Apartheid, Race and South Africa

CHAPTER 3 . The Treasure-House at the Cape. Part 4

It is obvious that a single unitary monetary system for the whole world, controlled from a single centre, would be an important prerequisite for the projected "new world order". That means that the ultimate prerequisite for a centralized world rule would be total control of all the raw materials in the world, including gold in particular, under the supervision of a supra­-national world organization: the UNO.

Why? Because wealth (say raw materials) in the hands of its possessor means power and freedom and independence; especially if that wealth is easily exchangeable for money. The sovereignty and independence of a nation, therefore, is a matter of its state of power and financial resources. Therefore all the strenuous efforts during this century to turn the world into a socialist dictatorship (or "new world order", as the UNO prefers to call it) have been concentrated on undermining the sovereignty of all nations to deprive them of all power to resist their future absorption into the "new world order".

The whole eastern part of Europe has already fallen victim to the plot; and all the communist countries, including the USSR and China, are therefore mere vassals of high finance; exploited colonies which, because of a utopian collectivist economic system, have no chance of ever attaining economic independence and are thus condemned to eternal bondage to their capitalist creditors.

Andrew Young, a former American delegate to the UN, paid a visit to Windhoek in South West Africa a few years ago, where he frankly admitted to the journalists present that the USA had no intention of interfering with a communistic Angola or Namibia; on the contrary, he said; the communist countries had always been the easiest markets for American goods ...

Payments are of course mainly in the form of minerals or other natural products extorted from the enslaved peoples. That is what happened with the much-lauded "decolonization" of Africa and other continents. Never had those countries been so exploited by the colonial powers as they are now by international high finance. The former colonial territories and practically all the Third World are now in the pockets of international money powers, which lend them billions of worth­ less paper dollars that they have to repay with the wealth of their minerals. Thus the whole business of decolonization was simply a deliberate ploy on the part of international finance groups to enable them to get their hands on those countries. The old colonial empires were emasculated and their control over their colonies was wrenched from their hands; so that now they must pay for their raw materials and natural products from the "decolonized" countries-now recolonized by the banks in expensive US dollars. So two birds are killed with one stone and at the same time the way is paved to the assimilation of the countries into the New World Order.

A strong, white, independent government in South Africa in possession of the biggest gold deposits in the world and next to those in the USSR the richest reserves of strategic minerals is therefore necessarily a serious obstacle in the road to the projected socialist world order. On the other hand, a corrupt black communist government in the guise of the "liberation" movements that are so zealously supported by the One-Worlders in the Western governments would very soon find itself obliged to repay its credits to the financial powers of Wall Street in the form of the mineral wealth of South Africa.

From that angle we can now understand the apparently irrational handouts, the multi-million-dollar credits given to almost every country in the world; often positively forced on them and in many cases - and this is intentional - with no prospect of ever being repaid. It might not seem the soundest way of doing business; but it becomes intelligible when we realize that these vast sums are guaranteed to the banks by the Western taxpayers through their governments.

The international bankers have no scruples; and they are certainly not simple or stupid. For repayment or security all they require is the assignment of the minerals, future crop yields or other economic assets of the countries concerned. Thus they are the real masters of the countries whose governments they control.

The undeclared worldwide war against South Africa can only be under­stood against this background. How it will end will affect not only the black and white people of this country but also all the other peoples of the-so far- free world.

CHAPTER 3 . The Treasure-House at the Cape. Part 3

Is it really credible that Western governments could run the risk of what would be tantamount to suicide for the sake of "violations of human rights" or apartheid in South Africa?

Why then do they support a terrorist organization like the ANC, whose declared goal is and always has been to incorporate South Africa in the communist sphere of influence? (See Chapter 12)

We shall find the answer to these questions only if we consider the attack on South Africa within the context of a global strategy in which both the East and the West share common goals.

In his book The War on Gold (1977) Dr Antony Sutton writes:

"... the basic reason for the attack on South Africa has little to do with its racial or domestic policies; these are propaganda counterparts to the war on gold. A moment's thought will suggest that a Kissinger who is unmoved by Soviet persecution of Jews and political dissidents is unlikely to be moved by the lack of voting rights for black South Africans."

