Plastic Surgery

SOUTH AFRICA'S white electorate--approximately 8 percent of the 32 million people inside the country's traditional borders--votes today on whether or not to adopt a new constitution which will expand Parliament to include brown, but not Black Africans.

The new constitution would extend limited political rights to leaders of the Colored--those of mixed race--and Indian minorities by opening up the cabinet, the first such move since the arrival of whites 331 years ago. But the change is basically cosmetic. It does not hullify the weighted voting system which allows the president to rule with only 30 percent of the members of Parliament as long as they are a majority of the white chamber. Thus it insures continued Afrikaner rule.

For example, under the new charter, racial classification would subside only insofar as to make Indians and Coloreds eligible for compulsory military conscription, thus widening the political base for white South African rule. When the inevitable arms struggle occurs, the apartheid regime could call on a greater percentage of the population to take up arms. Brown-and white-skinned individuals would fight together against Blacks, adding a new twist to the continuing apartheid theme of divide and rule.

Proposed by Prime Minister P.W. Botha to the dismay of some white nationalist supporters of the apartheid regime, the constitution would attempt to change South African politics by rendering them dependent on class interests rather than racial concerns. This has naturally led to fierce political infighting among leaders of the Afrikan Nationalist Party. Yet the practical effects of Botha's proposal, which has already been approved by the white Parliament, would be negligible, at least in relation to addressing the issue of Black rights.

For instance, the seven to eight million urbanized Blacks not living in one of the tribal "homelands" would still be denied political rights. In addition, Blacks would still be regarded as foreigners; homeland chiefs will continue to act as a bogus government voice for Black Africans, silent partners in the apartheid system. The foundation of the apartheid ideology--that separate must be equal and that whites were given power in South Africa by divine authority--would remain.

NEVERTHELESS, the white regime has been promoting the constitutional changes as a "starting point" in an "open-ended process" in help coat Westyern support. Many conservative Afrikaners see the creation of a fourth chamber in parliament for Blacks as Botha's next move.

It comes as no surprise, then, that the U.S. Government has voiced approval of the constitution, given the shift in U.S. policy since the beginning of the Reagan Administration. Of 16 resolutions against apartheld presented in the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. voted 14. What is surprising is that the American people have remained uninformed in the face of such a policy shift. While the United Nations has condemned the South African regime, the U.S. government has invited "constructive dialogue" and U.S. companies believe that by keeping investments in South Africa a gradual change can be initiated.

But inviting international dialogue with South Africa is, according to one Afrikaner, "like trying to share a jewel between a whale and a pig--there can be no meeting place."

The controversy over the constitutional referendum in South Africa is a sign that the regime recognizes that it will have to change in the face of Black opposition. The change Botha chooses to adopt is one which will strengthen the Government's base of support by increasing the manpower for the South African Defense force.

With the collapse of colonial rule in Angola, Mozambique, and the white settler government in Rhodesia, the time for change in South Africa began running out. The constitutional reform, if passed today, will not weaken the anti-apartheid struggle for long. Already the African National Congress (ANC), a movement dedicated to the anti-apartheid struggle, has stepped up bomb attacks on South African military holdings.

Recognizing that an all-out arms struggle in South Africa is the next step, the U.S. must recognize that when South Africa's white regime falls, so too will the multinationals claiming a neutral stance in a situation where there can be no neutrality. According to Mfanafuthi Makatini the international representative for the ANC, an end to apartheid will mean the socialization of all companies in South Africa.

Whether the constitutional reform is passed today or not, it will miss the issue of Black rights in South Africa, a point that will have to be settled within that nation by armed revolt, if real change is not initiated by the international community.