Apartheid, South Africa Witness


Apartheid, South Africa

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BBC NEWS THEME PLAYS

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From prisoner to president.

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Nelson Mandela is elected by South Africa's new parliament.

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CHEERING

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The people of South Africa have spoken in these elections.

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They want change.

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And change is what they will get.

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CHEERING

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THEY PLAY AN UPBEAT TUNE

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They don't seem worried about the future in South Africa.

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But how it goes depends on what they think.

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Maybe they'll be content to accept the government's idea that they're inferior to the white man.

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And they'll be happy to grow up as second class citizens in their own country.

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Or perhaps things will go the other way.

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In a few years' time, there could be a great African revolt and

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those children might be taking part in it. I wonder.

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This is Alexandra township, Johannesburg.

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Even in dingy surroundings like these, I felt the vitality of the Africans.

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And their overwhelming numbers made a tremendous impact on me.

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South Africa may be a white dominion, but it's a black country.

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There are just on 10 million Africans, over 1.25 million people of

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partly African descent, nearly half a million Asiatics, mainly Indian.

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These three groups of non-Europeans outnumber the whites by four to one.

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In some areas in and near the towns, you hardly see a white person at all.

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The whites are very conscious of their numerical inferiority.

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The Europeans made South Africa.

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They feel they ought to have the best place in it. They built towns like Johannesburg.

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Parts of Johannesburg are so modern that they're almost like an American skyscraper town.

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80 years ago, before the gold, there was nothing here at all.

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Now, there is a rich town - sunlit, wide and spacious.

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But at the back of their minds, the Europeans have a fear

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that non-Europeans will somehow crowd them out of it.

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This was explained by the editor of the leading Afrikaner newspaper.

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If we give freedom

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to our colonial peoples,

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inside our own country, and they are a majority,

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we would be swamped.

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And that is our basic dilemma.

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Prime Minister, what is the government trying to do with its policy of apartheid?

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Apartheid, or separation, to use the English equivalent,

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between black and white, has been the policy of both the English

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and Afrikaans speaking people in South Africa for centuries.

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Its object is to regulate life between black and white,

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to eliminate friction between the two groups and to ensure the safety of the white minority.

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Whilst providing scope

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for the development of the Africans in their own territories

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and in separate townships in the white man's area.

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There has always been segregation.

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Africans have to stand and wait for their buses. An empty seat may be a few yards away.

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They cannot sit on it. It's reserved for Europeans at their bus stop.

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Signs of separation are everywhere on public and private buildings.

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Africans must go to their own cinemas and not to Europeans'.

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At this place, Africans must queue to get their passes.

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They must carry them everywhere.

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If the police stop an African and he has forgotten his book of passes, they put him into jail.

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Every African needs passes to work or live near a white town.

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He must have another one if he wants to travel.

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There are many types of permits and some have to be renewed monthly.

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Once out of a reserve, the African lives in a sea of papers.

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Those papers make sure that the African stays in his place - the locations.

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Our policy is one,

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which is called by an Afrikaans word, apartheid.

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And I'm afraid that has been misunderstood so often.

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It could just as easily, and perhaps much better, be described as a policy of good neighbourliness.

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Accepting that there are differences between people.

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And that while these differences exist, and you have to acknowledge them,

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at the same time, you can live together, aid one another,

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but that it can best be done

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when you act as good neighbours always do.

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Do you like apartheid?

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I don't like apartheid. In apartheid Europeans go up and

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Africans go down.

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I can't say I agree with everything,

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but I think it's the only policy that's working in Africa.

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I feel everyone's entitled to their own sort of life and their own

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sort of freedom, more or less.

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Everyone shouldn't be told what to do and what not to do.

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Do you mean that you would give the non-white majority political rights, votes?

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Well, I feel everyone is equal and entitled to it.

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They are a lower class.

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They work under us, so it is just right that they must be there.

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They've got their hospitals,

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they've got schools, which the government has given.

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Apartheid, to me, means separate development of people with

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different aspirations, with different backgrounds.

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I must reject it absolutely and completely as I try to do in my

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own life and many of my friends and family try to do.

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I honestly feel the that the native would rather live on his own.

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They make very good servants and you get very good natives.

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It's a terribly insulting concept to my personal dignity.

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Stultifying, stagnating and it's restrictive of my development.

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TRANSLATION: They wouldn't let me use their plates and cups.

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I had my own enamel plate and an empty tin can as a cup.

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There was a dog's kennel out at the back and my dishes were put

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next to the dog.

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It was as though I was a dog myself.

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They treated the dog better than a black person.

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As a black, you were the scum of the earth.

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You worked for these people.

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They ate your food. But they despised you.

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Under apartheid, it's intended that shanty towns

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should be demolished and no-one would quarrel with that.

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Thousands of Africans are living in these conditions.

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But removing these fearful slums costs millions. Progress is very slow.

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Extreme nationalist party supporters of the government are against spending too much money on Africans.

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1,000 people use those lavatories.

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This is Sophiatown. It doesn't look much, but when Africans are forced

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to leave homes like this, there is often anguish.

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Even though there are greater restrictions and more supervision by whites in the new African areas,

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the new houses for Africans are better and many like it when they have moved.

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Do you like it better here than in Sophiatown?

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-Yes, it's better than Sophiatown.

-Why is

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-it better here?

-It's a nice place. The house was too small.

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As well as Africans, the Group Areas Act will move tens of thousands of coloured people and

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Indians from their present homes, where many of them have lived for generations.

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How many of you have got to move, do you think?

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All of us.

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How long have you lived in your house?

