BOPHUTHATSWANA

Another theft by Pretoria

In spite of the failure of ‘‘inde-
pendent” Transkei to win inter-
national recognition or achieve
any of the objectives of ‘‘separate
development’’, a ‘State of
Bophuthatswana Bill was pushed
through the racist South African
Parliament.

Unlike the Transkei, which has
had some sort of regional exis-
tence, the Bophuthatswana Ban-
tustan has never beeen and never

will be a recognizable separate en-_

tity. On the contrary it is a shanty-
town “‘state’’ consisting of eight
large and 11 smaller Tswana
reserves.

Thus the Bophuthatswana Bill
contained at its core the self-same
conditions already imposed on
the, Transkei, whereby once
Bophuthatswana attains ‘‘inde-
pendence”’ all Africans of
Tswana origins will automatically
lose their South African citizen-
ship.

Like all other Bantustans,
Bophuthatswana is not economi-
cally viable, obtaining 80% of its
income from South Africa, and
though after ‘‘independence’’
taxes and royalties dependent on
South Africa. Already 80% of the
earnings of its citizens are spent
outside the territory. The gross
domestic product is a mere 0,28%
of South Africa’s.

To-day, however, is a day
marked by protests and hostility

Guyana sugar strike ends |
but the key issues remain

GEORGETOWN, Guyana —
A 136-day general strike in thé
sugar industry which began Au-
gust 24 has ended. The workers
and their union, the Guyana Agri-
cultur | and General Workers’
Union (GAWU) struck around
the main issue of a profit-sharing
scheme introduced by the
People’s National Congress gov-
ernment under which sugar
workers’ wages are about half
thoseelsewhere in the Caribbean.

Port Elizabeth

towards the whole scheme by the
Tswana people. Only about 15%
of the potential voters bothered to
take part in the 1972 ‘‘general
election’”’ which the government
claimed as a ‘‘mandate’’ from the
people. On the contrary, this is
essentially another case of ‘‘inde-
pendence” foisted on a people
who have never been consulted
about it, who have never asked
‘for it and the majority of whom
don’t want it.

The. Vorster government
claims that Bantustan ‘‘indepen-
dence”’ is the only way to solve
the ‘“‘national question’’ in South

The strike was marked by gov-
ernment harassment including ar-
rests and intimidation of workers
and their leadership. It is widely
accepted the PNC had long in-
tended to smash the union. PNC
documents prepared before the
strike openly speak of forming
another union in the sugar indus-
try more open to PNC dictates.

Throughout the strike the PNC
refused to negotiate. Food relief
organized by the GAWU for

What is Pinochet
doing in Grenada?

Ties between the Chilean junta
and the government of Grenada
have been growing according to
press reports. The British-based
Gemini News Service recently
wrote that the Chilean military is
providing police and weapons
training for Grenada and that the
DINA (Chile’s secret police) is es-
tablishing its Caribbean base on
the island.

Gemini says that following a
visit by Grenadian prime minister
Eric Gairy to Santiago in 1976 and
a return visit to Grenada by a
high-ranking member of Chile’s
Defense ministry, details of
Chile’s assistance began to be
made public.

New Jewel Movement, the
progressive opposition who came
close to defeating Gairy’s gov-
ernment in the 1976’ vote, has
charged that the Grenadian gov-
ermment is establishing a. ‘“‘base

for fascism’ in the Caribbean.
NJM_ leader, Maurice Bishop
charges ‘‘the. relationship bet-
ween the Pinochet regime and
Gairy is of a close, concrete,

largely military and highly

dangerous form.”

He says that the ‘goodwill vis-
it’’ by the Chilean navy training
ship Esmeralda (used as a torture
centre following the coup) was a
cover for bringing Chilean
weapons into Grenada. There
were 350 officers and men aboard
the ship during its five-day visit,
Bishop says, and they photo-
graphed ‘‘almost everything they
could find’’, and took depth
sounding of the harbors and bays.

Bishop also charges there is
evidence Grenada may become
an anti-Cuba centre and _ that
right-wing Cuban exile groups
may transfer their base of opera-
tions from Miami to Grenada.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 20, 1978—Page 4

THE DISAPPEARANCE
OF JULIO CASTRO

MONTEVIDEO ‘*Julio
Castro was kidnapped -by the
Uruguayan dictatorship, they tor-
tured him and he died’’. This is
the conclusion which Uruguayan
and international public opinion
& BASOTHO- <4 has reached following the distin-
guished pedagogue and journa-
list’s disappearance.

