Timetable for Independence

One after another, the last bastions of white supremacy in southern Africa are collapsing: Mozambique and Angola are set to become independent after centuries of Portuguese rule, while Rhodesia's white minority government finds itself in an increasingly precarious position.

Change is also coming to South West Africa, the desolate territory that the government of South Africa has ruled for the past 55 years. Last week, under pressure from Pretoria, the territory's all-white Executive Council announced that it would enact laws dismantling some of the most common and onerous forms of apartheid: hotels, restaurants and cafes would admit nonwhites, and "whites only" signs would be banned from all public buildings. These actions followed South African Prime Minister John Vorster's recent call for the convening of a multiracial constitutional conference representing both the territory's 100,000 whites and its 800,000 blacks as a first step toward independence. He declared: "The people of South West Africa must decide."

Legal Claim. To the many critics of Pretoria's rule over South West Africa, these moves come too late and do not go far enough. The Organization of African Unity has long demanded that South Africa grant the territory full independence. So has the United Nations, which in 1968 renamed the territory Namibia (after the barren Namib Desert). Last winter the U.N. Security Council demanded that South Africa give up control of Namibia. Last week, however, the U.S., Britain and France vetoed a Black African resolution calling for a mandatory arms embargo on South Africa to force the issue. Yet, even the International Court of Justice at The Hague has weighed in against Pretoria; in a 1972 decision it voided South Africa's legal claim to the territory, which goes back to a League of Nations mandate.

South Africa, however, will not readily relinquish its links to Namibia. Although the sprawling 318,261-sq.-mi. region is desperately short of water, and imports most of its fuel, food and consumer goods, it has rich mineral resources. South Africa's De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd., produces 14% of the world's supply of gemstone diamonds from its Namibia operation. There are also sizable deposits of copper, lead and uranium, while the huge herds of Karakul sheep are prized for Persian lamb coats. All told, South Africa's investment in the territory exceeds $1 billion.

Pretoria has tried to protect its stake in Namibia by wooing chiefs of the eleven black tribes, which range in size from the 400,000 Ovambos to a small group of Stone Age Bushmen. The Ovambos have been granted a large measure of local autonomy in Ovamboland, a bantustan the size of The Netherlands on the territory's border with Angola. Pretoria has built hospitals, schools and waterworks for Ovamboland. Vorster hopes that many Ovambos, grateful for what South Africa has done, will vote at the constitutional conference to become a separate state, maintaining some links to Pretoria. "I regard the South African government as a friend," Ovambo Chief Minister Philemon Elifas told TIME'S Peter Hawthorne.

Even before last week's Executive Council announcement, Pretoria had spared Namibia a few of the horrors of apartheid that exist in South Africa. There have been no legal bars to prevent blacks from buying land in white areas, and the better-paying jobs have not been automatically reserved for whites. Moreover, Pretoria recently rescinded the hated "pass laws" that had restricted movement of migrant black workers within Namibia.

These measures failed to satisfy the militant leaders of the South West African People's Organization. Claiming to speak for most of the territory's nonwhites, SWAPO wants immediate independence and rule by the black majority. The militants, who have received arms from Communist countries, have launched sporadic guerrilla attacks against South African military outposts. SWAPO is contemptuous of black leaders who favor retaining some ties with South Africa and charges that local elections in Ovamboland have been rigged to guarantee the victory of chiefs and headmen sympathetic to Pretoria. "We are intimidated, restricted and in fear of our safety," says Skinny Hilundwa, SWAPO regional leader. In fact, Hilundwa and a dozen of his colleagues were able to speak freely last week with a group of visiting foreign journalists, including Hawthorne.

Moving Faster. Whether the militants take control of the move to independence in Namibia may depend on how quickly Pretoria pushes forward with its own timetable for the region. The dismantling of white regimes in neighboring states and the continuing pressure of world opinion have clearly prompted South Africa to begin moving faster. Last week Vorster's top adviser for the territory, Roelofse F. ("Pik") Botha, insisted that the white leaders of South West Africa "now believe that good relationships between blacks and whites are of extreme importance. Some whites are even agreeing with me that Namibia is not a bad name."

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