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-22 years.

-Where will you move to?

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-Undecided.

-Have any of you got businesses that you have to move?

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-Yes.

-I'm in the centre of the city at the present moment and

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my tailoring and outfitting business will have to move.

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Where to, I don't know.

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What do you think is the object of this legislation?

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To dispossess all non-whites and reduce them to the position of non-citizens.

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To divide and to keep the non-Europeans divided.

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You mean even divided among themselves into separate groups?

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-Definitely.

-Africans, coloured, Indians.

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-All divided out?

-Yes. And the Africans in their various tribes.

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Not all Europeans agree that African and coloured workers can be kept rigorously apart.

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For instance, here's a Labour member of parliament, Mr Leo Lovell.

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Why do you think that the long-term policy of apartheid,

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the complete territorial separation of the races can't work?

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To answer that question, you must understand that

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the economy of South Africa

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is based upon African labour.

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In 1910, there were only half a million Africans in the

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towns of South Africa, which are popularly called the white areas.

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Today there are nearly 3 million,

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constituting about a third of the total African population.

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If you were to separate the races out,

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into separate areas, you would destroy the economy of South Africa.

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What about the short-term policy?

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The short-term policy is really a policy of white supremacy.

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And a policy of white supremacy means that the denial of

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all civil and human rights to the Africans in the white areas.

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I don't need to answer that question.

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Everybody knows it can't work.

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AFRICANS SING

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In the heart of Johannesburg, places like Sophiatown, which for years

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have been a threat to the the public health and safety, were tackled with a vigour and energy.

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It was alleged that Bantu were dissatisfied and would refuse to move.

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In fact, they were happy to get away from

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these plague spots, where they had been obliged to live in thousands.

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AFRICANS SING

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TRANSLATION: We sang this song to let them know we didn't want to move.

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We all stood together before we got into the trucks.

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The Boers surrounded us. They were armed.

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We said, "We don't want to go to Meadowlands.

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"We want to stay here in Sophiatown."

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But they forced us into the trucks at gunpoint.

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There was no choice.

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Lorries transport the rejoicing Bantu, whose hearts are filled with happy expectations.

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They're on their way to a new home, Meadowlands, where one can breathe freely.

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I was shocked because there was nothing.

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There were no cinemas, no proper shops, no cafes,

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no playgrounds for children.

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No recreational opportunities.

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And I just, every night I saw these thousands of black people streaming

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into the township and in the morning they streamed out again.

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So it was actually only a slave camp, you can call it.

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In Johannesburg, premier city of South Africa, there was staged

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last weekend the first move in a campaign that may lead to civil disobedience.

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Thousands of coloured people went to attend a protest meeting called by the African National Congress.

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This is the most important African organisation in the union.

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And it called on all coloured people to protest against the racial segregation laws.

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What some of these laws involve is illustrated by our cameraman, Charles de Jaeger.

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He reports that a coloured man must always carry these passes.

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One pass permits him to reside in Johannesburg.

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Another, renewable monthly, permits him to seek work.

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If he is found without either, he is fined £1.

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All those who wanted to attend the Johannesburg meeting

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had to carry a special pass, calling on the police to admit people like Native Johnson.

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Despite these restrictions, which have been in existence for some time,

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a crowd of some thousands made their way to the meeting.

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According to the organisers, they numbered between 10 and 15,000.

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According to the police, there were only 4,000,

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but whatever their number, they made up a very orderly crowd.

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Several speakers addressed them and each speech was translated from Bantu into English.

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In the chair was Dr Dadu, the president of the South African Indian Congress.

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Each speaker urged his audience to take a solemn oath that they would muster all

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their forces to end the crushing conditions under which they lived.

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In conclusion, each speaker appealed to all coloured people to keep calm in this hour of crisis.

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Since then, the Congress leaders have announced that

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they will decide later this month whether to launch a civil disobedience campaign.

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This would urge all coloured people to break the unjust laws and to court arrest.

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It now became necessary to open a new chapter

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and that new chapter was for us to go to the highways,

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to mobilise more support.

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That support would not be mobilised simple

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by going into the townships and to the locations and calling meetings.

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It had to be mobilised through some form of political action.

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And we therefore advocated the idea of

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industrial strikes, boycotts and so on.

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And later, after we felt we had now

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quite a solid support amongst the masses,

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we then decided to select six laws which we felt were most oppressive.

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We would defy these laws and

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deliberately court jail

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and not pay fines,

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in order to focus attention on the repressive policies of the government.

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So we then got our chaps, got volunteers, trained them,

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pointed out that we want only people who believe in non-violence.

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We don't want anything to be done, which would

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give an excuse to the police to drown the muscles of people in blood.

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This book was the only book,

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which involved the life of a black person in South Africa.

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If you haven't got this book, you are nothing.

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It controlled the life of everybody.

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It controlled your work, it controlled your movement,

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it controlled your life as a whole. Without this book, you were nothing.

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It was a re-enactment of Nazi Germany.

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Except that the Nazis gave their Jews

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yellow stars to wear, so that they could be identifiable.

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In South Africa, you did not have to wear a yellow star but your skin,

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that was your yellow star.

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The skin, because you were black, it meant you had no right to be anywhere.

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So the pass laws reinforced that.

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They were a form of enslavement.

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You could not get a house unless you had a pass.

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You could not register your children for school unless you had a pass.

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You could not get a job unless you had a pass.

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You could not travel from one area to another unless you had a pass.

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It was the most humiliating type of document.

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You're walking in the street nicely, with your girlfriend, with your wife.

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Police comes.

