Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 16 Mar 1988

Vol. 119 No. 1

Adjournment Under Standing Order 29. - Sharpeville Six: Motion.

Mr. J. O'Toole

I move: "That the Seanad do now adjourn". There is a certain sadness for me that when I raised this matter this morning I thought it would be the event of the week, the greatest atrocity but it is somewhat overshadowed now by the events of the past two hours which are inappropriate to this discussion but which I feel I could not but refer to. I am referring to the carnage which has taken place yet again in the past couple of hours in Belfast. While that is not relevant to the motion and I do not intend discussing it further I should like to put on the record my sense of abhorrence at that act. I am sure we will discuss it again.

On the question of South Africa, and the problem we are now facing into with six innocent people facing their death at the end of this week, I believe that the Upper House of Ireland which purports to be a democracy, and which is a democracy, should lend its view to the world view. First of all, I would like to put on record that what is happening is that six ordinary black people in South Africa, six people who are unhappy with the terrible circumstances in which they find themselves by reason of being born black were exercising what in most countries of the world would be a democratic right to protest and demonstrate against the repression and the oppression to which they have been consigned by virtue of the colour of their skin. Those six ordinary people took part in a demonstration which was motivated by the fact that black people in apartheid-governed South Africa are refused any kind of genuine access, free access or equitable access to education. The system of education there is totally and completely unacceptable.

I have always felt that apartheid is no more and no less than a system of education. Indeed, my introduction to the facts about apartheid came in my studies of comparative education. An very enlightened lecturer, Michael Jordan, whose son Neil has gone on to become an international figure, was a person who presented it as part of the educational scene in the world. Apartheid is so structured to deny people their rights, to deny people access to development, to deny people access to expressing themselves fully and properly as individuals simply because of the colour of their skin. Similarly, they were protesting against the right of access to health and the right of access to the law. More than anything else they were protesting against the fact that they were not allowed to exercise their franchise.

Many countries, ourselves included, could sympathise, indeed empathise, and feel very strongly with the South African black people who are now going through a stage of their country's history like we went through in previous centuries when we were denied the right to vote for a government of our own and to govern ourselves. The right to self determination, and the right to self organisation, must be held sacred by all democracies in the world. It is totally unacceptable for me to listen to and watch the shilly-shallying that has taken place among the world powers over the last week or two, and that includes all sides of the ideological barriers. It just is not good enough that we are prepared to tolerate and to allow this obscenity to continue.

Tomorrow is our national feast day and on Friday morning, while many Irish people will be nursing hangovers after a day of celebrating — what I am not quite sure — and a day of wetting the shamrock, in Pretoria six cold sober black South Africans, five men and one woman, will be taken from their cells in death row to the scaffold where, with the full support of the law, the jurisdiction and the administration, they will be bound hand and foot, will have black bags put over the heads, ropes put around their necks and at the stroke of the hour will be consigned by the executioner to eternity.

There is very little words can do to in any sense describe the great surge of nausea that people all over the world feel towards this. People in our own country, as much as in any other country, will respond in this way to it. People who have considered and read about what is happening in South Africa will want our leaders, our Government and, indeed, will want Senators on all sides — this is not a party issue and I am not speaking in an anti-Government line here — to speak out against this. I will put demands on Government to do more than what they are doing. I am not happy with the amount that has been done but I would certainly go along with this morning's Cork Examiner's editorial which states that the international community is being far too mealy-mouthed in its protests at the proposed executions of the Sharpeville Six. That very clearly expresses my view and this is the will of the people. The people are demanding that the execution should not go ahead. We might not have the power or the authority to step in there physically and stop this dastardly action from taking place but we should use any influence we have to stop it from happening.

Today we are really discussing the ultimate atrocity. We are dealing with a most urgent and a most striking issue. In this House we have regularly passed votes of condolence, we have quite often expressed outrage at the latest atrocity and time after time we have condemned violence and terrorism wherever it came from. We are in a unique position in that today we are dealing not just with institutionalised terrorism, which we are quite used to even within our own island, but an atrocity before the event. It must be a damning thing if the world with all its powers, with all its influence, cannot stop this from taking place on Friday, cannot stop the needless murder of six people.

