APARTHEID AND THE PRESS
SIR,—Mr. Mackenzie reports that. a South. African journalist will appear on a subversion charge arising from a cable sent to the paper Contact, and con- cludes that 'the South African Government is taking considerable trouble to ensure that the world shall not have the facts available for a genuine debate on apartheid.
How ironic this observation seems, in view of the demonstrable fact that any genuine and objective discussion of South African racial problems has been hindered by the irresponsibly 'free' world press, whose hidden censorship of information by means of selective reporting and distortion has long misled public opinion. Even Patrick van Rensburg admitted in his Guilty Land (p. 126) that 'there have been a number of false and exaggerated reports in the press abroad,' and no one can dispute the violently anti-Nationalist bias of the Rand press and its English-language associates, at home in the Republic.
Faced with constant misrepresentation in the organs of international communication, and over- seas incitement of racial hatred and internal disorder, the Afrikaner people now have no choice but to defend their ancient homeland with all the means available to a modern nation in mortal peril. Let the Spectator face this crucial issue, instead of drivelling about such trifles as the reputation of George Matanzima.
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