Assembly declares South African referendum results "of no validity".

Assembly Declares South African Referendum Results "Of No Validity'

THE General Assembly declared on 15 November that the results of South Africa's constitutional referendum "are of no validity whatsoever' and that enforcement of the proposals "will inevitably aggravate tension and conflict in South Africa and in southern Africa as a whole'.

By a vote of 141 in favour to none against, with 7 abstentions (Belgium, Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States), the Assembly adopted resolution 38/15, in which it rejected "the socalled "constitutional proposals' and all insidious manoeuvres by the racist minority regime of South Africa further to entrench white minority rule and apartheid'.

The Assembly said the aim of the proposals, endorsed by the exclusively white electorate on 2 November, was to deprive the indigenous African majority of all fundamental rights, including the right of citizenship, and to transform South Africa into a country for "whites only' in keeping with apartheid policies. The Security Council was requested to consider the serious implications of the proposals and to take "all necessary measures, in accordance with the Charter, to avert the further aggravation of tension and conflict in South Africa and in southern Africa as a whole'.

The resolution stated that the proposed constitution (establishing separate chambers of parliament for whites, Coloureds and Asians) was contrary to the principles of the United Nations Charter. It rejected "any so-called "negotiated settlement' based on Bantustan structures or the "constitutional proposals'', and solemnly declared that only the total eradication of apartheid and the establishment of a non-racial democratic society based on majority rule could lead to a just and lasting solution of the explosive situation in South Africa.

The Assembly action had been called for "as a matter of urgency' by the African Group. The draft resolution, presented by Sierra Leone, was acted upon before the Assembly's full debate on apartheid. (The debate, and resolutions which were adopted after the debate, will be covered in next month's UN Chronicle.)

African Group

On behalf of the African Group, Sierra Leone said South Africa had "embarked on a gigantic hoax designed to prolong its life and its criminal policies and practices of apartheid'.

Under terms of the proposed constitution, said Sierra Leone, a three-chamber legislature would be enacted...