Riders in Africa

Freedom riders came to Africa last week. Taking their tactics from the U.S. example, Southern Rhodesia's African-led National Democratic Party launched a peaceful attack on the government's oft-proclaimed "racial partnership'' intent on proving that it is largely official fiction, seldom social fact.

The first targets were European buses in the capital city of Salisbury. Though some of the white passengers complained and pointedly averted their eyes from the presence of the blacks, the bus company quickly capitulated, announced it would carry anyone with fare. Largely through their own haste and poor planning, the African freedom riders were less successful elsewhere. They took a 16-year-old girl along with them to invade the posh Dolphin Bar, retreated in confusion when the bartender gently explained that she was underage. One African girl, sent to test segregation in the public toilet facilities, forgot to take the necessary penny for the slot. Another girl walked into the swank Ann Douglas beauty parlor and demanded "the works." She was dumfounded when they offered to serve her; expecting a refusal, she had brought no money.

Often the Africans were simply ignorant of places where integration in fact existed. They made a bold entry into Salisbury's public library, shamefacedly discovered Africans had been using it for years. The same thing happened in the elevators of Salisbury's biggest office building. The most dramatic clash came when the N.D.P.'s Lovemore Chimonyo led four Africans up the steps of the Dutch Reformed Church for Sunday services. Ushers blocked their entry, and a crowd of white bystanders quickly gathered. "Look at that dirty black hand that murders white people," screamed one woman. "If I had a knife, I'd cut your throat off," snarled a burly white tough. The Africans quietly withdrew--for the moment. "We'll be going back to that church every Sunday for the next 50 years," said Chimonyo, "or until we are admitted to worship God like the white man."

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