I have notice from Senator Katharine Bulbulia that she wishes to raise the following matter: the need for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to intercede on behalf of the Sharpeville Six so as to ensure that their execution does not take place.
Adjournment Matter. - Sharpeville Six.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
I am pleased the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs has made himself available to come here this afternoon to hear this matter which expresses the need for the Minister for Foreign Affairs to intercede on behalf of the Sharpeville Six to ensure their execution does not take place.
It is very important at the outset to sketch in the backdrop against which this execution is pending. There is a massively deteriorating situation in South Africa. During the week we heard of incursions into neighbouring Botswana by South African commandos. Such an incursion was, we are very thankfull, foiled by the Botswana security forces but it was nonetheless worrying and disturbing because it followed upon explosions in the capital of Botswana, Gaborone. We have also witnessed the spectacle of hundreds of thousands of the majority population staying away from work to mark the 14th anniversary of the Soweto uprising.
We must remember that anything we see on our television screens or read in our newspapers about South Africa is there not by virtue of any will or wish on the part of the South African Government where there is a very strong censorship and a clampdown on news from that country. Therefore, the situation is far worse than we perceive or read about.
We have also seen this week offensive proposals from the beleaguered South African Government to give the majority population a say in government but without relinquishing control and as a sop there is a suggestion that a Bill will shortly follow for a top level all-race advisory council and the possible allowing of the majority population to have some members in cabinet.
In recent weeks we have seen the disgraceful treatment of Mrs. Leah Tutu, wife of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was pulled in for a minor traffic infringement and subjected to appalling treatment from the South African police. She was chained hand and foot and threats were made that she would be kicked in the mouth. That is the backdrop against which is this looming execution of the Sharpeville Six. Apart from the precious lives of the six concerned there is an overwhelming feeling that this incident could be, if it takes place, a flashpoint which would ignite South Africa itself and indeed the whole of Southern Africa. After the event, if it takes place and my intention here in putting this motion on the Adjournment is to ensure that it will not, there will, of course, be words of condemnation but these will be absolutely useless in a context where six lives have been cut off by the actions of that obscene regime.
I understand the Taoiseach has given an indication that there will be further bilateral representations to the South African authorities and that such bilateral representations are under consideration. That is not enough, a Leis-Chathaoirleach, let me put to the Minister of State. What we need are unilateral representations and action on sanctions, and specifically on coal importation. West Germany and the Netherlands are considering sanctions against South Africa if it rejects clemency appeals. I hope the Minister in his reply today can tell me what actions we are considering by way of representations in relation to clemency and if clemency fails what follow-up actions are being contemplated to show our abhorrence and detestation of what may happen to the Sharpeville Six. Contemplating withdrawal of ambassadors is something that other nations are also considering but that does not arise in our case. I want to know specifically if we have asked that the death sentences in this case will be commuted.
I have been critical in the past, and I still maintain my stance of criticism of our approach to the whole issue of Apartheid. It is my firm belief that we seek cover in the thickets of diplomacy and we overlook the fact that as a small, neutral country with a proud tradition of having overcome oppression we could be a strong moral force. We have no vested interest in South Africa. We can stand out head and shoulders above other nations who seek to protect their vital interests on the one hand and proclaim their abhorrence of the evil racist regime in South Africa on the other. We have seen that ambivalence coming from other nation states. We know it and we recognise it and nobody in this country would wish our Government to be ambivalent on this issue and would want to see them taking where necessary — and it is necessary now — unilateral actions against South Africa.
There is no place for equivocation, expedience or the niceties of diplomacy on this issue. The issue of Apartheid is without doubt the greatest evil in the world, followed closely by the sorts of imbalances which see world starvation and hunger. Our attitude to it is a moral imperative and I hope that attitude will be made very clear in the Minister's reply today.
