MEYER AND HOLOMISA DISCUSS NEW SOUTH AFRICAN MOVEMENT
USIA
USIS Washington File
20 January 1998
MEYER AND HOLOMISA DISCUSS NEW SOUTH AFRICAN MOVEMENT
(Claim UDM offers better alternative to ANC, NP) (780)
By Jim Fisher-Thompson
USIA Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- The leaders of South Africa's newest political party,
the United Democratic Movement (UDM), are offering voters an
alternative to the stale
racial politics they claim is still being touted by the nation's two
major political movements.
Roelof Meyer, formerly of the National Party (NP), and Bantu Holomisa,
formerly of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), told a
breakfast sponsored by the Freedom Forum and the African
Correspondents Association January 20 that the UDM, which they founded
last September, will focus on two core issues: "job creation and
crime, which are related," according to Meyer.
The UDM's greatest "point of departure" from South Africa's other
political parties, Meyer said, is its inclusiveness. "We want to
represent all South Africans," he explained, "so, our first objective
is to bring people together from all communities and different
perspectives" rather than highlighting racial or ethnic differences.
Meyer, a member of Parliament since 1979 and former deputy Cabinet
minister before the end of apartheid, said: "I left the National Party
because it was, and still is, on a dead-end road. It does not want to
become a truly multiracial party. [Therefore] it is not going to take
us anywhere as far as a new South Africa is concerned."
The white South African explained that, basically, the NP still serves
"the objectives of white interests...and because of my objections to
this, certain measures were taken against me which made me then decide
to leave the National Party of my own free will."
What the UDM would like to do, he added, "is move away from the racial
politics of the past...and make South Africans think about our
political situation in terms of their [economic] needs and
aspirations."
Holomisa, a former major general and commander of the Transkei Defense
Force as well as a member of the ANC's national executive committee,
also stressed that "the UDM is a home for all South Africans," adding,
"I'm optimistic that we will capture votes" in the upcoming
parliamentary and presidential elections.
The purpose of their visit to America, Holomisa said, is "to meet with
opinion-makers in government and business as well as with good
friends." The two politicians will also be going to New York, he said,
because "we are involved in a campaign to market our
organization...outside South Africa," including seeking financial
assistance.
Asked why South African blacks should trust UDM, which is co-led by a
white man (Meyer), Holomisa said: "The picture is bigger than the two
of us. You must look at what we are presenting to the nation. Roelof
and I are merely pioneers. The people who benefit from what we are
doing may be our children."
Noting that President Mandela recently referred to the opposition as
"counterrevolutionaries," Holomisa said he believes the ANC "is trying
to introduce a controlled democracy" to South Africa. And he added: "I
did not leave the ANC, but was expelled" after speaking the truth
about corruption within the party.
According to the black South African, "what we are observing so far is
a display of the arrogance of power" on the part of the ANC, many of
whose members are putting their own and the party's interests over
those of the nation.
The UDM would change that, Holomisa emphasized, and target the whole
nation for inclusion and decision-making in plans to reconstruct the
nation by upgrading its infrastructure.
Turning to UDM's stand on economics, Meyer observed that South
Africa's unemployment rate has "reached alarming proportions" and,
"unfortunately, up to now, government policies...and big business have
failed to provide job opportunities."
A new approach is needed "from the grassroots up," Meyer explained,
based on entrepreneurship and providing incentives, as well as
training, to individuals and families if South Africa's economic
prosperity is to be shared by all its citizens.
As it stands now, South Africa is not taking "a competitive position"
as far as the global economy is concerned, Meyer indicated. "There are
shortcomings that need to be looked at, especially in the labor
field." And "this might cause voters to take a second look" at their
backing of both the NP and the ANC, he said.
On the political level, Meyer said a UDM government would assume "a
larger profile" in the affairs of sub-Saharan Africa. "We are entering
a very interesting and dynamic phase of relations with the rest of
Africa," he explained, and the UDM hopes to do more to further
democracy and resolve conflicts on the continent.