The Presidency on Tuesday denied that anti-apartheid activist John Minto had been nominated for a prestigious national order, which Minto said he would decline on the grounds that the situation in South Africa was worse than under white rule.
The Presidency ”wishes to place it on record that Mr Minto has not, as a matter of fact, been nominated as a candidate for any of our national orders”, said President Thabo Mbeki’s spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga in a statement.
Minto published a letter to Mbeki on his website, and the letter was reportedly published in New Zealand’s Christchurch Press.
He said he understood that he had been nominated for the Companions of OR Tambo Award, on behalf of Halt All Racist Tours (Hart) for work campaigning to end apartheid.
”We are proud of the role played by the movement here to assist the struggle against apartheid and I appreciate the sentiment behind the nomination,” he wrote.
”However, after the most careful consideration I respectfully request the nomination proceed no further. Were an award to be made, I would decline to accept it either personally or on behalf of the movement.”
Explaining his decision, he wrote: ”It is now 14 years since the first African National Congress government was elected to power but for most the situation is no better, and frequently worse, than it was under white minority rule.”
Lamenting poverty levels, he wrote: ”It seems the entire economic structure which underpinned apartheid is essentially unchanged. Oppression based on race has morphed seamlessly into oppression based on economic circumstance. The faces at the top have changed from white to black, but the substance of change is an illusion.”
The Presidency said it appreciates the role Minto and his colleagues played in the struggle and holds him in high esteem. ”Government remains open to engaging with Mr Minto and the New Zealand anti-apartheid movement, especially as regards its honest and sustained efforts at delivering a better life for all South Africans under extremely challenging conditions.”
Further in his letter, Minto wrote: ”When we protested and marched into police batons and barbed wire here in the struggle against apartheid, we were not fighting for a small black elite to become millionaires. We were fighting for a better South Africa for all its citizens.
He added: ”Apartheid was accurately described as a ‘crime against humanity’ by the United Nations and the ANC. I could not in all conscience attend a ceremony to receive an award conferred by your office while a similar crime is in progress.”
Opposition to international sporting events taking place in South Africa during apartheid — and to allowing South African sports people to participate overseas — was a tactic used by campaigners to force the apartheid government to abolish laws and practises based on the separation of races. — Sapa