It is right to put on record what people are aware of, that those six people had no hand, act or part in the murder for which they are being executed. This has been accepted but they are now being executed because they were part of the demonstrating crowd at a time when people were killed. They have been found guilty by virtue of being there. That is anathema to all we believe and all we know about justice. It is totally unacceptable and is something which cannot be allowed to continue. It is clear to me that the softly-softly approach of world leaders is quite unacceptable. The soft-shoe diplomacy has no place in this issue. It is a time when the boot must go in firmly and hard to the so-called administration in South Africa who would call themselves a government. It must be a time when the world will cry halt and it must be a time when we will not put up with anything less.

The real problem is, of course, that the ruling party in South Africa, the vested interests in South Africa and the people who are exploiting the vast majority of the South African population, have not been sufficiently worried and neither have they been sufficiently threatened by the insincere platitudes of the world's nations, not just this week, but for years past. We have not dealt with the issue; we have not taken a line and we have not pushed hard enough against apartheid although we all believe and feel the same about it. We have a duty to say to the Government that we will support them in whatever is necessary in order to prevent this needless carnage which is going to take place in Pretoria jail next Friday morning.

If this outrageous obscenity is allowed to be perpetrated, if these innocent lives are to be sacrificed and if we are to witness and to tolerate this institutionalised violence then South Africa must be made a non-country in the way they have made non-persons out of some of their own people. The UN, and other world bodies, and countries individually and blocs from whatever side, must be made to consider sanctions of a type that they have been afraid to deal with before, that they have been unwilling to deal with before and that, indeed, leaves them up to the greatest suspicion.

We must now demand, and I would demand as an individual and I hope the Minister will agree with me, that the only way that civilised nations can deal with this administration in South Africa who call themselves a government is to take a number of steps. There should be no diplomatic links whatsoever with South Africa over the next period of time. In no circumstances can we continue to have any kind of negotiations with them under any guise or any umbrella. They are not to be dealt with. The South African government are non-people. There should be no trade links. Ireland has shown the way to Europe, and to many other countries, in their legislation about the importation of produce from South Africa and that should be continued and developed in other countries. However, the problem with trade links is that there are people out there, the wealthy in society, those who influence all the major decisions in society, who see no problem whatsoever in spending their time trying to get around the properly imposed sanctions on South Africa.

We must not put profit before principle because that is what has happened. I do not want to hear people telling me we can get cheaper coal or cheaper gold or fruit at certain times of the year from South Africa. As far as I am concerned every time we deal with those we are having a hand, an act or a part in the oppression and, indeed, now in the murder and the taking of lives of black South Africans. We must say: no trade links of any description, no dealings with these people, no commerce whatsoever, no sporting contacts, because, of course, the South Africans, in the same way as major multinational companies in their sponsorship of sport have always used the sporting arena in order to present South Africa as being good, as being winning, as being positive, as being concerned, as being involved — all the things they are not. But the way they try to get into people's psyche is by attempting to get involved in international sport. There is no place for these murderers in international sport, these people who in fact are now taking lives in South Africa.

There must be no defence pacts, there must be no defence agreements, there must be no recognition of the geographic location of South Africa as an important strategic base. It becomes irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. There can be no acceptance or support for anything that they are about, and finally there can be no transport connections with South Africa. I propose that the first thing we should do is that there should be no open transport arrangement with South Africa. This fact of being easily able to come in and out of the country has now been abused and is being used to get around the sanctions in another way.

As far as I am concerned the situation is now such that there should be an international boycott of the South African administration and what they stand for. They are not listening to the world. They are clearly not prepared to take a lead from the world. They are clearly not ready to act in a civilised acceptable manner. South Africa, in fact, must be made the prison that it is. If we do not build walls around it, itself, at least we will cut it off from the civilised world. I know people may well say: "there are black people there as well." Indeed there are, and I have discussed it with the black people of South Africa and they would far prefer things to get worse if they thought that, as a result, they were going to get better. They reject the argument that we must be careful not to make life even more difficult for the black South Africans. Their lives cannot get any more difficult. They want action from the rest of the world, from the international support, immediately. I am not making a charge against the Government, because the Government have made attempts during the week; they do not satisfy me in the sense that I will always be looking for more, but I certainly accept that the Government are committed on the issue. However, I would now like the Government to push this to the very ultimate along the lines I have indicated. We are, by our passivity, in fact, enabling and facilitating this unacceptable regime to rule by terror, by fear, by inequity and by inhumanity. This is totally unacceptable. We condemn, in this House, this needless taking of life next Friday morning. I urge the House, as one, to reject this and to ask the Minister to make the position of the Irish Parliament known to the world and to push this in other areas, in other fora, and with other umbrella groups, the UN, the EC or wherever. I urge the Seanad to reject this proposed action totally.