Prof. Sutton adds: "The war on South African gold originated with the Wall Street Establishment. But this is not the place to more than hint at the complete story of Wall Street's incredible machinations. The interested reader is referred to the Wall Street involvement in the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the continuing military and economic assistance to and protection of the Soviet Union by the Wall Street banking establishment, and the drive for a New World Order under U.S. dominance (which means dollar imperialism under Wall Street leadership), in which the USSR would become a technical and financial colony of the United States." (See also Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution by Antony C. Sutton)

Five essential minerals in particular give South Africa a key position in the supply of critical raw materials to the free world. These are chromium ore, the metals of the platinum group, manganese ore, asbestos and gold. Of these chromium is the most important, because there is no substitute for it in the manufacture of high-quality lightweight stainless steel. Without chromium the engines for modern jet aircraft or Cruise missiles could not be built. It is also much used in the petrochemical industries, in power stations, nuclear reactors, in the building industry and many other branches of industry.

In a publication of August 1981 the American Bureau of Mines wrote:

" None of the major industrial nations outside the Eastern bloc has any chromium reserves of its own. Indeed, a major portion of the world's known chrome deposits are concentrated in just two countries: South Africa and Zimbabwe."

96% of the world reserves of chromium ores is in Southern Africa, and 95% of the non-communist supplies of the platinum group metals. The USA is dependent on imports for 89% of its platinum, Japan for 98% and Western Europe for a 100%.

The same is true of manganese and asbestos. Although production of those two minerals is not so high as that of chromium and platinum, South Africa and Russia together possess 93% of the world reserves of manganese. After Russia and Canada, South Africa has the third largest supply of asbestos.

It is easy to see, therefore, why the communist rulers in the Kremlin have always taken a great interest in South Africa, and why it has always been an important component of their long-term strategy. In 1971 Leonid Brezhnev, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, declared that the Soviet Union intended to gain control of the two great treasure­ houses on which the free world was dependent: the petroleum of the Persian Gulf and the minerals of Southern Africa.

Of course the communists know full well that whoever controls the shipping round the Cape of Good Hope controls a vital artery of the economic life of the West. Western Europe alone receives something like a quarter of its oil via the Cape route. On average seventy ships a day sail round the Cape. Altogether they amount to one and a half million gross registered tons; which means twenty-five thousand ships annually up to a total of nearly 550 million GRT.

As Welt am Sonntag reported in a special issue in May-June 1986, the South African share of Western supplies of raw materials amount to the following percentages:

• manganese ore 93

• platinum 83

• vanadium 61

• chromium ore 58

• gold 63

• fluorspar 46

• diamonds 29

• zirconium 19

• antimony 17

• uranium 16

If the communists could control the mineral resources of South Africa alone, they could pinch off a central nerve of the Western economy. But since a communist puppet government in South Africa would obviously be remote-controlled from Moscow anyway, the South African resources could be added to those of Russia if it were absorbed by the Eastern bloc. Then the total share of the combined South African and Russian resources would amount to the following world percentages:

• manganese 94

• platinum 85

• gold 70

• chromium 70

• vanadium 65

The whole world would then be dependent on the Kremlin for its precious metals, gold and platinum, and the components of high-performance steels, manganese, chromium and vanadium.

In the light of these facts the reader must by now be wondering how it is possible in the circumstances for governments in Western Europe and North America to threaten South Africa with sanctions and embargos. They would not only be cutting themselves off from the mineral resources of South Africa which are vitally necessary for the development of their national economies and their defence capabilities, but also from the supplies of raw materials of the other countries in Southern Africa, whose export routes mostly pass through South African ports.

Is it really credible that Western governments could run the risk of what would be tantamount to suicide for the sake of "violations of human rights" or apartheid in South Africa?

Why then do they support a terrorist organization like the ANC, whose declared goal is and always has been to incorporate South Africa in the communist sphere of influence? (See Chapter 12)

We shall find the answer to these questions only if we consider the attack on South Africa within the context of a global strategy in which both the East and the West share common goals.

In his book The War on Gold (1977) Dr Antony Sutton writes:

"... the basic reason for the attack on South Africa has little to do with its racial or domestic policies; these are propaganda counterparts to the war on gold. A moment's thought will suggest that a Kissinger who is unmoved by Soviet persecution of Jews and political dissidents is unlikely to be moved by the lack of voting rights for black South Africans."

