The press release says with repression in South Africa escalating, the Botha government showing no signs of dismantling apartheid and with even non-violent opposition to apartheid almost completely outlawed, the last hope for peaceful change is strong and sustained economic pressure by the international community against the South African regime. That urgent message was delivered to heads of state and foreign ministers of seven of South Africa's major trading partners by an international Eminent Church Persons' Group, sent by the World Council of Churches (WCC). From Jan. 15 to Feb. 4, the group visited Switzerland, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Japan and the United States,...
The press release says with repression in South Africa escalating, the Botha government showing no signs of dismantling apartheid and with even non-violent opposition to apartheid almost completely outlawed, the last hope for peaceful change is strong and sustained economic pressure by the international community against the South African regime. That urgent message was delivered to heads of state and foreign ministers of seven of South Africa's major trading partners by an international Eminent Church Persons' Group, sent by the World Council of Churches (WCC). From Jan. 15 to Feb. 4, the group visited Switzerland, France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Japan and the United States, where they met with Secretary of State James A. Baker. In 1988, 34 non-violent anti-apartheid organizations were banned, some 55 anti-apartheid leaders were restricted to what amounts to house arrest, and an anti-apartheid conference intended to explore non-violent options for ending apartheid was banned. South African churches' participation in the struggle against apartheid reached a turning point after the South African government, on February 24, 1988, effectively banned 17 leading anti-apartheid organizations and restricted the country's largest labor federation from political activity. In response, 25 church leaders and 500 clergy and laity marched to the South African Parliament in Cape Town carrying a petition demanding that the right of peaceful protest be restored. The South African Council of Churches (SACC), which includes mainline Protestant churches as members and the Roman Catholic Church as an observer member and full participant, has launched a "Standing for the Truth" campaign and has decided to ignore the State of Emergency regulations. Members of the Eminent Church Persons' Group are former President of Zimbabwe Rev. Canaan Banana, the Rev. Frank Chikane (SACC), Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elaine Hess Greif of New Zealand (General Secretary of the World YWCA), Lysaneas Macie (member of the National Constituent Assembly of Brazil), Metropolitan Dr. Paulos Mar Gregorios, Dr. Lucille Mair, the Rev. Dr. Carl Mau (Lutheran World Federation), and the Rev. Beyers Naude (formerly SACC). James Mutambirwa of Zimbabwe and the Rev. Bob Scott of New Zealand were resources to the group.
