.jpg)
Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 37, No 24. September 18, 1974
Spying
Spying
To maintain that no pressure would be placed on sportsmen who refuse to sign Wards document is to deny all the evidence. The Pressure would probably not be overt; it would be psychological Increased security service surveillance — the car at the end of the street, sitting, waiting, watching; increased tampering with their mail; damage mysteriously happening to their property; the thought that, like Morgan Naidoo and Hassa Howa, one day perhaps they too will find themselves banned, jailed. From discussions that I have had with many South Africans I know only too well the pressures Mr Fentons document will be placing on the many who are refusing to sign it.
To suggest that all of this has changed, that the South African Government is now much more enlightened, is to make the most fundamental error of them all. What change is there in a system which, as reported on Wednesday, fines a white woman R400 for murdering a black boy she found raiding her orchard.
"Leading non-racial sports administrators yesterday slammed the declaration.... Mr M.N. Pather, secretary of the S.A. Council on Sport said "Sports administrators penning their signatures to a document in which they declare that 'a true spirit of cooperation exists in South Africa between the sportsmen in this country where racial discrimination is to be found only in isolated instances' do so knowing full well that it is a distortion of the truth. We reject this unholy alliance and condemn most vehemently propaganda of this nature designed for overseas consumption."
"The declaration was also condemned by Mr Abdullah Khan, President of the Durban Cricket Union; Mr R.K. Naidoo, President of the Federation Professional League; Mr Norman Middleton, President of the South African Soccer Federation."
Since then others have condemned the document. Despite all of this, Mr Fenton was blithely able to inform Terry McLean in the New Zealand Herald (12.3.74) that 'non-whites are united in condemning Care and Hart'. Mr Fenton must have walked around South Africa with his eyes shut and his ears closed.
"The President of the South African Soccer Association (Indian) Mr Y.C. Meer, said today he did not agree with much of the contents of a secret document being circulated among black sports administrators.....Mr Meer said that he did not know how his name got on the document, but he might have "foolishly" signed it.....in a statement Mr Meer said he would not be a party to the document because he did not agree with it. Although I might have signed this document, I was foolish, and I want to dis-associate "myself with much of the contents of the document."
.jpg)
And here we go with the race. Nice to see South Africa has made a step towards a fully integrated crew.
And I wonder how many other people who have signed the document have since had second thoughts and regrets?
Initially it was difficult to understand why the report was taking so long to be released. Mr Fenton came back from South Africa six months ago figuratively waving his report like a Neville Chamberlain back from Munich. As time wore on, and this document failed to appear, it became obvious that the reason why this document was taking so long to arrive was because officials were having trouble finding anyone to sign it.
What of the document itself? Apart from all of the reasons which lead me to condemn this document, what validity do the contents of this document itself have?
I have received a photo copy of the report from South Africa. In general terms I think that we should be suspicious of a document The Evening Post (4.3.74) reported South Africas Minister of Sport being "delighted" with. A close examination of the document reveals that it could well have been written by the Minister itself. Hart is in the process at the moment of writing a critique of this document, and this will be forwarded to Government and other interested bodies in the immediate future. Our report will not be a secret, and will be available to anyone who wants it.