Prof. Sutton adds: "The war on South African gold originated with the Wall Street Establishment. But this is not the place to more than hint at the complete story of Wall Street's incredible machinations. The interested reader is referred to the Wall Street involvement in the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the continuing military and economic assistance to and protection of the Soviet Union by the Wall Street banking establishment, and the drive for a New World Order under U.S. dominance (which means dollar imperialism under Wall Street leadership), in which the USSR would become a technical and financial colony of the United States." (See also Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution by Antony C. Sutton)

Continued in next post

CHAPTER 3 . The Treasure-House at the Cape. Part 2

Five essential minerals in particular give South Africa a key position in the supply of critical raw materials to the free world. These are chromium ore, the metals of the platinum group, manganese ore, asbestos and gold. Of these chromium is the most important, because there is no substitute for it in the manufacture of high-quality lightweight stainless steel. Without chromium the engines for modern jet aircraft or Cruise missiles could not be built. It is also much used in the petrochemical industries, in power stations, nuclear reactors, in the building industry and many other branches of industry.

In a publication of August 1981 the American Bureau of Mines wrote:

" None of the major industrial nations outside the Eastern bloc has any chromium reserves of its own. Indeed, a major portion of the world's known chrome deposits are concentrated in just two countries: South Africa and Zimbabwe."

96% of the world reserves of chromium ores is in Southern Africa, and 95% of the non-communist supplies of the platinum group metals. The USA is dependent on imports for 89% of its platinum, Japan for 98% and Western Europe for a 100%.

The same is true of manganese and asbestos. Although production of those two minerals is not so high as that of chromium and platinum, South Africa and Russia together possess 93% of the world reserves of manganese. After Russia and Canada, South Africa has the third largest supply of asbestos.

It is easy to see, therefore, why the communist rulers in the Kremlin have always taken a great interest in South Africa, and why it has always been an important component of their long-term strategy. In 1971 Leonid Brezhnev, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, declared that the Soviet Union intended to gain control of the two great treasure­ houses on which the free world was dependent: the petroleum of the Persian Gulf and the minerals of Southern Africa.

Of course the communists know full well that whoever controls the shipping round the Cape of Good Hope controls a vital artery of the economic life of the West. Western Europe alone receives something like a quarter of its oil via the Cape route. On average seventy ships a day sail round the Cape. Altogether they amount to one and a half million gross registered tons; which means twenty-five thousand ships annually up to a total of nearly 550 million GRT.

As Welt am Sonntag reported in a special issue in May-June 1986, the South African share of Western supplies of raw materials amount to the following percentages:

• manganese ore 93

• platinum 83

• vanadium 61

• chromium ore 58

• gold 63

• fluorspar 46

• diamonds 29

• zirconium 19

• antimony 17

• uranium 16

If the communists could control the mineral resources of South Africa alone, they could pinch off a central nerve of the Western economy. But since a communist puppet government in South Africa would obviously be remote-controlled from Moscow anyway, the South African resources could be added to those of Russia if it were absorbed by the Eastern bloc. Then the total share of the combined South African and Russian resources would amount to the following world percentages:

• manganese 94

• platinum 85

• gold 70

• chromium 70

• vanadium 65

The whole world would then be dependent on the Kremlin for its precious metals, gold and platinum, and the components of high-performance steels, manganese, chromium and vanadium.

In the light of these facts the reader must by now be wondering how it is possible in the circumstances for governments in Western Europe and North America to threaten South Africa with sanctions and embargos. They would not only be cutting themselves off from the mineral resources of South Africa which are vitally necessary for the development of their national economies and their defence capabilities, but also from the supplies of raw materials of the other countries in Southern Africa, whose export routes mostly pass through South African ports.

Is it really credible that Western governments could run the risk of what would be tantamount to suicide for the sake of "violations of human rights" or apartheid in South Africa?

Why then do they support a terrorist organization like the ANC, whose declared goal is and always has been to incorporate South Africa in the communist sphere of influence? (See Chapter 12)

We shall find the answer to these questions only if we consider the attack on South Africa within the context of a global strategy in which both the East and the West share common goals.

In his book The War on Gold (1977) Dr Antony Sutton writes:

"... the basic reason for the attack on South Africa has little to do with its racial or domestic policies; these are propaganda counterparts to the war on gold. A moment's thought will suggest that a Kissinger who is unmoved by Soviet persecution of Jews and political dissidents is unlikely to be moved by the lack of voting rights for black South Africans."

