Listening to the silent majority

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Tom Boya, President of umsa, further explained his constructive activities to get blacks involved in governing the country. ‘Presently we count in umsa, some 60 of the 250 town councils. Therefore, we are very pleased with this result after we, the young lions, broke away from umsa. After the break, we could really move and began to challenge very seriously some of the issues we were concerned about. We started to openly challenge some of the outdated laws, like the Group Areas Act, the Separate Amenities Act, the Population Registration Act, and so forth. We challenged the policies on political prisoners and detainees and asked why they could not be released. We opened up the question of blacks still in exile. Why can't they be pardoned and come back home? Only by exercising democratic opposition to apartheid will we enjoy true democracy after apartheid. I also believe that whites, and in particular the white business community, will be watched as to their attitudes prior to apartheid being scrapped, as this will influence black attitudes towards them after apartheid. The cost of maintaining apartheid will in the end prove to be greater than the risks of negotiations for political power sharing.’

I asked how he felt about talks abroad with the anc by Afrikaners and other groups. ‘When some whites were on their way to talks in Senegal with representatives of the anc,’ said Tom, ‘we were constructively busy in Pretoria trying to obtain rights for black people right here;

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for instance, in Oukasie. They were talking about South Africa with extremely relevant people, because you should not be mistaken - the anc remains in most instances very relevant to the South African situation. We were even saying to Minister Chris Heunis at the time, ‘You must unban the anc, you must release political prisoners and detainees, you must do away with discriminatory laws, so that we can start genuine political negotiations!’

Boya: ‘At the time, the government told us, “Here is a National Statutary Council, here you can come in and discuss your grievances.” We replied that we considered this the wrong approach. We said, we first want to see your genuine bona fides. Do something, so that everyone can conclude that you are genuine about reform. Later, Mr Heunis and I issued a joint statement. I was also interviewed on sabc live, and actually we were surprised that I was allowed to say the things I said on screen. I openly called for the unbanning of political organisations and for the cancellation of discriminatory laws.’

‘One reporter,’ said Tom Boya, ‘the political correspondent of the Sunday Star, David Breier, phoned me after the dust had settled. He asked me, “Mr Boya, I have seen all the press reports, but the actual story has not as yet come out. What actually happened when you met Chris Heunis?” I said, “The first thing the government is going to do is to release political prisoners.” The next Sunday, there was a front-page story on what I had said to Breier. Of course, it was a true news story. But in parliament it raised problems. State President PW Botha was not amused. Chris Heunis was called in. He had to explain why he told us that the government planned to release political detainees. The Minister denied he had said it. Therefore, I telephoned Chris Heunis the same day, and repeated what I had told The Star. I stressed that if he had read the story carefully, he would have noted, that I had only expressed my personal opinion. Nevertheless, Mr Heunis issued an official statement the next day to the effect that we were talking through the backs of our necks. But, I knew that I was right. Two months later Govan Mbeki was released, and some other political prisoners were set free later. So, we did judge the situation correctly. We wished, of course, that the government had released Nelson Mandela long ago. Also, while some prisoners are being released, the government imposes restrictions on them. Why? That cannot help in resolving the conflict in South Africa.’