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"Kaffir. Pass your pass."

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You were humiliated at once.

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TRANSLATION: There was a meeting to which we were all called

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to discuss these pass books.

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Chief Luthuli said they must be burned because we don't want these pass books.

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"The whites don't carry them so why should we always have to?

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"We should be like the Boers, white people, and not carry passes."

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The plan in general was that in all of the big cities of the country,

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people would then leave their passes at home and march to the local

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police stations, police stations where they were living at the time.

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Hand themselves over

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to be arrested by the police in the police stations, with the words, "We haven't got passes.

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"We've left them at home. Arrest us, because we have broken one of your laws.

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"What we are going to do, we are not going to have any bail.

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"We are not going to have any legal representation, and we are not going to pay any fine."

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We went down to the pass office.

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As we stood there, everybody was pouring in from the township, children, women, kids, you know.

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We were singing a song of Africa. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

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Singing, singing, waiting for the reply, people dancing, enjoying.

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They were all happy, these people.

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THEY SING

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-TRANSLATION:

-The police were outside

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when Captain Pienaar raised his baton.

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Some men were standing next to their armoured cars, then they got in and closed the hatches.

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There was another line of police in front of the armoured cars.

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They had their rifles at the ready.

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He dropped his baton and they shot us.

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After quite a while, everything was quiet.

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I pick up my hat

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and I look around, I look around and find everything is quiet.

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I find everybody, the bodies are laying down dead.

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My uncle died there,

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my younger brother,

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and my sister.

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Those are the people who died there.

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I've lost people that I loved and people that I needed.

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Sometimes, I sit down, I find my things are not going right and safe.

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My mother was here. My uncle was here. Then things would have went right.

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I saw a policeman taking

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his rifle butt to a woman, well, to several women, who were

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trying to retrieve the bodies of their, it would seem,

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friends or daughters or someone close to them.

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They weren't shot down but they were rifle-butted, so to speak, and kicked and booted.

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We may not have seen that the number of people who would be killed and injured and

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the way in which the event occurred, but it was always something in our contemplation,

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because that is how the government has always responded to our demands and

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our grievances,

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by being

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openly brutal,

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and responding purely by brutal suppression of our demands.

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It could have been a number of other places.

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It happened to be Sharpeville.

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The conditions that existed in Sharpeville existed in various parts of the country.

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I felt very, very bitter.

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Because I supposed to wait for myself to make a better living.

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Today I can do nothing.

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I can do nothing for myself.

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TRANSLATION: After I got hurt, I could not walk properly.

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I had to crawl like a baby if I wanted to move around.

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Because I only recently got these crutches.

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It was a peaceful march.

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And we were killed.

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From that day, we said,

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"As from now, we'll never again go marching peacefully to these institutions."

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From time to time in history, the name of an insignificant place

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burns itself into the memory of mankind simply because of something that happened there.

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Places like Guernica and Belsen and Little Rock.

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And today there may well be another - Sharpeville, near Johannesburg in South Africa.

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More than 60 Africans, including women and children, were killed

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and more than 170 were injured a week ago today, when the police opened fire on a crowd estimated at 20,000,

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which had surrounded Sharpeville Police Station.

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The shootings happened during a demonstration against the so-called pass laws.

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The hospitals of Sharpeville are still dealing with the injured.

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Already, the United States government has officially regretted what it called "a tragic loss of life."

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And this week, the Security Council will discuss the shootings.

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Meanwhile, the South African government

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has suspended the pass laws and has banned all political meetings.

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He's Robin Day.

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As the protests about the Sharpeville bloodshed grew,

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I discussed two questions with South Africans in London.

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Has the incident last week, and others like it,

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made you doubt whether the apartheid policies are wise and sensible?

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-Not in the least.

-Could I ask...?

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I think it's quite clear from the fact that they're trying to...

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Rather than solve the basic problems, they're trying to

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keep down, by force, the people who have legitimate aspirations and therefore they have these

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ruptures, like the riots.

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We're keeping them down by force at the present stage, as a result...

0:25:420:25:47

If this is an indication of keeping them down by force,

0:25:470:25:51

this was purely an uprising, as a result of one specific thing, which was passes.

0:25:510:25:58

Some people have seemed to think that the police

0:25:580:26:01

shot down innocent demonstrators.

0:26:010:26:04

Well, I mean, everyone who's seen a crowd of natives or Africans in

0:26:040:26:10

South Africa peacefully, will never forget it.

0:26:100:26:13

It's an unforgettable sight, I can assure you.

0:26:130:26:15

Can I put to you this argument, which is heard so often in this country, that the violence

0:26:150:26:20

which occurs is due to the suppression of the natural rights of the African majority?

0:26:200:26:28

I think that point is completely incorrect, because people that know the history of South Africa

0:26:280:26:34

will realise there was more violence in South Africa amongst the blacks, in which marauding impies

0:26:340:26:41

went and murdered and plundered entire tribes and killed them outright, before the whites arrived.

0:26:410:26:49

That, of course, is perfectly true, but this riot in Sharpville is the first official riot against...

0:26:490:26:55

specifically against government policy, which we have ever had in the union.

0:26:550:27:00

The essential tragedy of South Africa, and it is a tragic situation, is, effectively, you

0:27:000:27:04

have a modern 20th century culture impinging on what is virtually

0:27:040:27:08

a stone-age one, and obviously from that you're going to get bloodshed, misery and a lot of unhappiness.

0:27:080:27:14

It is in this huge industrial centre that

0:27:190:27:24

the most significant developments of the last few days have taken place,

0:27:240:27:28

the open and mounting concern of South Africa's businessmen.

