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The Scoop that Put De Klerk on a Slippery Slope

The whole South African political situation has been transformed by a newspaper scoop. Revelations that, as long suspected, covert government aid had been going to Chief Buthelezi’s Ink at ha Movement to counter the African National Congress have shaken the de Klerk government to its foundations. The high moral ground it suddenly started to occupy less than two years ago has turned into a slippery slope with unpredictable long-term consequences.

Jonn i erunan wnu* rrom oonanneHnuric
IT has been even If we say so ourselves the scoop of the year
The Weekly Mall, an inde pendent paper baaed In Johannesburg and The Guardian of l-ondon Jointly tn vestigated and exposed the fact that the South African Police had been funding the Inkatha freedom Party, led by Chief Msmgosuthu Buthetesi
Fierce opposition to the African National Congress (ANC) by Inkatha and the Police has led to bloody fight Ing in almost every township In the country The two have often been accused of working tn collaboration They have always denied It
The Weekly Mail and The Guardian published tn full memoranda sent between senior police officials, for the payment of R2S0.000 to Inkatha to stage two rallies, one just a few months after the release of Nelson Mandela There were details of bank accounts and dates of payments
The government explanation — that Inkatha was being funded solely to help with the campaign against sanctions — was not widely accepted
The argument that it was In fact an attempt to bolster Inkatha support tn the face of the recently unbanned ANC was bome out by details In the memorandum, sent by a high-level security policeman Major Louis Botha
Botha wrote: "During our discussion 1t became very clear that the actions and political manoeuvres of the ANC were a matter of concern to the Chief Minister (Buthelezl). especially If one considers the shrinking Inkatha membership figures.’
Botha went on to say that Buthelezl. who has steadfastly denied any knowledge of the funding, was profoundly grateful for police support. 'Chief Minister Buthelezl was very emotional when a copy of the receipt was given him. He could not say thank you enough
and said that he had not expected it"
These disclosures have stirred the South African pokt leal pot in a way not seen since the unbanning of the ANC and other organisations, and the release of Mandela last Mrruary
And In the tradition of all
great newspaper scoops, the handful of journalists involved made sure secrecy began at home Even those working a few desks away from the Investigating team had little idea of what was up — and stlU have no ideas aa to where the "Deep Throats' came from
Thal helped to ensure that
there was more to come a week later And when It did. distribution of the paper with its disclosures was sabotaged In various ways.
Distribution agents, for In stance, were phoned by persons unknown and told that there would be no edition of the Weekly Mall that week
One disclosure leads to another. and in this case the process has been speeded by government arUHngness to keep shooting at its own foot Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok for instance, was under vigorous questioning by Weekly Mail editor Anton Harber on national television. Suddenly, he voluntarily disclosed that the police had given R1.5 million to the United Workers' Union of South Africa (UWUSA). Inkatha s trade union wing.
Similarly. Foreign Minister Ilk Botha disclosed a few days later that the South African government had given some RI 00 million to various political parties to oppose the South West African Peoples' Organisation (SWAPO) tn the Namibian elections
Each disclosure has prompted further Inou try and Vlok. In particular, has been caught out yet again. In the same television debate with Harber, he Insisted that there ' had been no abuse of taxpayers' money. He said: "Each and every cent has been documented "
Five days later, the Weekly Mail and The Guardian published documents which revealed that the police were so
concerned that UWUSA were not spending the money property that they had set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the possible misuse of funds. It revealed that UWUSA had not bothered to keep accounts.
The Weekly Mall also doc umented several Incidents in which court orders had been granted against UWUSA members restraining them from attacking members of other unions — some of the Incidents led to deaths — and contended that UWUSA had not really been Involved In organising workers at all.
As far as State president FW de Klerk is concerned, he is discovering that the moral highground can be slippery De Klerk and his govern me nt have enjoyed an almost unbroken rise In credibility both domestically and abroad since his path-breaking steps last February
His government is embar rassed and that Is shared by foreign supporters like US state department official Herman Cohen, who just days before the disclosures declared there was no evidence of police partiality tn the conflict between South African political organisations
De Klerk's government has been shown to be partisan, and pressure will now increase for some kind of interim government to take over the transition
The funding disclosures also provide the glue for other allegations to sick a little more.The most Important is
the claim that the police have assisted — and at best ignored — Inkatha’s actions during
Although the funding was not necessarily uaed to those ends the Hnk between Inkatha and the security forces has been proved
Inkatha and Buthelezl in particular had been striding the political stage with ever increasing confidence 19 South Africa and abroa^t Buthelezl s stature was such that any talk of negotiations mentioned him in the same breath as Mandela and De Klerk
Now his political empire is starting to look shabby Secret funds, feeble denials, misuse of taxpayers money — that combined with black South Africans horror at complicity with the state is a taint g>at even the strongest politician will struggle to shake off
In the longer term, two important issues are emerging. The first is that white there is wide spread delight that the truth is emerging there to go tag to be life after Inkathagate
Buthelezl may be cowed by these disclosures but he will not be buried. And in the long run talks for a political settlement are faced with the same tasks and pitfalls The Inkatha ANC conflict still has the potential to unleash horrible violence
The second Important consequence of Inkathsqpte to the boost It has given to the press and not Just in terms of sales South Africans are nA used to seeing cabinet ministers getting the grilling that Harber gave Vlok on national television Hopefully M will whet their appetite for
The pttbHc Is lapping It up. in a country where freedom of the press is by no means guar antred — no matter who the future government — the value of this cannot be underestimated — GEMINI NEWS