Prof. Sutton adds: "The war on South African gold originated with the Wall Street Establishment. But this is not the place to more than hint at the complete story of Wall Street's incredible machinations. The interested reader is referred to the Wall Street involvement in the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the continuing military and economic assistance to and protection of the Soviet Union by the Wall Street banking establishment, and the drive for a New World Order under U.S. dominance (which means dollar imperialism under Wall Street leadership), in which the USSR would become a technical and financial colony of the United States." (See also Wall Street and the Bolshevik Revolution by Antony C. Sutton)

Five essential minerals in particular give South Africa a key position in the supply of critical raw materials to the free world. These are chromium ore, the metals of the platinum group, manganese ore, asbestos and gold. Of these chromium is the most important, because there is no substitute for it in the manufacture of high-quality lightweight stainless steel. Without chromium the engines for modern jet aircraft or Cruise missiles could not be built. It is also much used in the petrochemical industries, in power stations, nuclear reactors, in the building industry and many other branches of industry.

In a publication of August 1981 the American Bureau of Mines wrote:

" None of the major industrial nations outside the Eastern bloc has any chromium reserves of its own. Indeed, a major portion of the world's known chrome deposits are concentrated in just two countries: South Africa and Zimbabwe."

96% of the world reserves of chromium ores is in Southern Africa, and 95% of the non-communist supplies of the platinum group metals. The USA is dependent on imports for 89% of its platinum, Japan for 98% and Western Europe for a 100%.

The same is true of manganese and asbestos. Although production of those two minerals is not so high as that of chromium and platinum, South Africa and Russia together possess 93% of the world reserves of manganese. After Russia and Canada, South Africa has the third largest supply of asbestos.

It is easy to see, therefore, why the communist rulers in the Kremlin have always taken a great interest in South Africa, and why it has always been an important component of their long-term strategy. In 1971 Leonid Brezhnev, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, declared that the Soviet Union intended to gain control of the two great treasure­ houses on which the free world was dependent: the petroleum of the Persian Gulf and the minerals of Southern Africa.

Of course the communists know full well that whoever controls the shipping round the Cape of Good Hope controls a vital artery of the economic life of the West. Western Europe alone receives something like a quarter of its oil via the Cape route. On average seventy ships a day sail round the Cape. Altogether they amount to one and a half million gross registered tons; which means twenty-five thousand ships annually up to a total of nearly 550 million GRT.

As Welt am Sonntag reported in a special issue in May-June 1986, the South African share of Western supplies of raw materials amount to the following percentages:

• manganese ore 93

• platinum 83

• vanadium 61

• chromium ore 58

• gold 63

• fluorspar 46

• diamonds 29

• zirconium 19

• antimony 17

• uranium 16

If the communists could control the mineral resources of South Africa alone, they could pinch off a central nerve of the Western economy. But since a communist puppet government in South Africa would obviously be remote-controlled from Moscow anyway, the South African resources could be added to those of Russia if it were absorbed by the Eastern bloc. Then the total share of the combined South African and Russian resources would amount to the following world percentages:

• manganese 94

• platinum 85

• gold 70

• chromium 70

• vanadium 65

The whole world would then be dependent on the Kremlin for its precious metals, gold and platinum, and the components of high-performance steels, manganese, chromium and vanadium.

In the light of these facts the reader must by now be wondering how it is possible in the circumstances for governments in Western Europe and North America to threaten South Africa with sanctions and embargos. They would not only be cutting themselves off from the mineral resources of South Africa which are vitally necessary for the development of their national economies and their defence capabilities, but also from the supplies of raw materials of the other countries in Southern Africa, whose export routes mostly pass through South African ports.

Continued in next post

CHAPTER 3 . The Treasure-House at the Cape. Part 1

Our objective is to gain control of the two great treasure-houses on which the West is dependent: the energy sources of the Persian Gulf and the minerals of Central and Southern Africa.

Leonid Brezhnev, Secretary General of the USSR (1971)

As at the outbreak of the Boer War, the battle for South Africa is still a battle for gold and the minerals of the Southern African subcontinent. Then as now the secret warmongers used the same methods to conceal their objectives; then as now they operated both inside and outside South Africa. "The whole plan is concocted and controlled by a colossal syndicate for the dissemination of false information." These were the words of Lt-Gen. Sir William Butler, Commander in Chief of the British forces in South Africa, shortly before the outbreak of the second Anglo-Boer War, who resigned his position in disgust at what he had seen.

