emergency - Computer Science

on imports
UDI RHODESIA GOES
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.i-( t. rl' -.rrd l. {FL -.r..r.,r d rb There got to be ttris stanoing pxeM w.?e all I-;';;:";::J;;;"T"=7L;lOn othe
. members
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kept
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Clem Tholet, Rhodesian
advertising
executive
I -,,..l;ll1.- itb
We were fighting for our
government,
country, for a beloved p_opulation. We require
country. The terrorists? I that as much of ' by skimmiag out
Censorship had become a selfevident
truth.
comment
all media coverage and political
the
don't really know what they factual
which doesn,t
news suit its
as possible Even purposes,
were fighting for.
goes archaelogy has created
over
could a similar
so
not
that the escape.
Val Ross, public,
A storm raged situation here.
having
over the
all sides of Zimbabwe
!grn1er, Shamva district the picture,
ruins following
can in their
It is unlikely that censorship will
investigations
z,tmoabwe.
wisdom,
proving
come
ttrat ttrey
to their
fool the majoriry of South Africa's
were
own
built
conclusions
by the region's
The government's clampdown
on it.rt
,population, who don't need.
on
.
m.l followed proved
indigenous population. The newspapers
fhis
ao inform
stated
them of the
archaelogist
the press under the emergency
regulations seeFls to have taken
South Africa by surprise.
The restrictions are the most
comprehensive yet seen: no
journalists may be present
'unrest
at
sihrations', there can be no
reporting on SADF or SAp
actions, detainees names may not
be published and the u.gue
definition of
'subversive'
statements prevents the possibility
of much political comment.
_
The public is now completely
dependendant on the Bureau of
Informafion and the police as the
only legal' source of news.
The situation in Dre_
independence Zimbabwe
(Rhodesia) was similar, suggesting
that the consequences of such
blatant censorship could well be
disastrous for South Africa
Modesia's censors leaped into
action minutes after UDI was
declared - said Sandy Robertson
1965. Editor of Salisburv,s
Chronicle : "three censois
walked into the office at
lunchtime on t. I
November - that,s when
Ian Smith addressed the
nation - and almost before
h-e finished speaking these
chaps were in the office".
They stayed for several years.
The intention, said Minister ol
Info.rmation P K van der Byl was
to "prevent hiehlv biased
and- distorted ploiaganda,
as distinct ffom- fictuai
news, which could excite
and influence undulv
those unsophisticate'rt
elements of our
imnosed
lntentlon to be at worst
misleading, at best laughable.
Said van der Byl: rI tried to
get as much control of the
media as possible. you
get the liberal, and behind
the liberal comes the
communist. Therefore I
did what I could to trv
and discipline the thing."-
"Discipline" included the
expulsion and imprisonment of
journalists. Van der Byl, in
retrospect, believed that',there
wcre far too few" such
actions.
As censonhip took part in the
country, van der Byl was more
forthcoming about the task of his
department, which was trnot
merely to disseminate
information from an
information point of view,
but to play its part i n
fighting the propbganda
battle on behalf of this
country. If the
information department is
to improve and strengthen
the national ideologylhen
indeed it is d-oing a
worthwhile iob."
Censorship" was officiallv
disconfinued in 1969. Aut its
impact remained. A blinkered
vision of Rhodesia had become
introduced
concerned said it was
"oKaJ to say the yellow
people had built it,-but I
wasn't allowed to mention
radio carbon dates.',
. The black population had long
been a source of cheap labour foi
white-owned agribusiness, with a
concomitant violent discipline
being imposed on tlrem.
The room turned to terror - tr f
wanted to step up the use
of the bayonei. That's the
most effective propaganda
- the bayonetr" said van der
Byl. A popular T-shirt of the time
put it crudely yet successfullv _
"when you'v'e got them 6y
the balls, theiahearts ana
minds will follow."
The war was officially being
won. Yet by 1978, guerillas were
in control of large parts of the
country and had military cagrmand
headquarters a hundred kilometres
from the nearest friendly border.
_ Self-delusion was only ended by
the elections. In 1978, Bishop Abel
Muzorewa was entrenched as
Prime Minister in an "Internal
Settlement" election with an
IT ALOI\]
reign of tenor existing in many
townships.
They don't need photographs and
stories to remind them of.poverty,
of the housing shortage, of poor
working conditions and pitiful
wages.
But the white public often does.
The clampdown on t}re media will
do little more than preserve the
isolation and division of
apartheid's notorious laws. Which
is, of course, what Botha's
government wants most.
-Which leaves one wondering
what is really going on out there
Dehnd the blackout, in the areas
wiere censorship will have iittle
effecL
Question: What do you
nlean when you talli
about "terrorism"?
Marie (a South African
schoolgirl): lt's the
communists you know.
Russia trying-to take over
South Africa for the
strategic position and the
gold and allthat and the
blacks don't know any
better because they'ri; not
properly educated hnd if a
communist
going to come
ro rnem and say, do this
and that and the other. and
we'll give you a black'
government - well they just
won't know any better; fhe
blacks won't, ;ind they'll
believe the communisis"
official 64%poll. I-ess than a year
later, after the Lancaster House
agreement, Muzorewa took 3 seats
ofthe 100 in the pre-independance
elections.
Whites
part
who had
of
been
white
convinced
consciousness. Areas by the media
as
that
diverse
Joshua Nkomo
as ethics, science and would win,
w:u
were
were
stunned
viewed
as
through the Robert
national
Mugabe's ZANU(pF)
myopia.
took
By this srage, a 57% absotute majority.
The
Mugabe
F4odesian Heratd asserted
that "the
had been depicted
need
as
for
a marxist
a degree
of self--imposed
monster by Ian Smith - yet
press
it was
Quotes from Julie
censorship
he who had popped
has
Rhodesia's
al ways
Frederickse's "None but
been
bubble.
accepted." The need for
ourselvestt and r,A
The current south African different kind of war".
Wirs Srudcn! is cditcd b
1.1:-Y.::""Ti? of the Witwrrersrand, alt of
oprnrons
I .l,in Srnr^r, Avcnue,
expressedo not purporr Johannesburg.Thc
!o be rhosc-ot
views and
rr,. c"r".ii'ri',;""'i1;;:;d;"R€presenaaliv€