Tribal Colleges

The Nationalist government then set up separate tribal colleges for non-whites. These farcial institutions have as much academic freedom as a medieval theological seminary; to criticize the government is tantamount to questioning the revered Aristotle. The politics of entering students are carefully examined, any political dissidents are quickly expelled.

Although tribal college students are barred by the government from joining NUSAS, the student union has made covert contact in the colleges. Several tribal college students attended this summer's NUSAS convention, although, of course, their identity was kept secret

The present position of the English-speaking universities is precarious. They are among the very few centers of rational thought left in a frightened country, and as such are the object of frequent attacks by the government. The universities now are sad and depressed communities in which many persons are acutely aware of South Africa's approaching Gotterdammerung. Many top faculty members have emigrated; many high calibre students go overseas for graduate study and never return.

Through a long list of repressive legislation the government is systematically crushing dissident oponion. In violation of the rule of law, foes of apartheid can now be jailed indefinitely without trial. Under the Supression of Communism Act opponents, not all of whom are Communists can now be "banned"--a state in which they are confined to their own neighborhood, prohibited from attending meetings, and forbidden to be quoted in the press.

Many persons are also intimidated by Vorster's Red-smear campaign against such groups as the Liberal Party and NUSAS. These bodies are still too respectable to be banned out-right. But the smears are clearly directed at preparing public opinion to accept a ban on the leaders of these groups or of the groups themselves.

Many Liberal Party leaders, who are strongly anti-Communist, have already been banned. And even the more moderate Progressive Party and the English opposition press are coming in for not so subtle hints that the government considers them unpatriotic. There is, however, still some freedom of speech; the English press and the Progressive Party continue to criticize the government strongly. But the range of permissible critics and criticism is fast decreasing.

The Effect of Fear

The general atmosphere of fear in South Africa has begun to have a serious effect on the attitudes of University students. At the English-speaking universities the students have split into essentially four main groupings.

First, a growing body of students are beginning to accept the government's pleas for white unity behind its policies. They believe that the country is facing a dire Red-Black threat. In the face of terrorism and Black nationalism, they accepted the delusion that the government's program of territorial separation--in which many Africans would have to live in Bantustans--is a workable solution.

Secondly, there is a small body of students who assert that nothing effective can now be done to avert a bloody clash between Black and White nationalisms. These students believe that a situation analogous to Algeria will ultimately develop in South Africa, and that in the end the present White racist government will be supplanted by a harsh Black racist government. These students leave the country or lapse into cynicism.

The third and probably largest grouping are those who feel something should be done, but do nothing. They remain silent, cowed by fear of the consequences of any radical anti-government activity. The perils they confront are delineated in an editorial the student newspaper at Witwatersrand University wrote last year after 2,000 students and faculty demonstrated against the sweeping Sabotage Act.

The paper commented that it was probably the last mass protest the government would permit. It wrote: "The days when students could protest, secure in the faceless anonymity of a crowd are gone; he who protests now must stand single and alone, fanned by a cold wind of censure from a ruthless and intolerant government." The editorial concluded that "the choice between silence and protest has been made infinitely more difficult."

The Opposition

Lastly, a few students still do what little they can to oppose the government. Some realize the government has blocked every avenue of peaceful change and that violence is the only path left open to the Africans. Nevertheless, almost all these students feel that they themselves could not indulge in any violence.