Professor Murphy

On a point of information is there a time limit to this debate?

An Leas-Chathaoirleach

There is an overall time limit, until 5.15 p.m. and the Minister will be called at 4.55 p.m.

Professor Murphy

May I suggest that, since we are unanimous and since the facts of the case have been strongly outlined by Senator J. O'Toole, we impose our own voluntary time limit if we are all to participate and express ourselves.

Mr. Norris

I support that.

Mr. B. Ryan

Five minutes is sufficient time for me.

An Leas-Chathaoirleach

Is the time limit on Members agreed? Agreed.

Mr. Robb

I have had either the good fortune or the bad fortune to work in South Africa and to live there for a year. Twenty years ago it was quite apparent that what we are now witnessing was inevitable, if the people were not prepared to make a fundamental change in their society. At that time, the liberal white people were playing with the problem, they had no concept of how bitter the feelings that were mounting to promote change there were, and so we have watched this inexorable movement throughout two decades where things have gone from bad to worse. In today's South Africa there are deaths, beatings, intimidation, strikes, incidences, protest actions, guerilla or terrorist activity, spread of weapons, security force deployment, detentions without trial, arrests, emigration, forced removals, bannings, restriction orders, repressive laws and regulations and all of these things act and react as violence mounts.

We see reactive violence, revengeful violence, more violence, the tension mounts, and what we are watching is the terrorisation of ordinary decent black African people who are caught in an anvil of white oppression on the one hand, and of a feeling that they must exercise their own rights, and that the exercise of their rights will inevitably be violent because human beings can only put up with a certain amount, and beyond that unless you are a saint, you are bound to break through the threshold from non-violence to violence.

They are facing violence daily and yet they are prepared to say: "we want sanctions, we want the rest of the world to cut themselves off from this regime even though we know the situation will get worse and ipso facto we will then be drawn into more violence”. I think we have got to face up to this and Senator J. O'Toole put it extremely eloquently when he said: “We have reached the point, and the point will have passed the point of no return if these six young people are hanged.” We have reached the point where South Africa has got to be isolated and I believe, as Irish people facing up to St. Patrick's Day, the national day, we should send a message to all the Irish people in South Africa that we shall be appalled if they are not prepared to stand up and be counted against this iniquitous white supremacist, racist government. The cutting off of communications with South Africa is one thing, sanctions another, emergency resolutions in the UN another, but I think a warning should go out to the Irish people in South Africa and those who might seek to crawl out to come looking for Irish citizenship or an Irish passport because two or three generations back they had an Irish grandparent or a great grandparent, that unless they are clearly seen to be in the vanguard of opposition to this regime which now threatens the stability of the whole of Southern Africa, they will not get any sanctuary here.

Finally, may I just make one rather feeble proposal, that if it is an embarrasment to the South African regime that these six young people, if spared should remain in South Africa, let us offer them on St. Patrick's Day sanctuary here in Ireland?

Professor Murphy

A Leas-Chathaoirligh, I want to put myself on record as supporting Senator O'Toole's motion. He put it so forcefully that there is little left to say. What is really appalling about the doom which faces these unfortunate young people is that you commit a felony in common law, you commit a murder perhaps in common law, if you set out deliberately to be part of the felony. There have been famous cases indeed where people, though they did not fire the bullet, as it were, were held to be guilty of murder. The "Manchester Martyrs" is a classic case in point. Here we have a case where there was absolutely no such intention and even the trial judge has said there was no question that these people participated actually in the murderous attack. That raises the matter to a new height of cynicism and evil.

We find it shocking in Ireland too, particularly because somehow we still think of South Africa — for all the evidence of the evil of apartheid — as belonging to parliamentary democracy, to the western side of the world, as it were. Of course they do have some of the trappings of democracy, a parliament and so on. So did the 18th century Parliament in Dublin which, despite its subsequent glamourisation was equally repressive, indeed, and operated its own system of apartheid. Perhaps another reason why there is this sense of shock on our part is that we see the South Africans as having stood up to the English, and indeed there was a very strong Irish Nationalist sense of affinity at the turn of the century with the Boers, and very little sense of affinity, I may add, with the blacks. There are additional historical ways in which we find this decision quite shocking.