0:27:280:27:33

It's been reported that some of them have been to see Dr Verwoerd

0:27:330:27:37

to demand changes in policy.

0:27:370:27:39

Here is Mr George Palmer of the Johannesburg Financial Mail,

0:27:390:27:44

who is an economist and an adviser to Johannesburg businessmen.

0:27:440:27:49

What is the feeling among South African businessmen about the crisis?

0:27:490:27:53

It is absolutely essential to the future of South African industry for

0:27:530:27:57

there to be a contented, industrial, African labour force.

0:27:570:28:01

Without that, industry cannot develop at the pace which it must if

0:28:010:28:06

sufficient employment opportunities are to be given to the country's growing labour force.

0:28:060:28:12

Without that, there can be no fundamental attack

0:28:120:28:16

on the poverty of the African in the towns, which is one of the main causes of the present discontent.

0:28:160:28:24

What pressure can be put upon the government?

0:28:240:28:27

Well, the government has, in the past, taken great heed of the views of commerce

0:28:270:28:33

and industry because it realises that commerce and industry provide

0:28:330:28:38

the wealth and the prosperity to the country without which no government can continue long in power.

0:28:380:28:43

And here is one of Johannesburg's leading businessmen, Mr Colin Corbett,

0:28:430:28:48

who's a former president of the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce.

0:28:480:28:53

What would be the most important change businessmen want to see?

0:28:530:28:56

I would say that this question of consultation is absolutely pre-eminent.

0:28:560:29:03

-With the African?

-With the African directly.

0:29:030:29:07

And out of that must come the various things that they most want to see redressed.

0:29:070:29:15

I feel particularly that the very strict control of the pass laws

0:29:150:29:20

is unfortunate and it has lead, in my view, to a steadily deteriorating relationship in the past two years.

0:29:200:29:28

Would you like to see some of the more responsible

0:29:280:29:31

African political leaders allowed to be free and to consult with the government?

0:29:310:29:36

That is undoubted, because although our knowledge of them

0:29:360:29:41

is not as precise as it might be, we have the feeling that a man, for instance, like Luthuli,

0:29:410:29:49

is a man of sterling character and undoubted moral integrity.

0:29:490:29:54

But if you are going to consult more with the Africans, and if you want to release men like Luthuli,

0:29:540:30:01

the African leader, doesn't that mean that

0:30:010:30:03

you are moving inevitably towards some sort of multi-racial state?

0:30:030:30:08

That's a natural question and must have a natural answer, and the answer is yes,

0:30:080:30:14

that there must be, and nobody is going to stop it.

0:30:140:30:17

Nobody, that is, at present or in the future, can stop the development

0:30:170:30:23

of these people who are with us in a closely knit multi-racial society.

0:30:230:30:29

On May 31st, the government of Dr Verwoerd will celebrate Republic Day,

0:30:350:30:41

a day that will be marked for ever as the day on which South Africa left the Commonwealth after 51 years.

0:30:410:30:49

Now, what do the people of South Africa think about Dr Verwoerd's

0:30:490:30:53

decision to make their future outside the Commonwealth?

0:30:530:30:56

We as British speaking people don't like it.

0:30:560:30:59

We didn't want it, but now that it's happened, we've got to make the best of it.

0:30:590:31:03

Do you feel that having been rejected by so many hundreds of millions of

0:31:030:31:07

people in the Commonwealth indicates that you in some way failed?

0:31:070:31:11

I don't agree that we were rejected by hundreds of people.

0:31:110:31:15

We were rejected by a few people who were representing

0:31:150:31:18

hundreds of people in the Commonwealth.

0:31:180:31:20

Do you as an Afrikaner feel that you can pursue apartheid now, surrounded by hostile African states?

0:31:200:31:26

The hostility is towards what they regard as suppression.

0:31:260:31:29

If we can prove to the world that it is not suppression but a desire to

0:31:290:31:33

let the non-Europeans develop, then the hostility will stop.

0:31:330:31:37

As a non-white here,

0:31:370:31:40

we are conscious that there must be some kind of pressure put on the rulers of this country

0:31:400:31:46

to bring about a change in our political status.

0:31:460:31:49

While in the Commonwealth, we were protected, to a certain extent, from world criticism.

0:31:490:31:57

The criticism of the world was cushioned, in a certain way,

0:31:570:32:00

by England and Australia and friendly countries.

0:32:000:32:03

Now we're alone.

0:32:030:32:05

Now all this criticism has been borne in upon us

0:32:050:32:07

with the utmost vigour and emphasis, and I think leaving the Commonwealth has had that effect,

0:32:070:32:13

and made us realise exactly where we stand.

0:32:130:32:17

Two days before South Africa became a republic,

0:32:230:32:26

a stayaway strike was organised throughout the country in protest.

0:32:260:32:29

But most Africans went to work.

0:32:290:32:32

10,000 of them were arrested before the strike began.

0:32:320:32:35

The army was fully mobilised, and an African knows he can be jailed for three years if he dares to strike.

0:32:350:32:40

I went to see the man who organised the stayaway,

0:32:450:32:48

a 42-year-old African lawyer, Nelson Mandela, the most dynamic leader in South Africa today.

0:32:480:32:54

The police were hunting for him at the time, but

0:32:570:33:00

African nationalists had arranged for me to meet him at his hideout.

0:33:000:33:03

He is still underground.

0:33:030:33:05

This is Mandela's first television interview.

0:33:050:33:09

I asked him what it was that the African really wanted.

