The following letter
by Canon Collins, which appeared in the Johannesburg Star of 8th January, speaks for tself: HE present South African Government tries hard to create the impression that persons charged under its apartheid legislation are not political opponents but common criminals; so it has taken good care to make it known throughout the world that Vuyisile Mini was charged with complicity in a murder. There was, therefore, no deception either intended or committed by accident, on the part of Christian Action in its advertisement concerning the hanging of Mr. Mini. Indeed, I am at a loss to understand why the Star sees fit to become a cat’s-paw in -this case of the Nationalist Government. In an attack on our advertisement a leader-writer of The Star says: “Whatever the political overtones, therefore, this was a plain case of murder...” It was nothing of the sort, as the leader - writer himself must well know: he says that Mini and his two colleagues who were hanged with him “were not alleged to have committed the murder themselves”; he goes on to point out that three other men “are now being tried at Graaff- Reinet for the actual murder.” And it is the political overtones which, in a case of this sort, are vital and cannot be ignored. In the present situation in South Africa thousands of Africans like Mr. Mini regard themselves as already — against their wishes — involved in a civil war and think of their resistance to apartheid in some such terms as the Maquis in the Second World War thought of theirs to the German occupation of France, The African National Congress — of which banned organisation Vuyisile Mini was a member — had, before its banning, sustained for many years a non-violent campaign against apartheid and all the indignities and tyranny involved in it. Where all democratic rights and non-violent. means of protest are denied to them, men and women who suffer under such conditions of tyranny will tend to see sabotage, which leads to death, not as murder,
but as an act of war. Nationalist Governments in South Africa have persistently and increasingly used violence against those who make legitimate and non-violent attempts on behalf of the vast majority of South African citizens against racial injustices and racial intolerance; and previous Governments were not without blame in this respect. By what right then do privileged Whites in South Africa now castigate the victims of unjust legislation and intolerant behaviour for any decision they may make to abandon for the time being the way of negotiation and peaceful protest? The Government has deliberately closed the way of negotiation; and it meets any peaceful protest with brutal force .. . It is not, perhaps, without significance that throughout the history of South Africa the Afrikaaners have treated their own political offences of violence as something noble, and their own “political criminals” as national heroes. Readers of The Star will know, for example, that the Nationalists, as a mark of homage to them, celebrated the Voortrekker centenary by carrying through the streets of Pretoria the beam on which the rebels of the Slagtersnek Rebellion were hanged; and Jopie Fouric, who was executed for murder, is regarded as a national hero by the Afrikaaners of the Nationalist Party, The Africans of
OUTH AFRICA is rapidly run-
ning out of small arms, pistols
and ammunition.
A Pretoria dealer has stated that
unless the world-wide bans were re-
laxed, all arms dealers would be out
of business within a year.
He said South Africa was at
present being boycotted by 52 arms
and ammunition manuf: i
countries throughout the world.
Small pistols could still be ob-
tained from Spain, but the factories
there were inundated with orders
from South Africa,
No ammunition could be obtained
from Spain, however, and bullets for
Spanish guns had to be imported
from elsewhere.
Belgium and France still granted
limited permits for the export of
arms and ammunition to South
Africa, but this was “absolutely in-
adequate,” said the dealer.
“Japan is quite willing to sell to
South Africa but their arms factories
are controlled by America and
American capital. They are therefore
forbidden to export to us,” he added.
“The situation is getting worse
every week,
“We still have some stocks left
from the last orders from America
and Britain, but they are running
out,” he said.
“T cannot see how any arms and
ammunition dealer could possibly last
longer than 12 months.”