I also warned the rectors of those universities - they too made light of my warnings. You know what the consequences were, you know what immeasurable sorrow was caused to parents through their children eventually landing in prison; you also know that I released many of them, because I took no pleasure in the thought of young children spending years in the prisons of South Africa. I hoped it would not be necessary for me to speak again, but NUSAS did not listen and in the meanwhile a new movement has come to the fore at certain universities, under the cloak of religion, known as the UCM.
But now, during the past few days at Cape Town University and at the University of the Witwatersrand - I do not know whether it has spread to other universities yet - there have been certain agitations and they are allegedly called "sit-ins". I just want to state very clearly that I believe in the autonomy of universities, I believe that there should be as little interference as possible in that autonomy - I have much respect for the autonomy of the universities for I myself am the proud Chancellor 10 of one of our universities - and I grew up in that tradition.
Therefore I want to state very clearly that I have great respect for the traditional autonomy of the university, but there is a limit which may not be exceeded and I want to take this opportunity this afternoon to say to the authorities, the various councils and others who are in control of those universities: I will give you a reasonable chance to find your own solutions to these troubles at Cape Town University and Witwatersrand University, since you are autonomous universities.
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But if you do not do so within a reasonable time, I shall do so myself and I shall do so very thoroughly; I think it would be well if not only the authorities at those universities but also the parents of those students took note of what I said here this afternoon. I myself was a student - there are many of you who have children at university.
From the nature of the case one makes many concessions to students, as one should do, and I who come into contact daily with the youth of South Africa have great appreciation for their actions. I have great appreciation for the fact that I know they will be able to bear the responsibilities of the future; I have appreciation for the fact that they are far better equipped than you and I were when we were their age to perform this task for South Africa, but there is a handful of people in South Africa who now want to bring those troubles which took place in Europe and America to South Africa in order to disturb the peace so as to make trouble here in South Africa - and I want to state very clearly that this will under no circumstances be tolerated by the Government and by myself.
I want to say furthermore: under difficult circumstances - you are all aware of it - I took over the reins almost two years ago, and to the best of my ability, according to the Light given me by the Almighty, I have tried to lead the way; I have done things, made pronouncements as Leader of the National Party and I want to tell you here this afternoon: I am thoroughly convinced, when I look at South Africa in the economic sphere, the cultural sphere, the military sphere, the security sphere - when I look at all those spheres in which the State must play a role - then I want to tell you: I know of no better way to govern South Africa under these circumstances than the way it was done in the past.
I want to account to you today for what has been done in those spheres and now I want to say at once that a prime minister is of course in the fortunate position that he has an alarming amount of advice and guidance at his disposal! You would be surprised at just how much advice I get. The other day, when there were certain people in Lusaka who wanted to visit Windhoek, and I did not feel like letting them see Windhoek - I received a letter from a man giving me advice on the matter, and he wrote the following: "Sir, I consider myself qualified to give you advice, for I myself have the intellect of a great leader - I just lack the nerve!
Every prime minister - and the honourable Mayor also referred to it over lunch this afternoon and I am grateful to him - every prime minister in any country, not only in South Africa, has his own specific problems and in most cases, if not in all, his problems differ from those of his predecessor. Strijdom's problems were totally different from those of the late Dr. Verwoerd's problems were quite different from those of Mr. My problems are quite different from those of Dr.
Every prime minister indeed has his own specific problems to deal with. He has his own specific approach to those problems, for he is the man responsible for solving those problems; all that he has in common with his predecessors is that all four of them were members of the same party and the same party principles applied to all four. But let me tell you, and I notice it has become fashionable to make comparisons, let me tell you very clearly now: The methods which may have applied in Dr.
Malan's time or in Adv. Strijdom's time, can no longer apply in , because circumstances have changed radically since that time and it is a foolish prime minister who does not keep pace with changed circumstances; and I have to advance the National Party's policy; I have to implement the principles of the National Party with due regard for the changed circumstances of today.
Second Boer War
There is the question of diplomatic relations with Malawi. But what was the position?
It is very easy to say it could not have happened in Dr. Strijdom's time. Of course it could not have happened, for in their time there were no independent Black states in Africa!
There were only Ethiopia and Liberia, and I ask you, who would have wanted relations with them? We must bear in mind that the first African states started gaining their independence in when Dr. Verwoerd assumed office, but it is a fact that in his time Adv. Strijdom foresaw it, because he saw the way things were going and said that that time would come - and that time did come! Hertzog and Dr. Malan we had diplomatic relations with coloured states, i. We had diplomatic relations with a coloured state in Africa - Egypt - until when they broke off diplomatic ties with us.
But all I want to say very clearly today is that such ties have existed before. I do not want to hide behind them, I want to say it is just plain good sense to enter into good relations with all countries in the world; 13 on one condition - that there is no interference in one's domestic affairs; that one is not prescribed to and on the condition I stated very clearly at Oudtshoorn after I assumed office - on condition they take me as I am because I am not prepared to change or yield. But these super-Afrikaners, 14 and I shall say more about those that condemn it this afternoon - they do not even know their history.
In respect of Malawi, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Rhodesia, even Zambia - we have had diplomatic relations for years; because we had them with the British who were then in charge in those countries; the British were nominally in charge, they no longer are. I also told my honoured guest and I want to say the same to you today - I said it at the Free State Congress, a few years ago - those of you who were there will remember it-I said we would have far better relations with the neighbouring Black states once the British had finally moved out, and it is so; but I say that in the days the British were in charge there, we had diplomatic relations with those people.