Finally, apart from the sense of revulsion we feel about this the other shocking thing is that one would expect the apartheid regime itself to see that this decision is against its own members. Ms. Helen Suzman, speaking in the South African Parliament has made that point, a point indeed which is appropriate nearer home, that the creation of more martyrs will do nothing for South Africa, that they have enough martyrs and, God knows, we all have enough martyrs. The people of influence should appeal to the perpetrators of this injustice, if they are not moved by any considerations of humanity then at least they might consider their own enlightened self-interest.

Acting Chairman (Mr. Harte)

I am trying to bring the discussion back and forward, we are not alternating the discussion across the room, apparently. Senator Manning was to be the next speaker but I will call now on the deputy Leader of the Fine Gael Party in this House.

Mrs. Bulbulia

I have lost count of the number of times I have had privilege of rising to my feet in this House and condemning, in no uncertain terms, atrocities in South Africa, a benighted state which is lurching slowly but surely towards self annihilation.

The case of the Sharpeville Six is horrendous. It deserves our compassion, it deserves pleas for clemency, for sanity and common sense to prevail. I do hope the sentiments of Members of this House will be conveyed to the Minister and that he, in turn, will convey yet again the strength of feeling of the Upper House of the Irish Parliament on the issue of the Sharpeville Six. Capital punishment to most people is anathema and when its abolition was debated in this House, the point was made that even if we were to hang somebody in this country we would have the prospect of bringing in a hangman from South Africa, as that is the only country in the world which observes this particular form of execution.

The Sharpeville Six, it would appear, despite the pleas of the world, on Friday morning in South Africa face the ultimate penalty. I hope that by our sustained call here this evening and by linking in with parliamentarians, with concerned people, with right-thinking people all across the globe, that we could in some way effect change in the heart and mind and thinking of P.W. Botha. It seems unlikely, but until it happens I think we must persist and insist that proper standards should prevail, proper legal standards, proper human standards, proper conduct of affairs.

Senator Murphy referred in his contribution to the fact that we consider that-South Africa is in some sense a parliamentary democracy. I know that he knows and we all know that democracy as we know it, does not prevail in South Africa. It is the very thing they do not want in South Africa. It is because the Sharpeville Six were part of a crowd with a common purpose, standing up to the tyranny and oppression of the state in South Africa, and because they had the courage and determination to do so, that they find themselves in their hapless position today.

The South African white government is being driven further and further into a Boer laager. That is being increased and the pressure is coming on them even more because of the successes in recent state elections of extreme right-wing movements. We have got to recognise that what is happening there is reaching a stage of absolute and total combustion and the end will come, and the sooner, the better. That is why we must assist that end to come about quickly and as peacefully as possible. That is why sanctions are important and that is why we must not hide in the thickets of diplomacy and evade our moral responsibilities by hiding behind the skirts of the EC or the United Nations.

We are a small neutral State on the periphery of Europe. We have moral authority, we have a voice, and it must and should and ought to be heard on an issue like this — clear, logical, loud, and strong. It is for that reason that I am standing here today and that I will continue on every occasion that is given to me to speak out against what is happening in South Africa. I urge Members of this House to support the Irish Anti-Apartheid March on Saturday and to listen to Oliver Tambo, President of the ANC, and Molana Farid Essack who will speak outside the GPO — which has connotations for all of us here — on Saturday in Dublin. Once again, I add my voice to the appeal for clemency to be shown to the Sharpeville Six.

Acting Chairman

I have to depart from the agreed procedure as I promised to call Senator Norris.

Mr. Norris

It is with particular sadness that I rise to speak today about the atrocious events in the continent of my birth. I was born in Central Africa where my father, among other things, was in charge of war production for the Allies in that region and for which he was subsequently knighted by the King of the Belgians. During the war it was impossible for my parents to come back to Europe and so they visited South Africa. They found the country to be beautiful, but they vowed they would never return. This was because of the treatment meted out by the colonists to those they regarded as being of inferior race.

The central fact about the South African Government is not only that it is plainly illegal, but that it is fundamentally based on a racist premise.

