South Africa Opposition Figure Says Governing Change Unlikely

"There is no likelihood of a change in our government," Helen Suzman, member of the opposition in the South African Parliament, told a group of 40 journalists and students yesterday at the MIT Center for International Affairs.

"Change will result mainly from economic pressure, but no major cornerstone of apartheid will be touched," Suzman said.

Suzman, the only member of the opposition Progressive Federal Party in Parliament throughout the 1960s, cited rising gold prices as the cause for the South African economic rehabilitation. The stimulated economy has created a "bottleneck in the supply of skilled labor, forcing the government to train Black workers," she added.

In the past five years Parliament has appropriated money for technical schools and in-service training programs for unskilled labor, proposals which Suzman said she advocated 25 years ago.

But white reaction and bureaucratic obstruction have dampened the reform movement, she added. "There will be no repeal of the discriminatory legislation. Race classification and the Group Areas Act will remain," Suzman said, adding, "Africans have political rights only in their homelands. They are excluded from South African political power."

Violence

As the population grows amidst economic prosperity. Suzman predicted an increase in urban violence unless the ruling National Party allows Blacks to leave the rural settlements. "The government will let the economy continue by increasing oppression and controls," Suzman said.

"People don't know how efficient the police and military machine is. No Black state could tackle South Africa today," she added.

Responding to a question about the effect of divestment on the apartheid regime, Suzman said, "It's ultimately a moral judgement. But it will have no effect even if everyone pulls out. If Ford sells, someone else will buy."