The chief instrument of "systematic false information" and insidious manipulation of public opinion is still the press, now reinforced by radio and television, which is still in the hands of the same financial forces as let loose the bloody conflicts then.

Before the outbreak of the Boer War the British government used the pretext of alleged abuses and violations of human rights against the uitlanders, mostly British immigrants in the Transvaal, where huge deposits of gold had been found. Now the attack on South Africa is being carried out under the pretext of apartheid, a word that the establishment presses continually bandy about as a synonym for everything evil, so that it is execrated all over the world, although hardly anybody knows what it really means.

Whoever wishes to understand the background to this tendentious propaganda must first realize that South Africa and the USSR together possess the largest deposits of minerals on earth. The wealth locked up in the South African earth is so great that the country, in its present stage of development and with an almost unlimited labour force in the decades to come, would inevitably become an industrial super-power on whose supplies the whole Western world (in which, paradoxically, Japan must now be included), would be dependent. In the 21st century the oil wealth of the Arabs will be superseded by the mineral wealth of the South African subcontinent.

South Africa possesses the largest deposits in the world of gold, platinum, chromium ore, manganese, vanadium, fluorspar and andalusite, and large supplies of antimony, asbestos, lead, diamonds (both industrial and jewels), iron ore, mica, coal, copper, nickel, phosphates, titanium, uranium, vermiculite, zinc and zirconium. These are all exported to a greater or less degree and constitute the most important earners of foreign exchange.

Other minerals in which South Africa is self-sufficient and can even export in smaller quantities are barytes, beryllium, feldspar, graphite, gyp­sum, kaolin, diatomite, corundum, salt, fireclay, talc, tiger's-eye and other semi-precious stones, silver and tin.

The importance of the strategic minerals of South Africa to the armaments industries and the economies of the Western nations is evident from a study by Dr James A. Miller titled The Vulnerability of the West through its Mineral Reserves - from a Soviet Perspective: "If the Soviet Union and its allies can get control of the mineral resources of South Africa, with the exception of oil, the following percentages of worldwide reserves would be controlled by the Kremlin:

"Platinum group: 95% of world production and 99% of world reserves.

Chromium: 57% of production and 99% of reserves.

Manganese: 59% and 93% respectively.

Vanadium: 69 and 95%.

Gold: 80 and 70%.

"The United States is dangerously dependent on foreign sources for at least half of the forty minerals that it needs for its industry, and it is compelled to import 90% of its 100% needs in manganese, cobalt, chromium, niobium, mica, strontium, tantalum and bauxite.

"Moreover it has to import 75% of the metals of the platinum group, asbestos, fluorspar, tin and nickel. Over 50% of the following minerals have to come from sources overseas: cadmium, zinc, potassium, selenium, mercury, gold and tungsten. The allies of America in Western Europe and Japan are even more dependent on imported minerals.

"No wonder," Miller concludes, "that the Soviets are so eagerly working to turn off the South African tap."

The influential American research institute, the Heritage Foundation, wrote in one of its publications: "There is no question but that (American) industry is now and will be in the future far more dependent on foreign supplies of non-fuel minerals than on oil. The possibility of interruption of deliveries of critical minerals must also be taken into account."

General Alexander Haig, a former Secretary of State, believed that the loss of the mineral supplies from southern Africa would have "the most serious consequences for the existing industrial and security-political positions of the free world".

J. William Middendorf, a former Secretary of State for the Navy Department, gave warning that leftist regimes in South Africa and Zimbabwe controlled by Moscow could constitute a no less effective minerals cartel than the oil cartel of the OPEC countries, which was certainly capable of ordering an embargo on supplies.

Continued in next post

Chapter 2. Facts or Fiction? - Part 4

"ln South Africa children are being locked up in gaols."

Under the heading "What is to be done with murderous children?" the journalist Peter Young husband wrote in The Washington Times (11.12.86): "The world reacted with indignation to the admission by the South African government that in all South Africa 256 children had been arrested without trial. This reaction was understandable. Arrest without trial is abominable and undemocratic, especially when the victims are between the ages of 11 and 15. But the reports generally fail to mention that many of the detained children are hardened criminals and many of them are even murderers.