We held many conferences with them and we should hold conferences with them and I want to state very clearly to you here this afternoon - we shall have to hold conferences with Southern Africa's Black states to an increasing extent since it is necessary and since it is good sense to do so. In the past it was necessary to hold conferences with the British officials on foot-and-mouth disease for the sake of protecting our farmers' cattle. Now the British are no longer there.
Should I now say I refuse to hold conferences with the Black officials of Botswana, that foot-and-mouth disease can take its course, because I do not confer with a Black man? For years we held conferences on locusts with the British who were in charge there at the time. It is essential that the locusts be eradicated there. Should I now say I do not confer with a Black man, so let the locusts come and eat me up here? Surely it would be the height of folly on my part to want to do that. Therefore I want to tell you that these changed circumstances have meant that not only should we enter into the right relations with those people but as good neighbours we should from time to time confer with them.
I stated South Africa's point of view very clearly to the Committee that was here to investigate whether South Africa should be permitted to participate in the Olympic Games. Before the Olympiad in Tokyo, Black athletes were never mentioned, there was never any question of Black and Coloured athletes in the past for the simple reason that there were none, but we made them - you and I - because in terms of the policy of separate development we established the facilities for the Blacks and Coloureds to become athletes and they have now become athletes in terms of the policy we made - for which you are as responsible as I am.
But we have a type of person in South Africa - Mr. Van Rensburg also referred to this - who applauded us when we broke things down and you know how we had to do this. We had to demolish the entire old structure, because it was a United Party creation, and it goes without saying that we were loudly applauded while we broke it down, because one always earns more applause for doing so, but surely that is not why the National Party came along.
Surely that is not the way in which the National Party governed South Africa in the past. We did not only break down. We also built up, and we did build.
I cannot emphasise it strongly enough this afternoon that it is our Christian duty to do so and because it is part of our make-up, and we instituted the policy of separate development, not because we considered ourselves better than others, not because we considered ourselves richer or more educated than others. We instituted the policy of separate development because we said we were different from others. We prize that otherness and are not prepared to relinquish it.
That is the policy of separate development. We have our Parliament and in that Parliament we and we alone will be represented; that is why this past session it was my pleasant privilege to round off the work started by my predecessors: to abolish Coloured representation in Parliament; and it has been abolished once and for all.
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But I did not merely abolish, because that is not what the National Party does. It is the easiest thing in the world to simply abolish - a baboon could do it, but one should also put something in its place. That is why the National Party - and I am just mentioning this as one example; I could give you many - did not simply abolish Coloured representation in the White Parliament, but we could tell the world with a clear conscience: For the first time the National Party has given political rights to the Coloureds in the Republic of South Africa - not just to the few who obtained them from the old British regime at the Cape because they wanted to use them against the Boers.
For the first time we have given the Coloureds in the Republic a Coloured Persons Representative Council in their own political area - now I am not speaking of land area - where all Coloureds - not just the few who sat with the Whites - can exercise their political rights in their own way and by their own people. That is morality, that is policy, that is standpoint.
There is not just a negative side to the matter; there is also a positive side, but let me return to the subject of sport. I say we made those people because they - the coloured peoples of South Africa - did not have the facilities; but since the National Party came along in it has created those facilities for them and those facilities have yielded results - the Coloured and Bantu athletes have come to the fore. But that does nothing to the policy of separate development; it does not undermine the policy of separate development, because the Whites practise their sport separately, the Coloureds practise theirs separately, the Bantu practise theirs separately and so it will always be in South Africa as long as the National Party is in power.
Verwoerd's time: Must these coloured athletes, if they comply with the standards, participate: yes or no? And the decision was made in principle in Dr. Verwoerd's time and I accept full responsibility for that decision and I shall tell you why: All the world's Bantu, Black people - all the world's people of colour - can participate in the Olympiad. Have I a single moral right to do so, and I tell you no! Should it be only the American Negro who has a chance to win at the Olympiad? Or should I also give my own Black countryman a chance to do so if he can also run fast? Malan, Adv.
Strijdom, Dr. Verwoerd and myself say that the policy of separate development does not only benefit the Whites, but also benefits the non-Whites, because in terms of that policy we created facilities for them which never existed under the old policy. We said you may not attend my university, but we did not leave it at that. We said we shall give you a university of your own. We said you may not attend my school but we said we shall give you a school of your own. That is morality, that is Christianity that has consistently been the policy of the National Party and that is how I shall apply that policy.
I want you to understand me very clearly. And we entered into diplomatic relations with a Black state just as in the past we entered into diplomatic relations with coloured states. There are diplomatic representatives of the Chinese and the Japanese, and there will increasingly - as South Africa gains acceptance and as her interests dictate - be further diplomatic relations entered into with coloured states here in Africa and elsewhere as often as it is in the interests of the inhabitants - of the citizens of South Africa itself.
That is the only test, and the entering into of those relations has nothing whatever to do with abandoning the policy of separate development.
I also want to say very clearly that there is no such thing as a first class or a second class diplomat. I also want to say at once that incidents might arise. That would not be the first time it happened. It happens in Europe, in America, throughout the world. From the nature of the case there will be incidents, but diplomacy is there specifically to prevent incidents.