It is no accident that many of these people, including Dr. Verwoerd who rose to be Prime Minister of South Africa, were interned during the Second World War because of Nazi affiliation. It is very shocking to me to see how policy has degenerated in South Africa now to such an extent that a neo-Nazi party can hold public rallies advocating the most violent forms of racism and the Government do nothing about it, while simultaneously they arrest leading members of the Christian Churches and now appear to be about to perform that most barbaric of acts, something that can only be described as judicial murder.

Nobody should be surprised. There is a catalogue I could not have the time to recite in this House today of murder perpetrated by this Government. It must be made clear to them that they are at the bar of international opinion. I echo absolutely everything my colleague Senator Joe O'Toole has said with regard to the policy options open to the European states, including this country, and add to what he says by reminding the Minister that we have the authoritative voice of black South Africa in the figure of Archbishop Tutu who has called for the breaking off of diplomatic relations by all civilised countries, for the ending of the executions, for the rescinding of the state of emergency.

These are things we must demand. It is important that we listen to what the black people in South Africa say. It is intolerable that white people in Europe should purport to represent the views of the blacks and tell us they do not want sanctions, they do not want the breaking off of diplomatic relations. It is clearly on the record that they do.

There is another thing that we could do and I take this up from a hint in what Senator Robb said. I will develop it with an analogy to a man who saved the conscience of Europe during the Second World War, Raoul Wallenberg who, alone and unarmed with anything other than his moral authority, combated the Gestapo in Budapest. One of the techniques he used was issuing a Swedish passport to the Jews until it reached such a state that when Hassidic Jews were seen in the streets of Budapest, the Hungarians used to say; "there goes another Swede."

I believe it is possible for us to act in this way using our only weapon, the weapon of moral authority, and to confer upon those sentenced to death the benefits of Irish citizenship which they will, alas, probably never be in a position to activate. I feel on every occasion that the South African Government give an indication that they are going to execute somebody in this arbitrary and capicious manner we should confer honourary citizenship of this State upon them. I believe also that we must regard them as a Fascist, Nazi style dictatorship and, consequent upon that, we should indicate clearly to them that we know their hour is up.

The South African State is finished. It is only a matter of time before that end is confirmed, in either physical revolution or, less likely, a democratic changeover. We should, therefore, signal to them, not only do we know that this is the case, but that those people in positions of authority, just like the Nazis, will be held before the bar of international opinion and will be tried for crimes against humanity when that hour is up. I believe this will have some small effect and I think it is something that we must do.

It is important that we act, because even in these countries in the western alliance in which to a certain extent morally and culturally we belong, it can be dangerous to be black. In America yesterday at 12 o'clock a young man was executed in the electric chair and there are very strong indications that the reason he was executed was because he was black. Our hands are not entirely clean, even in the west.

I am very glad that this House has taken the opportunity to discuss this matter, which was regarded as a matter of urgency. I would like to hear from the Minister what, if any, reply has been to the dignified protest made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. Has there been a reply, what is the substance of it, is there going to be a further communication outlining these very strong views and these practical proposals that have been made by Senators J. O'Toole, Robb and myself among others?

In conclusion, I would like to say that I think we can take a lead. I would like to take this opportunity to honour those who took the lead on our behalf in the past, and I speak not of Governments but of those courageous women who led the strike at Dunnes Stores.

Mr. Farrell

I, too, support this motion as proposed by Senator J. O'Toole, who very ably expressed the views that we would like to express. Those of us in public life at council or corporation meetings over the past number of years have passed resolution after resolution unanimously condemning apartheid but unfortunately this has all fallen on deaf ears. Let us hope that a call from this House will make itself heard and perhaps we will achieve something in the interests of those people who are really oppressed and very cruelly treated or murdered.

Yesterday in the Dáil the Minister for Foreign Affairs in reply to a Private Notice Question set out the Government's response to the matter of South Africa. This country has been 100 per cent against apartheid at all times and we sincerely hope that our words here today will be conveyed to the appropriate authorities. The South African Government are so hard-hearted and callous they do not seem to listen to anybody anywhere in the world. It is a sad thing on the eve of our celebration of St. Patrick's Day that those people are going to spend their last day alive, unless tremendous pressure can be put by all governments on the South African Government to grant a reprieve.

I am sure we will do all we can in our own way, by remembering them in our prayers, because they will be martyrs. I have no doubt they will be saints. We will give any help we can because we certainly oppose and abhor the executions in the strongest possible way.

