Vorster's courage
Richard West
When John Vorster became Prime Minister of South Africa in 1966, his appointment was welcomed in print by Bernard Levin, who said that a man so brutal and bigoted was certain to hurry on the collapse of the apartheid regime. Today, with Vorster departed to take up the office of President, it might be said that after his twelve years as Premier, the government of South Africa is weaker than ever before. Of course he cannot be blamed for such outside events as the end of Portuguese rule in Mozambique and Angola, the Soviet-Cuban military intervention, or the revolt in Rhodesia, which in fact Vorster always strove to avoid by persuading Smith to accept black majority rule.
On the home front, John Vorster did in certain respects live up to Bernard Levin's prediction. Although he is personally neither a brute nor bigot, he has frequently and for reasons of National Party politics failed to restrain his brutal and bigoted underlings. He must take responsbility for the riots in African townships in 1976, sparked off by the efforts of certain fanatic civil servants to impose the use of the Afrikaans language on African schools: And Vorster, himself a former Minister of Police and Justice, has failed to prevent the apparently almost ritual beatings given out to blacks in the custody of the police. In particular he refused to sack the present' Minister of Police and Justice Jimmy Kruger for his handling of the Steve Biko scandal, In most other respects, John Vorster has shown a political courage and imagination quite out of keeping with that caricature of a boorish Boer that Bernard Levin produced -twelve years ago. In spite of problems, like Rhodesia, that have largely been wished on Africa by meddling outside powers, Mr Vorster has managed to stay on speaking terms with most neighbouring African leaders, even those like Kaunda and Machel (of Mozambique) who are hostile, ideologically, to the apartheid system. He is held in respect, if certainly not affection, by African leaders who feel only contempt for ignorant meddlers like Andrew Young and David 'outstandingly able' Owen.
At home, in spite of some superficial reforms, John Vorster has failed to provide a system of equal justice for whites, Asians, coloureds, and several nations of blacks within one state. It could be and is argued that for the sake of political principle — our principle, not that of the Afrikaners Mr Vorster should open the country to black majority rule, with whatever consequence to the white, coloured, Asian and black tribal minorities. But given that Mr Vorster refuses to give 'one man one vote', he has not done too badly with his alternative policy of creating black, independent homelands such as the Transkei. If I do not believe that his policy can work, it is because I believe that none can work in a region like Southern Africa of such racial and national mixture.
The white South Africans, even the liberal opposition, regard John Vorster with an immense respect, in spite of or maybe because of his dour appearance in photographs and TV. It is instructive to see him on TV in England, especially after watching a speech or interview from one of our own politicians. It is instantly clear that Mr Vorster has not been trained in how to create a good TV 'image'; he does not bother with make-up or showing his best profile, or gazing 'into camera', or saying 'quite frankly' or 'seriously', or even smiling — although I am told that in private he can be quite amusing. The viewer receives not the 'image', but the impression of a man who is telling the truth and what he believes; a pleasant change from the bogus bluffness of Denis Healey or the oleaginous stage-uncle posturings of James Callaghan.
The National Party caucus will vote this Thursday on who shall succeed Mr Vorster, so that unless there are several votes, you should know the identity of the new Prime Minister by the time you have read this article. However since there are only three candidates for the job and the two unsuccessful men will remain important in South African politics, I make no apology for having to offer this guide to form after the race is over.
The man most in the Vorster mould, the man that Bernard Levin might wel come as seeming most likely to rouse opposition in and outside South Africa, is P.W. Botha, the Minister of Defence, and what the Americans call a 'hawk' and others might call an ostrich. He organised the invasion of Angola three years ago and lost some prestige when the troops were withdrawn, as Botha would argue, because of the treachery of the United States. Last year I heard him address a National Party meeting in East London and thought him a hard man, if not a 'teppisch fresser' or carpet-chewer, as described to me on that morning by Donald Woods, the now exiled journalist. He even attempted a joke with a heckler who had demanded more rights for women by saying 'I cannot answer that question because I did not see your face'. It may not have been very funny but it was gentler treatment than a heckler would have received from Hitler, the arch `teppisch fresser'. Whereas P.W. Botha has most of the Cape Province vote, his main rival, Con nie Mulder, is said to be backed by the Transvaalers in the caucus. He is a sauve, humorous man by the standards of his party, and has spent much of his energy trying to improve South Africa's 'public relations image' abroad, partly by means of 'hidden methods' and 'unconventional diplomacy'. Whatever effect this had on South Africa's image, it stirred up the Jealousy of conventional diplomats and of BOSS, the intelligence service. There was some gloating in Afrikaner official circles when Mulder's protégé in the Department of Information, Eschel Rhoodie, was fired after scandalous revelations of secret funds, questionable payments to relatives, free flights for wives and so on. Writing on this for the Spectator (24 June 1978) I suggested erroneously that Mr Mulder might have to resign, but apparently he has since been out of favour with Mr Vorster.
The third main candidate for the Premiership is 'Pik' Botha, the Foreign Minister and former, successful Ambassador to the United States. He is very good on TV and apparently got the support of 84 per cent of those (white) people questioned in a newspaper poll last week. When 'Pik' Botha came into politics last year, it was explained that he is a liberal or `verligte' Nationalist, determined to get some sort of detente with black Africa. He is liberal, however, only by National Party standards. I once met an American reeling around Johannesburg in a state of shock after hearing the 'liberal' Pik Botha ranting away on TV against the United States and United Nations. 'Holy cow' he exclaimed 'if Botha's a liberal, what are the conservatives like?'
Whoever becomes Prime Minister can be confident that in time of danger, the National Party and indeed the Afrikaner people will rally behind him. From the days of the Great Trek and the two wars against Britain, the Afrikaners have shown their capacity for furious squabbles among themselves but unity against outside enemies. It is this instinct that explains why John Vorster, whatever his private feelings, refused to ditch Jimmy Kruger for his disgraceful behaviour over the Biko affair.
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