South Africa Campaign of The Iron Fist

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The government's attempts to look tough were partially undermined by growing labor unrest. The Johannesburg area has been hit by a strike of 20,000 South African Transport Services workers. Nearly 60 railway cars, mostly on commuter trains from the huge black township of Soweto outside Johannesburg, were fire bombed last week, and many others were stoned. Several passengers were injured, and one young black was shot and wounded in the leg, reportedly as he tried to hurl a flaming torch into a railway car. The strike, which started a month ago in a minor dispute between the Transport Services and a single driver, quickly spread to depots all over the region. In addition, a postal worker strike in the Johannesburg and Soweto area was also going on, with as many as 7,000 workers off the job at 32 offices.

All the tough tactics and attempts to blame foreigners for the country's racial problems, however, did not quiet opposition politicians. Zacharias de Beer, a founding member of South Africa's Progressive Federal Party, told a campaign rally that Foreign Minister Pik Botha was like a "poker player who knows his position is hopeless and who sometimes kicks the table over." The government's calculation, continued De Beer, was "that if you can get the voters to the polls to vote against ((A.N.C. Leader)) Oliver Tambo, then that will be just the injection that the National Party needs." But in truth, said ! De Beer, "Mr. Tambo is not a candidate in this election. Nor for that matter is Senator ((Edward)) Kennedy. Voters will best serve their own interests by looking at the situation here at home in South Africa."

Election polls show the ruling National Party to be far ahead, but in some ways it is losing. Botha set out in the campaign to show the world that South African whites solidly support his policy of modest reform of the apartheid system. Instead, it has revealed gaping splits among the whites and growing unrest among blacks.