Perpetrators Of Political Repression In Apartheid Era South Africa

"...the policy of separate development can be tested by any unprejudiced person against the requirements of Christianity and morality, and it will be found to meet all those requirements. ... for conditions such as those in South Africa there is no other policy[, for without it] you will have chaos and ultimately bring about the downfall of all population groups here in South Africa. South Africa's problems are unique and South Africa has chosen its solution. ...we, the Whites, the Coloureds, the Asians and the Bantu, will work out our own solutions here in South Africa. ...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. ... We have our land and we and we alone will have author­ity over it. We have our Parliament and in that Parliament we and we alone will be represented; that is why [during] this past session it was my pleasant privilege to ... abolish Coloured representation in Parliament; and it has been abolished once and for all. ... but one should also put something in its place. That is why the National Party ... for the first time [has given] the Coloureds in the Republic a Coloured Persons Representative Council in their own political area [where they] can exercise their political rights in their own way and by their own people. That is morality, that is policy, that is standpoint. ... 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 ..."

"The government will not be intimidated. Orders have been given to maintain order at all costs."

"The Verwoerds, Vorsters and those many others within the Broederbond-dominated hierarchy of the National Party have done incalculable harm to South Africa in sport, not to mention every other field of human endeavour or relations."

"Uri Friedman: Why did the South African government, in the mid-1970s, decide to embark on a nuclear-weapons program?"

"The Cubans are not in Africa out of love."

"No more mine-laying. No more murder. No more abduction of women and children. No more attacks on headmen. No more raids across the border. So long as these conditions do not exist there will be no withdrawal [from South-West Africa] of South African troops."

"I have been to Switzerland before but not to this [Paul Kruger's] house or to a Swiss bank."

"... I am not prepared to build the type of wall you built in Berlin. In South Africa we only build walls for houses."

"You could not claim for yourself that which you were not prepared to grant others."

"I am one of those who believe that there is no permanent home for even a section of the Bantu in the white area of South Africa and the destiny of South Africa depends on this essential point. If the principle of permanent residence for the black man in the area of the white is accepted then it is the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it in this country."

"Many refugees – White, Brown and Black – flee to South Africa. Why? Here they know they have safety."

"Where in the whole wide world today can you find a more just society than South Africa has?"

"The fact is that the Westminster system has not worked anywhere in Africa – not even in England because the Scots and Welsh are moving away from it."

"It's a psychological onslaught, an economic one, a diplomatic one, a military onslaught – a total onslaught."

"There is not an Indian community in the world that is better off than the Indians in South Africa. That is the type of apartheid that I stand for. That is the type of apartheid that is not dead."

"Accept where I am going or I will not lead you."

"I hate no black man. I hate no brown man. The same God that made me put them there too. My God is not only for Afrikaners."

"Adapt or die."

"Mandela has overstepped the mark. He has broken the law. The judiciary of this country has put him where he belongs according to the rules of democracy."

"We do not know what tomorrow will bring. We are not prophets. This is a step in the dark. We can only proceed into the future with faith."

"The acceptance of vertical differentiation with the built-in principle of self-determination must apply on as many levels as possible."

"The security and happiness of all minority groups in South Africa depend on the Afrikaner. Whether they are English- or German- or Portuguese- or Italian-speaking, or even Jewish-speaking, makes no difference."

"We are a strong country in a rather sick world. … Our problems are not so much racial as radicals wish to make them."

"I have come to the realisation and conviction that the struggle in South Africa is not between White, Black and Brown, but between Christian civilized standards and the powers of chaos."

"We do not want chaos in South Africa."

"We dare not see ourselves as a chosen people. We are called people - called to a particular task, just as every nation is a called people."

"There is only one element that can break the Afrikaner … and that is the Afrikaner himself."

"The Republic of South Africa has a new formula under the National Party's leadership: black nations can get freedom without firing shots or revolution."

"We do not force people to move to new homes, we coerce them. [Some believe he meant to say "convince"]"

"The separation of races happened long before the Nationalist Government. God separated the races."

"I am tired of constantly hearing how guilty the Afrikaner and the National Party are and the time has come that this myth be crushed."

"I believe we are today crossing the Rubicon, Mr Chairman. In South Africa there can be no turning back. I have a manifesto for the future of our country and we must engage in positive action in the months and years that lie ahead."

"Lord Milner had, in the forced Peace of Vereeniging ensured that there was to be no franchise for black people after the introduction of self-government – which was never intended. It was only after half a century that an Afrikaner government started doing something about black rights."

"Knowing [Mandela] will start up with violence again, I, as a responsible head of state, must release him so that he can carry on with his violence, and then arrest him? What a nonsensical argument."

"South Africa is not a jellyfish and is in many respects a swordfish."

"Our enemies latched unto the word "apartheid" and in a very sly manner transformed it into the strongest weapon in the onslaught against freedom and civilization in our country."

"Unfortunately [South Africa] has been badly repaid for her loyalty because the West has expelled her from the family circle while befriending the most dictatorial regimes on Earth."

"Nelson Mandela can rot in prison until he dies or I die, whichever takes longer."

"I want to warn young people who lend their ears to radicals and who play around with the music from Lusaka - they will end up inside the bear's fur coat, but they will no longer be able to live."

"No Prime Minister before me has been attacked more viciously than I am today."

"Never in the history of this country have so few people done so much for so many without acknowledgement by the international community."

"I feel more welcome among the black communities than I do among Coloureds"

"Most blacks are happy, except those who have had other ideas pushed into their ears."

"The free world wants to feed South Africa to the Red Crocodile [communism], to appease its hunger."

"Our history is responsible for the differences in the South African way of life."

"Because you could not translate the word apartheid into the more universal language of English, the wrong connotation was given to it."

"I am sick and tired of the hollow parrot-cry of “Apartheid!” I’ve said many times that the word “Apartheid” means good neighbourliness."

"I am not against the provision of the necessary medical assistance to Coloured and natives, because, unless they receive that medical aid, they become a source of danger to the European community."

"The idea of an Afrikaner people as a cultural entity and religious group with a special language will be retained in South Africa as long as civilisation stands."

"Half a century ago in this court I was sworn in as the Member of Parliament for George. And here I am today … I am not better than General De Wet. I am not better than President Steyn. Like them I stand firm in my principles. I can do no different. So help me God."