Our efforts in the face of the impending execution of the Sharpeville Six are crucial not only because six lives are in the balance but because these people are victims of a system which the Irish people as a whole deplore and reject. I want to go back to the scene in 1984 when the Sharpeville Six were involved in this incident. It is important to picture a township, Lekoa, densely populated, full of shanty dwellings, hot sticky climate, mutinous crowd of about 100 people angry over rent increases which take place against a backdrop of poor wages and a virtual slave economy. The Deputy Mayor, Khuzwayo Diamini was executed by the mob. A legal expedient called "common purpose" was invoked to indict the six people involved. Just because they were part of a crowd, they are ipso facto guilty of murder. They were chosen at random. Their guilt is not proven. They were found guilty on the basis of a sort of collective responsibility. It is contrary to all principles of international law and it is proof positive if, indeed proof positive were needed, that domestic law in South Africa is heavily weighted against the majority population, but of course they have not any say in the enactment of that legislation. They have no voice, no input in that area.
The Sharpeville Six are, in my view, sacrificial lambs. They are victims who will be used, and I hope it does not happen, to appease the extreme right wing political groupings who are threatening President P.W. Botha in South Africa. They feel that he is going too far, too fast and they are demanding sacrifice.
There was an appeal to the Pretoria Supreme Court for a retrial of the five men and one woman. This appeal was rejected. It is fair to say that the world expected a different response. The world continues to hope that, by appealing to better nature, by threatening sanctions or in some instances actually invoking them, this will in some way bring about a change of heart in that benighted regime, but it does not seem that that is the case, On 17 March 1988 a one month reprieve was given to the Sharpeville Six. Then there was an application for a retrial which led to an indefinite suspension of sentence. Just picture what all this must mean to those six people who are the focus of world attention because they have been on death row in Pretoria Central Prison since December 1985.
I want to emphasise that what I am talking about in the context of this motion is not mercy. Justice is what I am talking about; justice for those six people. We must contrast the apparent stoney-hearted response of P.W. Botha with his recent intervention, an intervention this year which halted the trial of six South African army officers accused of murdering a veteran SWAPO activist in the township in Windhoek in Namibia or South West Africa. If it can be done in the case of six South African army officers, it can most certainly be done in the case of the Sharpeville Six who are victims, who are sacrificial lambs and who, if the world does not rise up and shout "halt", may very well meet the death sentence in order to placate, appease and pacify the extreme right in South Africa.
I want the Minister of State to give me an assurance that everything possible is being done, that there is a very clear programme. I want to know who he is contacting, who has been contacted, what steps will be taken and, in the horrible eventuality that this execution takes place, what follow-up swift, sharp action we will take to show our abhorrence, detestation and revulsion at the prospect of six people being denied life and existence in South Africa. I look forward with interest to what the Minister has to say.
I would like to thank Senator Bulbulia for giving me an opportunity to reiterate the Government's concern in relation to the Sharpeville Six. I am very pleased at all times to make myself available to the Seanad particularly on a matter like this.
The rejection last week of the application for a retrial of the Sharpeville Six marked a further discouraging stage in the development of this case. Senator Bulbulia has very fully expressed the horror and revulsion we all feel at the renewed possibility that the South African system will take its course and the Six will be executed.
As Senator Bulbulia will be aware, this affair was last discussed just three months ago here in the Seanad when the execution of the Six seemed imminent. The concern then expressed echoed the reactions in international organisations and parliaments all over the world. Appeals for clemency were made by every major world leader, by the Secretary General of the United Nations, by the Twelve member states of the European Community and by concerned organisations of every type and from many parts of the world. Although — and this was referred to by Senator Bulbulia — Ireland has no diplomatic relations with South Africa, this country's concern was communicated to the South African authorities through their Embassy in London.
This unprecedentedly universal appeal seemed in March to have some effect. The South African President, on the technical grounds that one of the key witnesses had admitted that he had committed perjury, caused the judge hearing the case to order a stay of execution to allow lawyers for the Six to submit applications for a retrial based on fresh evidence. Any retrial could not relate to whether the Six had actually murdered the Deputy Mayor of Sharpeville — it had been clearly proved and accepted as referred to by Senator Bulbulia, that none of them took part in the actual murder. What was at issue was whether persons present in a crowd where a murder was perpetrated can be regarded as guilty of the murder. In fact, there is even some doubt as to whether two of the Six were actually present in the crowd on that occasion.