Mr. B. Ryan

Beidh mé an-ghearr. Ní thógfaidh mé ach ceithre nóiméid no mar sin. It is one of the fine qualities of this House that we have with almost monotonous regularity at this stage had to discuss the question of South Africa but at this stage it behoves us to think deeper, to look into ourselves and wonder why it is that we condemn but we do so little.

I remember when Solidarity was suppressed in Poland all the western countries took immediate and severe economic sanctions, and quite rightly, against what was done in Poland because what was done was wrong and undemocratic and we were right. What was done in Poland was minor and mild by comparison with what is being done in South Africa every day of every week of every year for the past 40 years. And yet we pussyfoot around the issue, we talk about international consensus, we talk about our concern for the majority of the people in South Africa, we talk about everything except the issue that millions of people are crying out for liberation and we are not prepared to take action in their defence. We are not prepared to do anything except talk. Most of the Western powers have exhausted the vocabulary of condemnation and have not even begun to enter in to the vocabulary of action. We are in a situation where our blatant two standards are being exposed.

There are a number of reasons for that. The first is the fact that the Government in South Africa is white, and we are white countries, and deep down inside in us all — and I include myself in this — there is an element of the racist in us, in which we do not really deep down believe that a black person is the same as ourselves. I would reject that, of course we all reject it, but I put it to this House that if there was a black minority government in South Africa doing what is being done to a white majority, not only would we have economic sanctions, but we would have something equivalent to the Contras on all the borders of South Africa, fighting to destroy that government.

I put it to this House and I put it to the Minister, through the Chair, that the fundamental problem is that we cannot accept that black people matter as much as white people. If the position was reversed we would have taken action, and severe action, a long time ago to protect the white people who were suffering. I know it is painful, and I have wondered about it — and of course I am guilty of it myself — but deep down that is the truth.

Let me say two more things. We are getting beyond the position when we can simply talk about sanctions as the only action. For Members of this House and Members of the other House who accept the concept of a just war, there will come a time when they will have to address the fact that the only weapon, the only resource, left to the black people of South Africa is the use of force. If the use of force was acceptable to defeat Hitler, than the use of force must be acceptable at some stage, if not now, to defeat the appalling spectre of fascism run riot in South Africa.

In conclusion, there is nothing I can say to describe what is going to happen in South Africa on Friday. It is the ultimate consequence of their cruelty and barbarity. All we can do is condemn that and appeal not for gestures but for comprehensive mandatory international sanctions which exclude that country totally from trade, diplomacy and transport.

Mrs. Fennell

I wish to add my voice to the voices of other Senators who have expressed their outrage and sense of despair at the proposed executions on Friday. I am thankful the Seanad has agreed to this debate to allow us to put our feelings and our views on record.

We all call for clemency for the six black South Africans, five men and one woman, due to hang on Friday for a murder of a local government official in 1984. We know voices throughout the free world are raised pleading compassion for this unfortunate group. We know them to be innocent victims. They are merely alleged to have been part of a crowd who battered and burned a black government official. They have been in death row since 1985.

This act on Friday, which is planned by the South African Government, is an outrage against humanity and puts into full focus the impotence of capital punishment. There is not much hope that this emergency debate here will influence the apparent intransigence of President Botha and his government, but how could we keep silent at this time? We have to hope our appeal will be effective, along with the voices of the super-powers like the USA, France, Holland and West Germany. They have all made their appeals which, so far, have been ignored. South Africa is a most distressing country where normal rules of behaviour count for nothing. The struggles of an oppressed group, the black people, become more agonised daily and one wonders how the Botha régime can ever look into the future and see any hope of normality or peace ahead. It cannot be there.

I know Ireland has already conveyed our concern to the South African Government through our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Brian Lenihan, but that is not enough. I share the views of other Senators who have spoken about this. We have to look at sanctions again because it will only be possible to influence that racist Government through economic action.

This act of brutality will only do one thing: it will swell the ranks of martyrs that stand testimony to the hard and unyielding face of South Africa. In a country so oppressed there will always be brave men and women who will give their lives in the cause of freedom. They deserve and should have our support. Would that Mr. Botha would concede to world opinion in this event and realise at a time when dialogue is vitally necessary, and when new channels of communications must be opened, that the executions of the Sharpeville Six will only add to the violence, despair and absolute futility. In this event, one is reminded of the poem of John Donne in which he speaks about no man being an island and every man's death diminishing all of us. We will all be diminished by this act, if it does happen on Friday.

