South Africa: Trying to Break the Hammerlock

The new regulations quickly brought another round of protest. Said the Rev. Christiaan Beyers Naudé, the white general secretary of the South African Council of Churches: "A funeral is a religious ceremony, which the church has a duty to perform even if it has political implications. In the African tradition, funerals are occasions where the whole community freely participates in the expression of its sorrow and sympathy for the bereaved. Any restriction on such expression will be viewed with deep displeasure." Agreed Bishop Tutu: "I think that the authorities are really playing with fire, in the sense that they are seeking new points of confrontation and friction with a people who are already embattled by vicious and draconian laws. I'm fearful for what may actually develop. I'm fearful for an explosion one day which we will not be able to control. The consequence of putting the lid on is to allow the steam to build up."

Later in the week, near the coastal city of Durban, a black civil rights lawyer, Victoria Mxenge, 43, was shot to death outside her home. She was the widow of a onetime political detainee killed in 1981 in a case the police have never resolved. Blacks and whites blamed one another for the death of Mrs. Mxenge, who was to have been a defense lawyer in this week's treason trial of 16 leading members of the United Democratic Front, a multiracial opposition movement. But despite the murder, the overall level of violence appeared to be declining as the black townships settled into the hammerlock of martial law.

All week long the Botha government remained obdurate against the rising criticism from overseas. The President repeated a previous threat to deport thousands of foreign workers if the South African economy suffered any further from international pressure. There were about 350,000 foreigners working legally in South Africa last year, but the number of illegal workers is estimated at 1 to 2 million. The government agreed to a visit by the Foreign Ministers of Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg but warned them not to interfere in the country's affairs. Pretoria also recalled its Ambassador-designate in Washington, Herbert Beukes, partly because the U.S. had not yet allowed the Ambassador to present his credentials.

The compromise economic-sanctions bill against South Africa that was passed by the House had been agreed on earlier hi the week by House and Senate conferees. The measure calls for a ban on the U.S. sale of South African Krugerrand gold coins, the export of U.S. nuclear technology and computer materials, and new bank loans to South Africa. The Reagan Administration has said repeatedly that it plans to stick to its standing policy of "constructive engagement" toward South Africa and opposes all the sanctions being discussed in the congressional measure as ineffectual and perhaps counterproductive.

Despite the anger and disapproval from inside and outside South Africa, none of it has had much effect on the Botha government's standing with its own white constituency. A poll by the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport found that if an election were held today, the ruling National Party would win with 48.3% of the vote. The liberal opposition, the Progressive Federal Party, would receive 18.4%, while the right-wing Conservative Party would get 15.2%. --By William E. Smith. Reported by Bruce W. Nelan/Johannesburg