South Africa Jockeying for the Right Corner

A debate in Parliament over who can better protect the whites

P.W. Botha is not a man given to changing his mind, so his listeners did not expect any surprises last week when the South African State President addressed the opening session of Parliament. Walking behind the sergeant at arms carrying the ceremonial mace, Botha entered the whites-only House of Assembly in Cape Town and faced the newly elected members sitting on green leather benches. In his schoolmasterish, staccato delivery, he told them that his government stood firmly on the principle of politics by segregated racial groups and that those who disapproved would not be permitted to use violence or otherwise break...

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