Sanctioning Apartheid - KORA

The Imp& of New bctions against South AfriaP
dkmative sbategy of amshudve engagement or dialogue with
R&da has led tu change in the intended ditecticn Indeed
there is evidence to suggest quibe the opposltte. For instanceI as
Resident Reap observed in his Pall 1987 statement k, Con-
-, '1 regret I am unabIe to report significant progress leading
to the end of apartheid and the lestablishaent of a rum-demwacy
m Swdt Afiio.""
More recently, after two by-elections held in February 1988,
the Foreign MhbtqI Pik Both, outhed a nav totlgh policy of
disregarding trim fnom other countries." The effect of this
policy was ccmfjnned in mid-hrlarch 1988, whm former Mdent
Both chose to arkidate his intention to ignore mnshhable
pressure from Merit Reagan, Prime Minista Thatcher,
Chancellor Kohl, and the Secretary-General of the United Natiom
to intervene an behatf of the Shaqxville Six. (It was the actions
of the Supreme Cwrt which led to the stay of exeation wen
though under the South African constitution the State Mdent
has the power of clemency in such cases.) A week Jater' fomer
Ment Both used his powers to intervene to prevent the trid
of six soldiers charged with murder in Namibia."
Not only has it became more evident in the period from
1986 that the South African government has become inmeaskgly
u n q to be M u d by the world's leaders, but events
withinSDuth~suggestthatitisliEoelyto~oalpthrough
punitive action rather than persuasion that the goverimmt will
move fidm on the road to creating a demoaatic free society.
A nuder of factom flustrate this.
In the first placeI there has been the increased stifling of
black oppifion within Swth Abh. Not only is the slate of
emergency becoming a pamment feature of South A6ric9n life,
but the action taken in February 1988 to eliminate in eftkt the
power of the swenbeen leuling, sa-functioning demccmk
. ..
and
tradeunianoag tugetherwiththenewpowerstoclow
down qpdtion juurnals and newspapers has dealt a mwtal
blow to what were already scarcely functioning processeg of
dedc -tic opposition.
In addition, the pvefnment's proposals in relation tm
fwthahg the dammatic pmcss have been more asmefic than
suhhtive and have kn spurned wen by the trdtiomlIy