The South African government is now confronted with the following problem: What is to be done with criminal children? The answer ought to be: Put them before a juvenile court and sentence them. But South Africa is in a state of revolution. The police and the judiciary are heavily over­ burdened. The inquiries and formalities that must precede a fair trial in court are in many cases several months in arrears. Meanwhile the young detainees must be interned somewhere, somehow. A few years ago most of them would have been released in the custody of their parents until their trial came up. But now even eight-year-old children are forced into revolutionary roles. The release of a child detained on evidence or suspicion of revolutionary violence would have his immediate return to the revolution as a consequence.

Take for example the case of 24-year-old Rosaline Skosana, who died in the black township of Duduza in July 1985. As she was attending the funeral of an anti-apartheid activist, she was accused of being a collaborator by young activists, the so-called 'comrades', on the grounds that she had once had relations with a (black) policeman. Within seconds she was surrounded by the crowd, dreadfully beaten up, doused with petrol and set on fire, and as she lay dying they continued stoning and kicking her.

Long after her body had ceased to twitch under the hail of blows with sticks, stones and kicks the corpse was still being kicked and stoned by the jeering mob dancing round it. One or two of the attackers even went so far as to throw big, heavy stones at the horribly mangled, scorched, half-naked body for the benefit of the (foreign) camera crews who were filming the scene.

The films showed that some of the murderers of Rosaline Skosana were children less than twelve years old. Hardened journalists reporting on the violence in the black townships were repeatedly shocked by the participation of small children in 'necklace executions', in which the victim has a tire soaked in petrol placed round his neck and is set on fire.

Teenagers and younger children are often in the front ranks in attacks on the police with stones, acts of arson and sabotage. Witnesses have testified in several court cases that the African National Congress, sup­ ported by the Kremlin, urges its fighters in the black townships to use small children at the head of their attacks on property and the police, well aware that wounded or dead children would put the government in a highly embarrassing situation. Children used in that way become indifferent to death and grow up as callous criminals who carry out their tasks with the fearlessness characteristic of young people and with astounding courage. If the security forces are confronted with children prepared for murder and arson they have no alternative but to arrest them. Then the government finds itself in the dilemma of detained children to whose predicament they are in general not indifferent. The detained children are normally not kept in solitary confinement and are usually kept separate from adult prisoners and criminals. As far as possible they are sent to 'reorientation' camps until their release.

The Minister of Justice, Kobus Coetzee, has often expressed his concern over the detained children. Only recently he arranged a high-level investigation of their social relations and living conditions. 'I would much prefer it if these children were under the care of their parents,' he said, 'but that is not always possible .. .' "

(According to the most recent reports - June 1987 - only eleven children are still in custody awaiting trial for particularly serious offences.)

Chapter 2. Facts or Fiction? - Part 3

"The blacks are housed in slums and have to live in ghettos like Soweto."

First of all, nobody is forced to go to Soweto, the huge black township just outside Johannesburg, unless he voluntarily abandons his tribal associations in the "homelands". Secondly, Soweto is neither a slum nor a ghetto of the sort that we are familiar with in South America, India, the other African countries and even the USA.

Anybody who has made a tour of this huge conurbation will have observed that here, like everywhere else, there are three classes: poor, middle and upper. Dwellings range from millionaires' villas with well-tended gardens to rows of simple "matchbox houses" which are within the resources of most blacks at a subsidized rent of about forty rands a month.

By 1978 Soweto had 115 football pitches, three rugby pitches, four athletics fields, eleven cricket pitches, two golf-courses, 47 tennis-courts, seven swimming-pools (some of Olympic standard), five bowling alleys, 81 basket-ball pitches, 39 children's playgrounds and innumerable com­ munity halls, cinemas and clubhouses. There are 300 churches, 365 schools, 2 technical high schools, 8 clinics, 63 crèches, 11 post offices and a fruit and vegetable market.

Baragwanath, the vast black hospital in Soweto with three thousand beds, is one of the biggest and most up-to-date in the world. Its 23operating theatres are provided with the most modern equipment in the world. The maintenance costs of this hospital, in which black patients pay a nominal fee of two rands - there is no national health insurance in South Africa - are treated, operated on and given post-treatment for an indefinite period, are higher than the annual budget of some of the smaller member-states of the United Nations.

The hospital employs a staff of eight thousand, including 450 doctors on full-time service, and it treats over 112 000 in-patients and 1 620 000 out­ patients a year. It is interesting that ninety per cent of the blood-donors to this black hospital are white.

