Adrian Du Plessis

Adrian Du Plessis does not look much like a revolutionary. He has black-rimmed glasses, short, sandy-colored hair, a soft voice and prominent dimples when he smiles. Last week he was talking about the possibilities for social and political change in his native South Africa. He said he thought any change would necessarily mean "a major redistribution of wealth" from the ruling white elite to the African masses.

Then Du Plessis abruptly broke off. "What I have just said lays me open to be tried for treason. Advocacy of any change in South Africa is treason." The words sounded strange coming from a quiet 23 year-old, sitting in the sun-lit living room of the Winthrop House guest suite.

But they are true. Du Plessis is one of three American representatives of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS), one of the largest multi-racial organizations in South Africa which actively opposes the apartheid policies of the resume of Hendrik Verwoerd. About ten NUSAS members have been "detained" by the government in recent months under a law which enables police to hold citizens almost indefinitely without filing formal criminal charges. Last month the South African Security Police raided NUSAS head-quarters in Capetown, removing eight documents and recording several names. Also in recent months various government ministers have publicly denounced NUSAS, linking the Union with Communists and groups calling for the overthrow of the Verwoerd regime.

Traditionally, NUSAS has been apolitical, limiting its activities to the educational sphere. It has rallied support against government efforts to further segregate higher education, set up tutorial projects at the abysmal "tribal" (native African) universities, and "kept Western ideas alive" among university students. But the detainment law and other repressive measures are "politicizing" NUSAS, Du Plessis said. "To draw a distinction between education and apartheid is unreal." And thus the uneasy peace between NUSAS and the government grows ever more tenuous.

As a NUSAS representative Du Plessis must confine his remarks to educational matters, since hostile political statements could endanger the whole organization. One of his chief duties is to publicize NUSAS and its work, because "The wider we're known, the less likely they are to ban us." He is also attempting to arrange scholarships for African students, who are not given passports and must leave their country illegally--and forever--in search of an education.

As an individual, Du Plessis is quite eager to discuss the great question about South Africa: When asked whether peaceful change is possible, he picked up a sheaf of papers and read a quote from Chief Albert Luthuli: "How long before, out of the depths they cry, 'If the man of peace does not prevail, give us the men of blood'?" His jaw tensed, and he read the quote again, lingering a moment on "blood." He is not optimistic that "the men of blood" can be restrained. The government's policies have annihilated the moderates like Luthuli; in its growing extremism the regime has bred extremism among the blacks.

"All non-violent forms of resistance have been done away with," Du Plessis said, but he continues to hope that outside intervention by the United Nations can still effect a peaceful change. He thinks economic sanctions would help, and he talks bitterly of the "embarrassed silence" maintained by the United States. He added, "There is a lot of American money in South Africa. That seems to be very significant in United States policy."

He is a white man who seeks a peaceful revolution, but he feels the ground giving way beneath him. Soon the place where he now stands may be a gaping chasm. On one side will be the white supporters of Verwoerd, on the other the militant blacks, "the men of blood." If it comes to that, the white liberal will have no place in South Africa, no matter what the new order brings. Adrian Du Plessis and his comrades will be strangers in their own land.