Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 30, 1990 TAG: 9007300005
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SOWETO, SOUTH AFRICA LENGTH: Medium
The black leader addressed tens of thousands of cheering people, mostly black, and Mandela said the government was trying to whip up hysteria with claims that Communist members of his African National Congress had plotted to seize power.
"To suggest . . . that these outstanding sons and daughters of our people harbor ideas of unilateral military action against the peace process is an insult manufactured by the enemies of democracy," Mandela said.
But Mandela also stressed that the ANC was not a Marxist movement, although many Communists hold senior positions in the ANC.
Police claim Communists and militants within the ANC's military wing have stockpiled weapons and were formulating plans to seize power if talks between the government and the ANC on ending white-minority rule fail.
President F.W. de Klerk has reportedly asked Mandela to drop the Communists from the talks. The ANC and the government are to meet Aug. 6 to try and clear the way for full-scale negotiations.
About 35,000 people, nearly all of them black, turned out for the rally at a stadium in the township of Soweto outside Johannesburg.
Mandela received a huge ovation when he arrived with Communist Party secretary general Joe Slovo and other top party leaders.
Slovo also denied the charges of a Communist plot, calling it an "outright and deliberate lie."
He indirectly defended the opposition's right to wage an armed struggle against racial injustice, however.
"Until the police stop hunting blacks . . . we have a right not only to protest, but to defend ourselves," he said.
Slovo said South Africa's Communists were hated by many whites because of their long fight against apartheid.
by CNB