Regarded with Loathing
ONE consolation that can be drawn from the events in South Africa is their salutary effect on the Central African Federation. By all accounts members of the Dominion Party, who were beginning to think in terms of apartheid, are now being forced to think again; and suppor- ters of the Welensky/Whitehead axis have begun to realise that the pace of their progress towards a multi-racial society has been far too slow.
The Central African Examiner, a useful weathervane to show winds of change in Federal circles, is now arguing that the policy of racial partnership must be implemented much faster than it has been in the past. In its current issue it points out that pass laws still exist in parts of the Federation, and 'the Rhodesias cannot afford to lose any time in removing these unnecessary and provocative measures.' More surprisingly, it calls for a boycott. It wants Rhodesians to shun Dr. Verwoerd on his visit to Rhodesia in September. This plea was written before the assassination attempt, and possibly the visit will now be called off; but it is significant that it should have been made. The Examiner's conclusion, too, is worthy of note: the best course for members of the Federation, it argues, is to avoid anything which 'identifies our multi-racial country with one whose White Supremacy policy is rightly regarded with loathing by the entire civilised world.'
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