0:33:090:33:12

The Africans require,

0:33:120:33:15

want,

0:33:150:33:17

the franchise on the basis of one-man, one-vote.

0:33:170:33:21

They want political independence.

0:33:210:33:24

Do you see Africans being able to develop in this country without the European being pushed out?

0:33:240:33:31

We have made it very clear in our policy

0:33:310:33:35

that South Africa is a country of many races.

0:33:350:33:39

There is room for all the various races in this country.

0:33:390:33:43

Are there many educated Africans in South Africa?

0:33:430:33:46

Yes.

0:33:460:33:48

We have a large number of Africans who are educated

0:33:480:33:52

and are taking part in the political struggles of the African.

0:33:520:33:56

The question of education has nothing to do with the question of the vote.

0:33:560:34:01

You don't have to have education in order to know that you want

0:34:010:34:06

certain fundamental rights, you have got aspirations and claims.

0:34:060:34:10

It has nothing to do with education.

0:34:100:34:12

Are you planning any more campaigns of non-cooperation?

0:34:120:34:15

Yes.

0:34:150:34:17

The Pietermaritzburg resolution makes provision for a campaign of non-cooperation with the government,

0:34:170:34:24

and we are presently starting plans to implement this aspect of the resolution.

0:34:240:34:30

If Dr Verwoerd's government doesn't give you

0:34:300:34:33

the kind of concessions you want some time soon, is there any likelihood of violence?

0:34:330:34:39

There are many people who feel that the reaction of the government to our stay at home -

0:34:390:34:46

ordering of a general mobilisation, arming the white community, arresting ten thousands of Africans,

0:34:480:34:55

the show of force throughout the country,

0:34:550:34:59

not withstanding our clear declaration

0:34:590:35:02

that this campaign is being run on peaceful and non-violent lines -

0:35:020:35:07

closed the chapter as far as our methods of political struggle are concerned.

0:35:070:35:11

There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile for us

0:35:110:35:16

to continue talking peace and non-violence against a Government whose reply is only savage attacks

0:35:160:35:24

on an unarmed and defenceless people.

0:35:240:35:27

I think the time has come for us to consider,

0:35:270:35:30

in the light of our experiences in the stay at home,

0:35:300:35:35

whether the methods which we have applied so far are adequate.

0:35:350:35:38

There have been growing protests from all over the world today, and

0:35:440:35:49

particularly in the United Nations and in Parliament

0:35:490:35:52

at the sentence of life imprisonment passed in South Africa on Friday on this man, Nelson Mandela.

0:35:520:35:58

Mandela, who is a lawyer, is an African national leader in South Africa.

0:35:580:36:05

He and seven fellow prisoners accused, with him, of sabotage were all

0:36:050:36:12

condemned to life imprisonment after a trial that lasted eight months.

0:36:120:36:18

Robin Day, who had gone to South Africa to see the republic's reaction to growing pressure from the world

0:36:180:36:23

outside over its policy of apartheid, and in particular the threat of economic sanctions,

0:36:230:36:29

was in court in Pretoria during the last two days of the trial.

0:36:290:36:33

CROWD CHANT

0:36:370:36:42

HE SHOUTS

0:36:440:36:46

A remarkable demonstration by a crowd of several hundred outside the courthouse in Pretoria,

0:36:490:36:54

the courthouse in which Mr Justice de Wet delivered sentence

0:36:540:36:58

in the sabotage trial, which had lasted 86 days.

0:36:580:37:01

Nelson Mandela, whose wife you just saw, leader and

0:37:010:37:05

founder of the sabotage movement and a leading member of African National Congress, was accused

0:37:050:37:12

with the others of plotting sabotage to overthrow the South African government by force and revolution.

0:37:120:37:17

The verdict of guilty on eight of the nine accused was

0:37:170:37:21

not altogether surprising, because Nelson Mandela himself and others had admitted guilt on certain charges.

0:37:210:37:26

Mandela had declared in court "I planned sabotage because all lawful methods of opposition were closed.

0:37:260:37:33

"I have cherished the ideal of democratic society with equal opportunity for all.

0:37:330:37:37

"That is an ideal," he said, "for which am prepared to die."

0:37:370:37:40

The next day, armed police massed in even greater force as

0:37:400:37:44

Mr Justice de Wet was passing sentence, his words recorded for the government radio.

0:37:440:37:49

RADIO: 'The crime of which the accused have been convicted, that is

0:37:490:37:54

'the main crime, the crime of conspiracy, is in essence one of high treason.

0:37:540:37:59

'The state has decided not to charge

0:37:590:38:02

'the crime in this form.

0:38:020:38:05

'Bearing this in mind and giving the matter very serious consideration,

0:38:050:38:09

'I have decided not to impose the supreme penalty,

0:38:090:38:14

'which in a case like this would usually be the probability for the crime.'

0:38:140:38:19

What has been the result of this trial?

0:38:190:38:22

The South African government has crushed a plot to overthrow

0:38:220:38:25

the South African government by sabotage and revolution, with communist assistance.

0:38:250:38:31

But the supreme question still faces the South African people.

0:38:310:38:35

If the black inhabitants of South Africa are not allowed a share in their government, will not

0:38:350:38:40

leaders arise who are bound to see no alternative but violence and alliance with communists?

0:38:400:38:46

At the back entrance to the Pretoria court, large crowds gather to watch

0:38:480:38:52

the accused being driven away to start their life sentences.

0:38:520:38:57

CROWD SINGS

0:38:580:39:02

And outside the Pretoria court, Nelson Mandela's wife

0:39:020:39:06

stood with the crowd around her singing the African freedom song.