Mr. Harte

I agree with most of the comments made so far and it would be superfluous to go over the same ground. Since the South African Government have not been listening to us over the years, nor have they reacted to the pressures that have been put on them, is there any chance they will tell us that the due process of their law has been pursued and they do not want to hear the views of other people?

In 1961 I had a poem published in the Bulletin of The Workers' Union of Ireland. Some people called it a doggerel but I thought it was a poem. I quote:

Come ye to my land afar,

And from my bondage set me free,

Wait not for word of "yes",

From a brigand power that be,

Hasten to the call,

Lest the race be lost,

For I have fear,

That somewhere near,

There is a ghost that stalks.

I wrote that after the Sharpeville incident. At that time many of us thought if something drastic was not done about South Africa, the ghost of apartheid would stalk the land and the people would be further oppressed.

We can say as much as we like in emotive and sincere terms and we can totally reject the racist policy, the racist ideology, of South Africa; we can say their policy was never just a mental aberration but was based on a clear class interest and that while it was cruel, for them it was a logical way to behave, but we know what the system cost in terms of infant and adult mortality, and that because of apartheid, the majority of people did not have a normal social life. I am at one with my colleagues when I say the day for talking and being emotional has gone. A small country like Ireland has to take the initiative and break off all ties with South Africa. There is no other way.

If an ordinary Joe like me could see as far back as 1961 that Sharpeville was not an isolated incident, but that the system would grow and develop and completely oppress the people, then other nations must have seen it too but there were obviously political and economic reasons why they did not take the necessary action. I do not think if such actions were here our economy would collapse. We should take the lead.

I am completely against debate for debate's sake and I am against making an ordinary protest. I am 100 per cent behind the idea that we should break off all relations with South Africa as an example to the rest of the world.

Mr. Ross

I was impressed this morning by the fact that this motion, and the raising of this issue, received unanimous approval from the Seanad, and that every Member stood because of the depth of feeling that attaches to the prospect of the Sharpeville Six going to the gallows on Friday morning. While I am impressed by that, I do not share all the views expressed this afternoon.

I condemn unequivocally the prospect of these executions and I join with any appeal the Government or any churchman may make for leniency, but I am less impressed by what is happening in this House because of a certain amount of hypocrisy which attaches to it. Almost unanimously in the western world there is an accepted political consensus to crusade against apartheid. It is very easy for Members of this House to condemn executions and capital punishment being carried out in South Africa at this time. I believe they are right but I find that the pious ease with which Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour express their horror at the imminent executions in South Africa rings very hollow in the light of their principled refusal to remove capital punishment from the Statute Book.

It is quite ironic that we can so emotionally, and so unanimously and with our hands on our hearts, say this is wrong and evil while successive Governments — and I include Fine Gael and Labour — have refused to remove capital punishment from our Statute Book. It is something which to me is quite unacceptable. I would not believe their condemnations of executions of this sort should be taken seriously until they do the one concrete thing which is possible for them.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Mr. Calleary)

First, may I thank all Senators who have spoken on what is a very important and vital issue? I listened with great concern to the manner in which Senators have expressed their concern and it is a measure of the seriousness with which Seanad Éireann regards the events which are threatened for Friday and there was unanimous agreement this morning that this motion be taken.

Senator Ryan said the use of force should be used only as a last resort, and all of us would agree with him. I do not think there is any real analogy between what is happening here in relation to the death penalty being still on the Statute Book and what has happened in this case.

The Taoiseach and the Government share the very deep concern that has been expressed here. As Senators are probably aware, the Tánaiste spoke yesterday in the Dáil of the efforts which we and the other members of the Twelve have made to bring our concerns to the attention of the South African Government. This concern is not just being shown by the Twelve in western Europe, it is fair to say it is being expressed worldwide. Appeals for clemency have been made by every world leader and by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. A renewed appeal for clemency is being made today by the German Chancellor in his capacity as President of the European Council. The Taoiseach has directed that the plea for clemency contained in this speech, a plea with which he is personally associated, should be conveyed to the South African authorities through their embassy in London, even though we, as a nation, have not got diplomatic contact with South Africa as a matter of principle.

