Afrikaner greed
Sir: The revived intensity of interest in South Africa has caused outsiders like Richard West (`At war with the twentieth century' 17 January) to see at least — and t0 broadcast their new vision — that the real _cal defenders of the status quo in South Ztrica are the Afrikaner Nationalists. lain descendants of the Boers, I wrote in :10 McLeod's Spectator in 1964, 'who its the British Empire at the height of they Power, and though, after three years, t ey lost the war, had the tenacity and skill win the patched-up peace that so well • • . may not be able to succeed so t ell again, but they can be expected to rY. The difference between that old view and Mr West's is, that like all South Africans whose goal is a non-racial demo- cracy, I define the Afrikaner Nationalists' dominant motivation as racism and greed,
and not, as does Mr West, the 'love of the land of Africa, or, that meaningless cop- out, 'the 20th century'. Defend racism and greed if you choose, but please don't conceal this in Van der Postian humbug.
Randolph Vigne
53 Cornwall Gardens, London SW7
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