At 34,8 per thousand the infant mortality rate for Soweto is lower than that for Harlem in New York.

Dr Kenneth Walker, a Canadian medical doctor, recently wrote of Soweto: "l saw many houses in Soweto that had cost a hundred thousand dollars and had a BMW standing in the garage entrance. All the houses there are single-storied. Many had been recently painted. Many have flower-pots in the windows and lawns in front. Only two per cent are shanties. If I had the choice between living in Soweto or in one of the run-down blocks of flats in New York, Chicago or Detroit, it wouldn't take me a minute to plump for Soweto.

"The Canadians will no doubt be shocked when I say that I'd rather be injured or sick in Soweto than in many Canadian towns. In Soweto there are eight clinics supported by the government and several private doctors. There is also Baragwanath Hospital, an outstanding teaching hospital ... in which 898 heart operations were performed in 1982 alone. Baragwanath is the biggest and most versatile hospital in the whole African continent. Next door there is the St John's eye clinic. It is world-famous for its treatment of glaucoma, detached retina, traumatic eye injuries and rare tropical diseases." (From Globe and Mail, quoted in Vox Africana no. 31, October 1987).

In Soweto there are over 2300 registered firms owned by black business­ men, including a thousand private taxi concerns. Of the fifty thousand car owners three per cent drive a Mercedes-Benz. The township has more schools, churches, cars, taxis and sportsfields than many independent African countries. No wonder vehicles can be seen everywhere with stickers declaring "I Love Soweto". The same is true of many other "black ghettos" in South Africa.

"In the South African mines more (black) workers get killed through inadequate safety precautions than anywhere else in the world."

In 1986 the South African coal-mines showed their absolutely lowest accident rate. The South African Chamber of Mines announced the fact at the time. In the previous year the rate of fatal accidents had been only half the figure for American mines. For three years the rate for the mines controlled by the Chamber has been steadily falling, and that for the previous year, one death per three thousand employees, is the lowest ever attained in this branch of industry. It is less than half the rate for the year 1984.

For the South African gold-mines a number of circumstances make accurate comparisons difficult. The South African gold-mines are the deepest in the world; some of them as deep as four thousand metres below the surface. That results in extraordinary conditions of heat and pressure, so that the gold-bearing quartz rock is among the hardest on earth.

If we compare the mines in the USA with those of South Africa (though they are only remotely comparable) we find a fatal accident rate of O,93there as against 1,25 for South African gold-mines. But if we exclude the fatal accidents resulting from sudden pressure bursts caused by the extreme depths we have a rate of 0,95 per thousand, which is not significantly higher than the American rate.

"The blacks are deliberately kept stupid and ignorant."

This year (1987) over six million black children are going to school in South Africa - a new record figure. In the previous year nearly eighteen hundred new classrooms were built for secondary schools, which is equivalent to about a hundred and thirty new schools. (But for the losses caused by the wanton burning and destruction of schools by mobs during the disturbances a few years ago the educational opportunities available to blacks would be even greater.)

Within the last ten years the expenditures on black education have risen from R143 million to 1,15 thousand million-an eightfold increase! All this is part of a ten-year plan to bring black education in every respect up to the level of the much older and better established systems of the other population groups.

"The South African police and army are terrorizing the blacks in the townships and should be withdrawn."

After politically-motivated black gangs in the townships had murdered over six hundred black "collaborators", mostly by the ghastly "necklace" method, and other criminal elements had begun to take advantage of the situation, in the course of the state of emergency and at the behest of the black local authorities, the government decided to take stronger security action in defence of the black population. The army and the police were received by the overwhelming majority of black citizens with relief and gratitude - but also with the reproach: "Why do you only come now? It was high time; we were at the end of our tether." The young white soldiers on duty in the townships at night were often given coffee and biscuits by grateful black inhabitants.

In a petition to the Minister of Police over a thousand townsmen of Sebokeng asked for increased police protection. As the inhabitants said to Aida Parker, a Johannesburg journalist: "Those people who don't want the police in the townships mustn't come here to live and work. We need protection against criminal violence and terrorism. So many houses are being attacked and robbed, women raped, householders killed and maimed. By day or night nobody can be sure of his life anymore ... We've had enough of being terrorized."

Continued in next post