The case of the Sharpeville Six has been viewed from the beginning with alarm and a sense of deep disquiet. In the appeal of the sentence — and this has been referred to by a number of Senators — the South African courts admitted that there was no direct connection between the actions of the Six and the death of the person which was the subject of the murder charge. The basis of their conviction is their alleged presence as part of a large group of people when the Deputy Mayor of Sharpeville was murdered. The circumstances of the murder were horrible in the extreme, and nothing can condone that murder. However, as I have said, the courts accepted — and this was referred to by a number of Senators — that the six condemned to die on Friday next had no direct part in that murder. There is even some doubt whether two of the six were present in the crowd that day.

The device used to secure a conviction was that the six, through their presence in the crowd, were held to be guilty according to the legal doctrine of common purpose. The application of that doctrine in such a case is unprecedented in western legal systems. I would reiterate that the Government would in no way wish to be regarded as condoning the murder of the Deputy Mayor. That being said — and this point was referred to by Senator O'Toole — it is also understandable that, so long as the apartheid system continues, there will be outbreaks of frustration at the fundamental injustice it represents.

Much has been said and written about the apartheid system. It is necessary, repeatedly, to convey to the South African Government the concern, the outrage and the sense of helplessness with which the world outside regards the way that government treat the majority of their citizens. One must make an effort to appeal to the South African Government to turn their backs on the paths of repression and inhumanity. I call on that government, I call on President Botha, to take the minimal step of sparing the lives of these six people whose conviction is so unsoundly based.

Ireland's policy with regard to South Africa has always been one of unequivocal opposition to apartheid. In its practical application, our policy has aimed at applying pressure on the South African Government to get them peacefully to abandon their policy of apartheid. Part of that policy has been not to maintain diplomatic relations with the South African Government as a mark of our disapproval. In its practical application we seek, therefore, to keep contacts to an absolute minimum. However, as the Tánaiste said in the Dáil yesterday, the very serious concern which the Government and the people of Ireland, as enunciated again here today in the Seanad, felt about the case of the Sharpeville Six was such that it was felt that the concern and a request for clemency should be conveyed directly to the South African authorities, and this was done through our embassy in London.

In answer to Senator Norris, we do not know as yet whether our appeal will be heeded. To date, there has been only silence from President Botha in response to messages directed to him from all around the world. It has been suggested that he fears his own right wing more than he fears the moral verdict of the world. This was referred to by Senator Bulbulia. I earnestly hope that is not the case. Sooner or later, the almost unanimous view of the rest of the world will have to be heard in South Africa. On this issue world opinion is practically unanimous.

Ireland and the Twelve have called on numerous occasions for the South African Government to begin a process of meaningful reform of the apartheid system and to begin a process of genuine dialogue with authentic leaders of the majority community. However, the actions of the South African Government last month in severely restricting the activities of 17 groups working for nonviolent opposition to apartheid were a sad sign that far from opening channels of communication the South African Government were seeking to close them, that far from promoting dialogue the South African Government were intent only on stifling opposition. The relevation that the Sharpeville Six were to hang has been another body blow to those of us who have looked for some sign from Pretoria. The Taoiseach and the Government have launched an appeal at this late stage in order to avert this further body blow.

Ireland supports the strengthening by the Twelve of the measures taken against South Africa. There have been calls from almost every Senator today for the taking of further measures as a means of expressing the outrage felt over the case of the six. This Government will continue to press our partners in the Twelve to agree to stronger measures and sanctions against South Africa. We will continue to do this whether these executions are carried out, but I hope sincerely that future discussions on the Twelve policy will not take place against the sombre background of six more hangings on grounds as tenuous as those which have been cited.

South Africa has been very much before the eyes of the world in recent years, but surely never more so than this week. The execution of people gives rise to very special emotion at all times. In addition to this very natural emotion, it is deplorable in this case that a legal principle has been misapplied and persons are to die because of this. I hope this will not happen. I hope, and I speak on behalf of the Government and I am sure of all the Members of Seanad Éireann in this regard, that at this eleventh hour President Botha will yield to the many pleas which have been made to him, including our own, and in so doing provide a first sign that perhaps his government are conscious of the climate of world opinion as expressed by such a wide variety of spokesmen for that opinion.

I thank Senators who have spoken and assure them that I will pass on to the Government and to the Taoiseach their clarion calls.

The Seanad adjourned at 4.55 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 23 March 1988.