The conviction of the Six was based on the legal doctrine of common purpose — that their mere presence in the crowd implied participation or connivance in the murder. Such an application of the doctrine is, of course, unprecedented in western legal systems, on which South African law is based. It seems even more at odds with common principles of justice. The upholding of the court's conviction on such an interpretation of the law is difficult for us to understand.
The circumstances in which Deputy Mayor Khuzwayo Dlamini was murdered were ghastly and cannot be justified in any way. The Government by no means seek to condone the brutal attack and revolting killing of this man. We believe firmly that his killers should be brought to justice. However understandable it may be that the frustration and deep resentment caused by the iniquitous Apartheid system can result in such savage outbreaks of violence. No injustice can be invoked to justify the taking of human life particularly in so dreadful a manner.
Therefore, while we condemn unreservedly the killing of the Deputy Mayor, we can in no way accept that the execution of six people, whom even the South African legal authorities agree did not carry it out, can be justified in the terms presented. Indeed, the action savours more of retaliation than of justice in accordance with accepted legal standards. We have already directed an appeal to the South African President and Government to spare the Six. On behalf of the Seanad and all the people of Ireland I renew that plea today.
In doing this I take into account the fact that all the legal means at the defence's disposal are not yet exhausted. The trial judge has ordered a stay of execution until 19 July to allow for an appeal to the Chief Justice of South Africa, with a view to having the trial reopened before the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, which is the Court of final appeal. It is only if this appeal should fail and if no direction of a fresh trial is achieved that the granting of clemency lies in President Botha's hands. We must still hope for a successful legal outcome.
Ireland has always had a policy of unequivocal opposition to Apartheid, a system of which this very sad case is one appalling result. We believe that only the total abolition of the Apartheid system can bring to an end the violence that results in deaths such as that of Deputy Mayor Diamini. To achieve the abolition of Apartheid we do not condone violence. On the contrary, our policy has aimed consistently at applying pressure on the South African Government aimed at persuading that Government by peaceful means to abandon Apartheid.
As part of that policy we have marked our disapproval by maintaining no diplomatic relations with the South African Government. This is not hiding behind the thicket of diplomacy. We also seek to keep contacts to a minimum — as shown practically by our withdrawal of grants and subsidies from sporting or cultural bodies maintaining links with South Africa and by withholding official support for trade promotion activities. We also comply fully with internationally agreed measures, that is, the UN arms embargo and the measures agreed by the twelve member states of the European Community.
I have listened carefully and with great sympathy to the expressions of concern and grief by Senator Bulbulia here today. I can assure her that her sentiments are fully shared by the Government. As the Taoiseach stated yesterday in the Dáil in reply to a number of questions on this case it remains the earnest hope of the Government that these executions will not take place and that the legal procedures still available will be used successfully by the Six.
As soon as the rejection of the applications by the Six for a retrial was announced, the situation was considered by the Foreign Ministers of the Twelve, who issued a statement on 14 June expressing their deep distress and concern about the fate of the Six and urging the use of all possible legal options to prevent the carrying out of the death penalty. In addition, the Presidency's representative in Pretoria was instructed to make immediate representations in the matter to the South African Government on behalf of the Twelve.
The question of making further bilateral representations on behalf of the Six is being kept under close consideration. While I am satisfied that the South African authorities are under no doubt as to the views not only of Ireland but of the world at large, if at any time it appears that a further bilateral approach by Ireland might prove useful to the Sharpeville Six, Senator Bulbulia and other Senators may rest assured that it will be made. We hope, however, that it will not need to be made, that commonsense will prevail and that a retrial will be ordered and that the Sharpeville Six will be found innocent.
The Seanad adjourned at 3.35 p.m. until 12 noon on Tuesday, 28 June 1988.