0:39:060:39:10

After the sentences had been passed, I spoke to her alone.

0:39:100:39:13

Well, I am slightly relieved. It could have been far worse than this.

0:39:130:39:17

In fact, my people and I expected death sentences for all the accused.

0:39:170:39:23

Could you explain to us in your words what it is that your husband has been aiming at and what he has been doing?

0:39:230:39:31

My husband has been fighting for the liberation of the African people,

0:39:310:39:35

for the working harmoniously of all the racial groups in this country.

0:39:350:39:40

We admit that we did many of the things that you accuse us of

0:39:460:39:50

but we should not be in the dock.

0:39:500:39:53

We were forced to do the things which are contraventions of your laws because we had no option.

0:39:530:40:00

I said to our chaps

0:40:000:40:03

"We are going to die in any case.

0:40:030:40:06

"Let's disappear under a cloud of glory.

0:40:060:40:10

"Let's show them that you can use their platform to fight them".

0:40:100:40:15

The idea

0:40:150:40:17

of a democratic and free society, it is an ideal for which I hope to live

0:40:170:40:23

for and to see realised.

0:40:250:40:27

But my Lord,

0:40:290:40:31

if it needs be, it is an ideal

0:40:310:40:34

for which I am prepared to die.

0:40:360:40:39

Right up to the time when the judge said, "Stand up for your sentence"

0:40:400:40:45

on 12th June 1964, we expected the death sentence.

0:40:450:40:50

So there was a collective sigh of relief when he said, "Life imprisonment, with hard labour."

0:40:540:41:00

The vast majority of the white people expected the death sentence

0:41:000:41:03

to be imposed, and they were disappointed that it was not.

0:41:030:41:07

What was their view of Mandela then?

0:41:070:41:10

He was a terrorist.

0:41:100:41:11

If you asked ten white people,

0:41:140:41:18

what was Mandela's occupation,

0:41:180:41:22

nine would not have known that he was an attorney.

0:41:220:41:25

He was just a black terrorist.

0:41:270:41:30

Everyone here is breaking the law.

0:41:360:41:38

It's a secret African school.

0:41:380:41:40

Africans may now be taught only in state schools.

0:41:400:41:43

There, the teaching is in native languages.

0:41:430:41:45

Africans think this is done to keep them inferior.

0:41:450:41:49

They say it's no good learning arithmetic in a native tongue.

0:41:490:41:52

To get round the law and use English, they're pretending that this is a club.

0:41:520:41:57

All these games are really mathematic classes.

0:41:570:42:00

INAUDIBLE

0:42:000:42:01

Children learn to add in English by keeping the score playing marbles.

0:42:050:42:09

Even so, the headmaster and one teacher have been arrested,

0:42:090:42:13

but the secret schools will go on because Africans have a desire for progress.

0:42:130:42:17

They know they can only get it by learning the techniques of the Western world.

0:42:170:42:23

All the other information about the outside world was extracted

0:42:230:42:27

like a tooth out of our education system.

0:42:270:42:30

What was left was the skewed sense of an education,

0:42:300:42:36

which prepared us to be good servants, and nothing else.

0:42:360:42:39

What is it?

0:42:390:42:41

It is a piece of soap.

0:42:410:42:45

-All together? ALL:

-It is a piece of soap.

0:42:450:42:48

You say "I want to be a teacher, I want to be a lawyer, I want to be a doctor, I want to be an architect."

0:42:480:42:54

Your parents would say, "Those are dreams for white children"."

0:42:540:42:59

MAN SPEAKS AFRIKAANS

0:43:060:43:10

Afrikaans was difficult as a subject, so we couldn't imagine having to do subjects

0:43:120:43:18

like history and mathematics and all what have you.

0:43:180:43:24

So we had to indicate that we don't want Afrikaans.

0:43:240:43:28

Initially, our aim was not to destroy.

0:43:280:43:31

The aim was a peaceful demonstration.

0:43:310:43:34

THEY SING

0:43:350:43:37

Suddenly, a tear gas went off.

0:43:420:43:46

We didn't understand what was tear gas.

0:43:460:43:49

As we were retreating, trying to resist,

0:43:490:43:51

tempers flared and we started throwing stones to the police.

0:43:510:43:55

And the children were around there and running away, running this way.

0:44:010:44:05

And all these mothers, they would stand outside here and cry

0:44:050:44:10

"Stop, stop shooting our children!

0:44:100:44:12

"Stop shooting our children!"

0:44:120:44:14

The children were running over here and

0:44:140:44:16

coming to our houses and hiding themselves.

0:44:160:44:20

THEY SHOUT

0:44:200:44:23

We went on burning property, everything that was owned by whites in the township.

0:44:300:44:38

Post office, municipality office, it was just a target, because it was

0:44:380:44:42

the government's things, so we had to destroy all those.

0:44:420:44:45

We went to those shopping centres which were on fire, and we were looting.

0:44:450:44:49

To us, we were taking what belonged to the white men, what belonged

0:44:490:44:54

to the system.

0:44:540:44:56

GUNFIRE

0:45:060:45:08

SIRENS WAIL

0:45:080:45:10

GUNFIRE

0:45:100:45:13

I think police pressure is only successful now in containing

0:45:260:45:32

black consciousness, but not in killing it.

0:45:320:45:37

You cannot compare the results of police action in 1963 and '64 to the results now.

0:45:370:45:45

In '63 and '64, they managed, for instance, to eliminate all

0:45:450:45:49

political discussion even when black people were alone, purely by

0:45:490:45:56

their security spies, who were everywhere amongst black people, and because of the resultant

0:45:560:46:04

problems if you were caught talking politics, criticising the Government and eventually arrested.

