Verwoerd's Illusions
From KENNETH MACKENZIE
CAPE TOWN
LA.. week, for the second time in three months, I was able to watch a great mass of citizens marching through the streets of Cape 1 own. This time it was a very respectable, un- exciting affair, but an interesting one neverthe- less. The Archbishop of Cape Town and a former Chief Justice of South Africa were in the lead; behind them marching to the beat of muffled drums were 10,000 people, mostly respectably dressed Whites, with about 20 per cent. Coloureds and only a handful of Africans. It was, in these Intimidating days, a surprisingly large number of people to turn out on a sunny public holiday In answer to a fairly strongly-worded political call: instead of celebrating the fiftieth anniver- sary of Union, they were to acknowledge that 'the injustice of racial discrimination disgraces our land' and to dedicate themselves to 'achiev- ing inter-racial justice on the basis of govern- ment by consent.'
The march took us from a statue of Van Riebeeck on the Foreshore, through the centre of the city, to the old Drill Hall. It was a relaxed and pleasant walk. And all the way I was think- ing of that other tense and terrifying march, two months ago, when young Philip Kgosana came in from Langa to negotiate with the Govern- ment with 30,000 silent but angry Africans at his back.
More has been heard from Kgosana since that day. He was brought from the prison in which he is being detained to give evidence before the Commission of Inquiry into the Langa riots. He is still all in one piece (1 owe the police an apology for suggesting that they would beat him up) and he showed he still has about him that same difficult-to-explain star quality. There were other African witnesses who gave a more coherent statement of the Pan-Africanist position and who displayed greater intellectual equip- ment, but there were none who could generate the same amount of electricity, who could create the same excitement and tension just by talking from the witness box.
Now he is appearing in another court in the dock, together with twenty-nine other Africans, charged with incitement. a charge which brought the Johannesburg Pan-Africanist leaders terms of imprisonment of up to three years. Not un- expectedly, Kgosana is acting as spokesman for those who have chosen not to have legal repre- sentation. He is a born leader of men, and my respect for him grows in spite of my distrust for many of the Pan-Africanist policies.
Thinking of him, and trying to visualise how things might appear through his eyes, gave an odd perspective to the speech that Dr. Verwoerd delivered at the grotesque Bloemfontein celebra- tions that afternoon. After appealing for unity with the English-speaking South Africans (which he won't get), Dr. Verwoerd went on: 'Out of their union must follow a great White nation, flanked by satisfied and prosperous Black neigh- bours set up and aided by them.'
There are no prosperous Black neighbours and there never will be. There are a few broken-down 'Native reserves' and millions of urban Africans, the most politically mature proletariat on the continent, demanding political rights now, and in the cities in which they live.
Dr. Verwoerd does not look in their direction. Instead he works himself into a lather over the republic question. Only a tiny minority of the Whites—the non-Whites have more import- ant things to worry about—care whether the fellow who rides in the coach at the, opening of Parliament is called a Governor-General or a President. But it is useful for Dr. Verwoerd to keep on at the issue in that it keeps his party on the offensive; it is like kicking for touch.
But reality is pressing in. The businessmen are restive about the lack of foreign capital. Soon the game will be over and real politics will start again.
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