Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 26, 1990 TAG: 9006260558
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
"Our people continue to die to this day, victims of armed agents of the state who are still determined to turn their guns against the very idea of a racial democracy," the South African black leader told a rapt audience of lawmakers, diplomats and Cabinet officers in the House of Representatives chamber.
Envisioning a day when the white-minority government has been replaced, Mandela said the country's economy must be transformed. But he added, "The ANC holds no ideological positions which dictate that it must adopt a policy of nationalization." The African National Congress' socialist economic views have concerned some administration officials.
If lawmakers were uneasy over Mandela's refusal to rule out violence in the struggle in South Africa, they did not show it in their reception for the man who spent 27 years in jail in his homeland.
Mandela was greeted with prolonged applause as he made his way into the chamber. He beamed a wide smile as he mounted the podium and began his speech.
The deputy president of the ANC credited white President F.W. de Klerk with being committed to peaceful transition in South Africa.
But he said, "We would be fools to believe that the road ahead of us is without major hurdles. . . . Too many among our white compatriots are slaves in the ideology of racism to admit easily that change must come."
He added, pointedly: "For those who care to worry about violence in our country as we do, it is at these forces that they should focus their attention."
He said the economic sanctions imposed earlier against South Africa should remain in place, and received thunderous applause when he said:
"Peace will not come to our country and region until the apartheid system is ended."
Mandela thanked those who helped impose the sanctions in the first place, and asked for "material assistance which will enable us to promote the peaceful process." President Bush has been reluctant to provide direct financial support for the ANC because the group has refused to renounce violence.
"Here we have friends. Here we have fighters against racism who feel hurt because we are hurt, who seek our success because we, too, seek the victory of democracy over tyranny."
In their struggle for democracy, Mandela said, black South Africans are following the examples of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson, as well as black American leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.
"Our people demand democracy. Our country, which continues to bleed and suffocate, needs democracy," he said.
Mandela, who met with Bush on Monday, was wrapping up his visit to Washington later in the day after several other public appearances, including an afternoon outdoor rally and an evening speech to a crowd that paid $10 or $25 per ticket. In between, he was meeting with congressional leaders.
He was traveling to Atlanta on Wednesday, the next stop on his eight-city tour of the United States.
Mandela, 71, was honored at a dinner Monday night hosted by Sens. David Boren, D-Okla., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Terry Sanford, D-N.C.
"I am so deeply touched by what has been said here that I find it difficult to express my gratitude to the senators," Mandela told the group, which included about three dozen senators from both parties, their spouses, plus Jesse Jackson and other prominent blacks.
Mandela discussed the future economic model for the country. While seeking equality for all races, Mandela said the ANC also "wants cooperation of businessmen in this country."
Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, told Mandela: "We will heed your call for sanctions to continue until the evil system of apartheid is abolished."
But others said they were disappointed by Mandela's public support for radical governments. Rep. Larry Smith, D-Fla., a backer of economic sanctions who is active in foreign policy issues, said he would boycott Mandela's speech.
"He comes here and espouses support - not just casual, offhand support, but significant support - for people whose methods and backgrounds are terrorists, outlaws or communist dictators," Smith said. These are people "who practice every day what Nelson Mandela has fought his whole life against," he said.
Conservative Rep. William Dannemeyer, R-Calif., said the invitation to address Congress was a "national disgrace."
"Nelson Mandela is no Martin Luther King," Dannemeyer said. "He is more like H. Rap Brown or Willie Horton."
Bush invoked King's name on Monday in urging Mandela and the ANC to reject revolutionary armed struggle as a tactic to end racial segregation in South Africa, a country where 5 million whites dominate 28 million blacks economically and politically.
"In the words of the great Martin Luther King Jr., `Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred,' " the president said.
Mandela, imprisoned for 27 years until his release in February, defended the use of violence as a tactic in the black struggle for freedom. But he told Bush the ANC would remain peaceful as long as the white government continues to negotiate in good faith.
"If we are forced to resort to violence," Mandela said, "it is because we had no other alternative whatsoever."
Mandela, at a news conference, said he told Bush the ANC had scaled down its military operations in 1986 to promote negotiations.
"We made it clear that once the government removed all the obstacles to negotiation, we would consider the cessation of hostilities," Mandela said.
by CNB