Thursday, 11 December 1986: South African Press Curbs and Censorship

Constantia, South Africa

Yesterday, I went into Cape Town for lunch with my friend, the poet Barend Toerien whom I wrote about back in July.  I also got a good deal on 9 rolls of Kodachrome film for R217.00 (about US$110 – yes, film is expensive here).  There is a lab in South Africa which processes Kodachrome – it’s also expensive.  But hey, what are my options?  Ship my film back to the U.S. and hope it gets there and doesn’t get overheated and ruined while in transit?  

A few days ago, I said I would write about my impressions of South Africa, post-US sanctions.  Well, on the surface, not that much seems to have changed.  The rand is actually worth MORE now than it was a few months ago.  So far, I haven’t encountered any overt, anti-American hostility.  However, the South African situation seems as ominous as ever.  Today’s Cape Times reports that the government is expected to announce sweeping new press curbs soon.  When they do, I’m sure the government propagandists will present them in a very insidious manner.  The guys would put Josef Goebbels to shame. 

There is a lively competition for readers among Cape Town's newspapers.  Posters like this appear on street corners.  The more sensational the headline, the better!

Which reminds me – censorship.  Several people both here and in Botswana have warned me the South African government reads mail.  An American political scientist working in Gaborone told me that they have sophisticated scanning equipment which can read letters without opening the envelopes.  I’ve also learned that all overseas mail from Botswana goes through Johannesburg which the South African government censors scan.  If true, this means that mail from one country to another country is being tampered with while in transit through a third country. 

Did the South African government censors read international mail, including mail in transit from Botswana to other countries?  I heard accusations but where is the proof and why would they bother with such an enormous undertaking?

 

The problem is that I have no proof of these accusations.  And logically, would the South African government have the resources to actually read thousands of pieces of international mail?  It’s possible that they would read mail to or from known ANC sympathizers.  But mail from me?  I can’t imagine them wasting their time on such a small fish as me.     

However, to show the extent to which the South African censors go, consider the story told to me by a man from Ghana.  I was talking to several Ghanaians at an American Thanksgiving dinner in Gaborone, Botswana last month.  One of them told of phoning another Ghanaian in South Africa while he was staying at a South African hotel. While they were speaking in English everything was cool.  But, as soon as they switched to their tribal language, an operator come on the line and asked what language they were speaking.  Someone listening in apparently knew it wasn’t Zulu, Xhosa, or some other black South African language they could recognize.  The telephone censors were apparently becoming nervous.  So the Ghanaians continued speaking in English but every time they slipped back into their tribal language, they would get cut off until they switched back to English.

Was my Ghanaian acquaintance making this up?  The way I see it, any government that is at “war” with a substantial number of its own people certainly wouldn’t hesitate to interfere with a phone conversation between two foreign black visitors.  As for my mail…?  

I’ve been staying for a few days with nice people (mostly white) in a spiritual community on the north side of Table Mountain.  It’s a beautiful setting, sunny but windy late spring weather, and very nice facilities.  However, I’m feeling lonely again which makes it tough to be very productive with my writing. Even friendly and liberal white South Africans aren’t the same as old American friends.  My communication with people here only goes so deep.  It’s not only that I miss sex with Colorado girlfriends.  It’s that I miss people who understand me beyond some superficial level.  There are several pretty ladies here at Emissary although some are “spoken for”.  It’s a bit difficult to tell who is and who isn’t in this communal situation.  And I find that single South African women in general are looking for something more stable than I have to offer.