0:46:040:46:11

But now the numbers are so much, so much more than that time, that it would take something like

0:46:110:46:18

20 times the present police force to completely obliterate political activity amongst blacks.

0:46:180:46:25

And blacks are speaking with a new pride now.

0:46:250:46:28

The kind of unrest situation which was prevalent in this country

0:46:280:46:33

last year is only possible because nowadays, we have a breed of young people

0:46:330:46:40

who couldn't be bothered or be scared at the prospect of being shot at by police.

0:46:400:46:47

They have something that they detest, and they detest this with pride.

0:46:470:46:51

Now with the numerous deaths that we have suffered in

0:46:510:46:56

Soweto and the many black townships where people were killed,

0:46:560:47:00

we find a new

0:47:000:47:03

kind of empathy, because these are parents.

0:47:030:47:06

They have got their kids being killed. And like parents, they are also angry.

0:47:060:47:11

Now, the comrades of the young ones feel, "We cannot lose our brothers and sisters for nothing."

0:47:110:47:17

The parents feel, "We cannot lose our sons and daughters for nothing."

0:47:170:47:21

So there is a kind of common rallying point now between the young and old.

0:47:210:47:26

THEY CHANT

0:47:320:47:36

Millions of blacks inside South Africa are convinced

0:47:360:47:40

that the revolution will come,

0:47:400:47:42

that they are now writing the epitaph on white South Africa's grave.

0:47:420:47:48

That 4 million whites cannot for ever rule 20 million blacks.

0:47:480:47:52

That one day, the land of South Africa will be theirs, stained with their blood if needs be.

0:47:540:48:00

We are fighting for power in the country.

0:48:000:48:05

We have a just cause on our side.

0:48:050:48:08

It IS our country.

0:48:080:48:10

We are settled here. It's our land.

0:48:100:48:14

We fought for it, we've worked for it, this is ours.

0:48:140:48:18

These sons of farmers are professional men.

0:48:180:48:20

Artisans and technicians have left their tractors, desks and machines

0:48:200:48:25

to man the mechanised power of South Africa's defence force.

0:48:250:48:28

Whatever the cost, white South Africa will give its blood as unsparingly as those who seek to destroy it.

0:48:310:48:38

THEY SING

0:48:380:48:40

The South African security forces believe there are at least 4,000 guerrillas

0:48:400:48:44

under training in camps in Mozambique, Angola and other frontline states.

0:48:440:48:50

The guerrillas' song is about 1976, about June 16th.

0:48:500:48:53

These young guerrillas here are outside the borders of South Africa.

0:48:530:48:58

We cannot identify the location, and we cannot show who they are for reasons of security.

0:48:580:49:03

All we can say is that many of these young people left Soweto five years ago

0:49:030:49:07

in the aftermath of the riots of June 1976.

0:49:070:49:11

What makes you think you can defeat

0:49:110:49:14

the most powerful army in Africa?

0:49:140:49:18

But the Americans weren't defending their own country.

0:49:320:49:35

White South Africa is.

0:49:350:49:37

THEY SING

0:49:480:49:53

The guerrillas sing of the man they regard as their leader, the jailed nationalist Nelson Mandela.

0:49:530:49:59

"Show us the way to victory," say the words. "Freedom is in your hands."

0:49:590:50:03

Nelson Mandela was the first commander-in-chief

0:50:050:50:07

of the ANC's guerrilla army when it was founded 20 years ago.

0:50:070:50:11

That's why he's spent the past 19 years in a South African jail.

0:50:110:50:15

Our people, the African majority, have become convinced and have realised

0:50:170:50:22

out of their own bitter experience that they will have to reply the gun

0:50:220:50:25

by the gun and that the thousands of young people who were murdered in June 1976 shall surely be avenged.

0:50:250:50:33

Well planned acts of sabotage have convinced white South Africa that the words are more than mere bravado.

0:50:370:50:44

Since 1976, the guerrilla campaign has escalated.

0:50:440:50:47

In 1977, there were 11 reported attacks, mostly of the bombing of railway lines.

0:50:470:50:53

The first of the exiles were returning to South Africa, now fully-trained guerrillas.

0:50:530:50:58

In 1978, the pattern continued with 15 further bombings and shootings.

0:50:580:51:03

The police believe the guerrillas were now engaged

0:51:030:51:06

in detailed reconnaissance and establishing cells and arms caches.

0:51:060:51:10

In 1979, the attacks became more sophisticated.

0:51:100:51:14

In May, three guerrillas hit a police station in Soweto with hand grenades and guns.

0:51:140:51:19

One policeman was killed.

0:51:190:51:20

The attacks on police stations marked a new stage in the campaign.

0:51:200:51:24

More were to follow.

0:51:240:51:26

In April 1980, the ANC rocketed a police station in a white area of Johannesburg using a Russian RPG-7.

0:51:260:51:34

But above all, it was the simultaneous attacks on two Sasol refineries

0:51:340:51:39

150 miles apart in June last year that convinced most whites that the ANC guerrillas were a real threat.

0:51:390:51:47

Russian limpet mines sent the refineries sky high, the damage running to millions of pounds.

0:51:470:51:53

Most recently, a fortnight ago, during the Republic Day celebrations,

0:51:530:51:57

the ANC blew up the main Johannesburg to Soweto railway line.

0:51:570:52:02

They also bombed an army recruiting office in Durban, where the main celebrations were being held.