Two months after his wife told
the police of his disappearance,
the authorities published a report
stating Castro travelled to Buenos
Aires.on Sept. 23, 52 days after
his disappearance, in a PLUNA
(State airline) airplane. This is
quite strange; a man who led a
methodic life, mentally healthy, leaves home driving his car, disaP’ th
Africa. It might be if the grant of Pears and later travels to another country without telling anyone. ~
independence were in response to A private investigation found that no person of that name travelled
the demands of the liberation onthe PLUNA flight, neither was a person of that name registered 1! dj
movement. But the opposite is Argentines National Direction of Migration, which check all legal ey
the case. _ arrivals to that country. 18

The African National Congress
demands national liberation and

\2)
Jonan®

JULIO CASTRO

U.S, RESTRICTIONS CURB SOVIET TRADE
majority rule within the frame- NEW YORK — U.S. exports to the Soviet Union in 1977 will totd v
work of a united South Africa, $2-billion, down almost $500-million from 1976. Only about $800
which has been created largely by million of the sales aré for non-agricultural products. Trade with thé
Black labor and whose wealth, in Soviet Union is severely restricted by the Jackson-Vanik amendmen!
terms of the Freedom Charter, be- which placed political limitations on credits. In the meantime, othe!
longs to all who live in it irrespec- countries have increased trade with the Soviet Union. U.S. sources
tive of race, creed or color. _ acKnowledges that ‘‘inevitably the U.S. loses something’’ to othe!
The ‘“‘independence’’ offered countries because of the Jackson-Vanik amendments. restrictions. -
by Vorster amounts not to the
grant but the theft of a country
from its rightful owners.

_ LEFT UNITY GROWN IN MEXICO

MEXICO CITY — Three left parties in Mexico have taken af (
important step towards greater left unity. The Mexican Communist  r
Party, the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the Party of the Mexical’ p
People issued a joint statement on the present situation in Mexic0; a
which is confronting a severe economic and political crisis. They said v
there is a pressing need to “unify the left forces in a party of the) s
working class, which will lead the masses to create a democratiC ¢
majority party’’. f

CAMBODIA REJECTS TALKS I
strikers’ families were PARIS — Cambodie (Democratic Kampuchea) has rejected appeals)
obstructed. Two new laws were for talks with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV). The SRV of {
passed by parliament one week’ December 31 issued a public statement repeating earlier offers to hold) ;
after the strike began permitting talks with Cambodia ‘‘at any level as soon as possible to settle thé j
arrest without warrant, indefinite border question jointly in the spirit of fraternal friendship. The people’ ;
detention without bail and deny- and government of the SRV areconfident that the border questions will
ing the right ofa trial. These laws be successfully settled in the name of the vital interests of the peoples .
remain. of our countries.’’ Cambodia severed diplomatic relations with the
Complicating the present situa- SRV soon after the appeal was made. The Cambodian ambassadof
tion is the presence of more than ‘then left Hanoi, escorted to the airport by the Chinese ambassador.
6,000 scabs in the sugar fields who
were brought in during the strike YEMEN SUPPORTS ETHIOPIAN REVOLUTION
and guaranteed jobs. These, itis | YEMEN — The Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) supports ,
feared, will form the nucleus of a Ethiopia and its revolution. This was stated recently by Lt. Col.
PNC-dominated sugar workers’ Ahmed al-Ghashmi, Chairman of Yemen’s Supreme Military Com:
union. mand Council. Ghashmi, in a message to Ethiopia’s Provisional Mili- |
In addition, the ‘‘profit-shar- tary Administrative Council, said ‘‘The people and the government of
ing’’ scheme, which triggered the the Yemen Arab Republic support and admire the Ethiopian revolution
strike, remains as before. There under the leadership of Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam.’’ The mess-_
also is no guarantee the strikers age will have an important political effect on the 30,000 Yemenis who
will regain their jobs, especially live in Ethiopia, mainly in Eritrea province.
between now and the new sugar ome
crop season in Feb.-March and
the food relief program for these
workers will have to be continued
despite heavy costs and organiza-
tional blocks placed by the gov-
ernment.
It should be recalled that the
People’s National Congress gov-
_ernment, led by prime minister
Forbes Burnham, is a govern-
ment in power thanks to rigged
elections. Under Guyana’s con-
stitution, elections are due in
July, 1978. To avoid facing the
electorate there is speculation the
PNC may rely on a phony ‘‘state
of emergency”’ and that its pro-
vocative posture during the sugar
workers’ strike and after is aimed
precisely at this outcome.

1
(
i

ee

Young women in:Democratic Yemen demonstrate their support for i

» 5 government decree outlawing polygamy and guaranteeing equal rights

4