ECSA Bulletin

Contents: DEATH • First instalment of Crossroads? • BRAVE NEW WORLD • EMERGENCY REPORT - NOVEMBER 1979 • PORTRAIT OF A SOUTH AFRICA 'LIBERAL' • PM's stormy talks the CRC leaders • NUCLEAR NEWS: SOUTH AFRICA and that TWIN FLASH • THE DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL SECURITY - and that NUCLEAR CONNECTION • A CONVERSATION AMONG FRIENDS • The newsletter reports another young South African has been sentenced to death; James Mange, 24, was condemned to hang for treason by the judge in a Pietermaritzburg court on 15 November; this is the first death sentence handed down in South Africa for a political crime not involving a killing since World War II; James Mange and 11 other members of the African National Congress (ANC) – banned in South Africa since 1960 - were charged with high treason, sabotage and various acts of terrorism the State claimed they received military training in the Soviet Union, East Germany, Angola or Libya; most are in their mid or late 20s, and like Solomon Mahlangu - the patriot who was hanged despite a world outcry last spring - are 'graduates' of the June 1976 uprising that begin in Soweto. The newsletter includes newspaper articles including "First instalment of Crossroads?" by Oliver Palgrave, "PM's stormy talks with CRC leaders". The newsletter includes a report by the Black Sash Johannesburg Advice Office. The newsletter reports on 22 September a US Vela satellite detected a distinctive twin flash - the signature of a nuclear explosion - somewhere in the South Atlantic-Indian Oceans area between the continents of Africa and Antarctica; this information was leaked in late October and world attention was once again focused on South Africa as a member of the club of nuclear powers; It is worth repeating what British research writer Barbara Rogers said in a 1975 study called NAMIBIA'S URANIUM: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN OCCUPATION REGIME. The newsletter includes quotes by Bishop Desmond Tutu, general secretary, South African Council of Churches (SACC); Dr. Nthato Motlana, chairman of the Soweto Civic Association; and Richard Maponya, Soweto businessman. The newsletter discusses John Sekete, Jefferey Legoabe, Andrew Mapheto, Titis Maleka, Mandlenkosi Hadebe, Vusumuzi Zulu, Tladitsgas Molefe, Taibe Ngbeni, Bennet Komane, Sydney Choma, Mandala Mthetwa; Total Strategy; Constellation of Southern African States; Fortress Southern Africa; South African Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha, P.W. Botha, private investment, gold, Plural Relations Amendment Act, Ciskei, Bophuthatswana, Dr. Koornhof, Dr. Reikert, South African Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha, the National Party, the Labour Party, the Coloured Representative Council (CRC), Rev. Alan Hendrickse, David Currie, Alathea Jansen, Dipuo Pauline Moerane, Lehlohonolo Prince, President Jimmy Carter, State President Marais Viljoen, Howard Preece, pass laws, influx control, Dr. Jan Lange, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Martin Walker, Otto Krause, Douglas Torr, the British nuclear research establishment at Harwell, the South African Anomaly, Nelson Mandela, Winnie Mandela, the African National Congress (ANC), Robben Island, Zinzi Mandela, Helen Joseph, Barbara Waite, Jacqueline Bosman, Ilona Kleinschmidt, Qwa Qwa, Lebowa, the West Rand Administration Board (WRAB), endorsed out, homelands, Transkei, Reference Book, gold, apartheid, the Soviet Union, East Germany, Secretary for National Security Lukas Daniel Barnard, DONS, BOSS (Bureau of State Security), and African liberation movements.