0:52:020:52:07

In all over the last four years, there have been 62 officially

0:52:070:52:11

reported acts of sabotage in South Africa.

0:52:110:52:14

When you were released from jail three years ago, people thought that

0:52:210:52:25

black majority was going to take over government in this country.

0:52:250:52:29

It now seems that you're planning to share power after three years with the whites.

0:52:290:52:33

Why are you doing that?

0:52:330:52:35

Well, the process has always been our idea.

0:52:350:52:40

We have never thought of

0:52:400:52:44

anything romantic in taking over power.

0:52:440:52:48

We have to phase our assumption of power in accordance with the conditions of,

0:52:500:52:57

the concrete conditions in our country.

0:52:570:53:00

But why can't you, as the majority, simply say, "Your time, the creators

0:53:000:53:05

"of apartheid, is over, and we're coming in?"

0:53:050:53:08

If we had achieved a military victory in the battlefield, that was possible.

0:53:080:53:15

But once you negotiate, you need a different standard altogether.

0:53:150:53:22

The problem that is facing us here is not so much

0:53:220:53:26

winning a general election.

0:53:260:53:28

We are confident we will win.

0:53:280:53:31

But the problem that faces us is to retain political power and

0:53:310:53:37

defend it.

0:53:370:53:38

And the concept of a government of national unity

0:53:380:53:44

is based on the fact that to take over,

0:53:440:53:50

to assume political power, is going to be

0:53:500:53:52

a protracted process, because it means

0:53:520:53:58

we have to gain control of the civil service,

0:53:580:54:03

of the army,

0:54:030:54:05

of the police force, the co-operation of business.

0:54:050:54:09

These three services were built up in order to defend apartheid.

0:54:090:54:16

White minority rule.

0:54:160:54:18

And if we are going to retain power,

0:54:180:54:22

we have to gain control of these three services, which cannot be done overnight.

0:54:220:54:30

We don't question the rights of any party, including the ANC.

0:54:380:54:42

We are in a discussion with the government.

0:54:420:54:46

But we resolve that any party, with the government,

0:54:460:54:50

should reach an understanding and make a decision, which impacts on

0:54:500:54:55

the rest of South Africans without any representation of the rest of us.

0:54:550:55:00

That is the crux of this demonstration.

0:55:000:55:04

Insistent that his Zulu interests are being overlooked, Buthelezi is proclaiming his support

0:55:060:55:11

for a separate solution for his region of Natal.

0:55:110:55:14

THEY CHANT

0:55:140:55:16

He wants the white areas of Natal to merge with the black in a new state.

0:55:160:55:21

It would be called Quazulu Natal.

0:55:210:55:24

Many of Natal's whites endorse this plan to go it alone.

0:55:240:55:28

It would be a quarter of the population of South Africa.

0:55:280:55:32

Virtually self-governing, it would be almost an independent state within the country.

0:55:320:55:38

How do you pursue that course when you know that

0:55:380:55:42

other parties to negotiations like the ANC are totally opposed to it?

0:55:420:55:47

Well, do you imply that because ANC is opposed to something, I must abandon it?

0:55:470:55:52

I think that if we want to talk about democracy, we

0:55:520:55:55

have as much right as the ANC to put our point of view.

0:55:550:55:59

Not everything the ANC stands for are things that we would ever support,

0:55:590:56:04

even if it means death.

0:56:040:56:06

Is it unreasonable in your view for chief minister Buthelezi to want power in his region of South Africa

0:56:060:56:13

and not for the power to be held at the centre by the ANC? Is that unreasonable?

0:56:130:56:19

Well, let us leave that

0:56:190:56:23

to the voters in South Africa.

0:56:230:56:27

If Chief Buthelezi believes in democracy,

0:56:270:56:31

then democracy means

0:56:310:56:34

that we should abide by the decision of the masses of the people.

0:56:340:56:39

-The majority?

-Not have to impose

0:56:390:56:42

our views

0:56:420:56:44

on the people, on the voters.

0:56:440:56:47

That is what has happened in this country since union.

0:56:470:56:52

Why would you want a change in that position now?

0:56:520:56:58

Good evening from South Africa, where blacks have been voting in

0:57:050:57:08

a national election for the first time in history.

0:57:080:57:11

The moment of their liberation has arrived.

0:57:110:57:13

It was seven o'clock in the morning, the day when power began to pass from the minority to the majority.

0:57:150:57:21

Those white politicians here who used to maintain that black people had no interest in politics

0:57:210:57:27

and didn't understand it couldn't have been more wrong.

0:57:270:57:30

We have had this dream that one day, things will come right for us.

0:57:300:57:36

So now's the time, now's the day.

0:57:360:57:38

Never mind the bombings and things, they don't mean nothing.

0:57:380:57:42

We are going forward.

0:57:420:57:44

Finally, after long hours of waiting, the moment came.

0:57:440:57:48

People who had never before been consulted about their future were finally making their views known.

0:57:480:57:54

Many of the elderly white people who voted seemed to share this sense of a new beginning.

0:57:540:57:59

I'm very excited.

0:57:590:58:00

It raised my blood pressure.

0:58:000:58:03

I was very happy that we're doing the right thing.

0:58:030:58:07

Today the new South Africa,

0:58:070:58:10

which was our vision for such a long time, is being born.

0:58:100:58:15

It's a good news day for South Africa and all its people.

0:58:150:58:18

Today is a day like no other before it.

0:58:180:58:24

Voting in our first free and fair election has begun.

0:58:260:58:31

Today marks the dawn of our freedom.

0:58:340:58:38

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:58:400:58:43

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0:58:430:58:47

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