schur Hospital and Victoria Hospital for specialist care and checkups. The fourth detention started in November 1986; I was only released on 30 January this year. What happened during this detention? I had to go on a hunger strike for 30 days to demand my release; I had 13 visits to hospital. And at the end of it all I was released, uncharged but badly damaged, psychologically and physically.
From March to August this year I spent my time at Minnesota Center for Torture Victims, and I still have to undergo treatment through the end of this year.
I therefore conclude by saying that South Africa is a terrorist police State. Why should the world close its eyes to the making of another holocaust, to the deliberate slaughter of black children and adults? Why does South Africa have apologists who rationalize and defend its slaughter of black people in Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique?
I call upon the Special Committee and upon the United Nations to promote support for the front-line States and the countries of the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) in their struggle against apartheid and in support of the oppressed majority; to expose all United Nations Member countries that speak of the evils of apartheid while doing everything they can to lengthen the life of the apartheid regime; to obtain from the resources of the United Nations and its Member countries the help needed by the individuals and groups fighting inside and outside the country.
I call upon the Special Committee and the United Nations to call and work for the release of Mandela, Mothopeng and all other political prisoners and detainees in South Africa; to stop the barbaric hangings of freedom fighters and the torture of children by Botha's "Christian" forces; to stop countries that have clandestine diplomatic relations with Pretoria-manufactured homelands; to work to create a united, democratic, non-racial South Africa where black and white can share a place in the sun, a spot out of the rain, woolen blankets and ice cream in the summer. We call for comprehensive economic sanctions against South Africa.
After this meeting, I shall be presenting the Chairman with a copy of my book on detention and torture in South Africa, hot off the press, published by Fortress Press of Philadelphia. I place that book on record so that, if one day the Holocaust repeats itself the world cannot pretend it did not know. I shall read out an extract from the final page of my book:
"Let us all say no to apartheid. We all say no to apartheid. The black community says no to apartheid. Many white people in South Africa - democrats - say no to apartheid. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) says no to apartheid. The United Nations says no to apartheid. Almighty God says no to the god of Pretoria. In the name of the voiceless, the dead, the living and the unborn, the confused, the tempted and the misled, I join the world chorus of no to apartheid. For the sake of justice, human rights and the equality of all South Africans, for the sake of the tortured - those who have died under torture, those who are being tortured and who are now dying in detention as I write, and those who will still suffer and die under torture - I call upon humanity to shout at the top of its voice, no to apartheid. In the name of human brotherhood and sisterhood, in the name of sense and logic, in the name of love and reconciliation, in the name of our descendants, let us all say no to apartheid.
"In God's name, apartheid is wrong, immoral, dangerous and a threat to race relations, fellowship, reconciliation and world peace. For how long shall the nations of the world pray 'Our father who art in Pretoria, hallowed be thy gold. Thy diamonds flow, thy will be done in the world as it is in Pretoria. Give us this day our daily treasures and forgive us our pressures. We promise not to forgive those who try to force us to pressure you. Lead us not into abandoning you, but deliver us from communism, for thine is the policy of civilization, of Western democracy and Christian standards for white, brown and black'."
Footnotes
Mr. Farisani was detained four times in South Africa and brutally tortured.