SOUTH AFRICA

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03007344
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: February 24, 2023
• Document Release Date: February 24, 2023
• Case Number: F-2014-00485
• Publication Date: February 1, 1966

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February 1966
OCI No. 1106/66
Copy N9 334
Current Intelligence Country Handbook
SOUTH AFRICA
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
Office of Current Intelligence
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Current Intelligence Country Handbooks are designed to give the
reader ready access to the salient facts about a country and its main
current problems. They are not intended to provide comprehensive
basic intelligence on a country or to speak with the authority of
coordinated national intelligence. The information presented is the
best available as of the date at the top of the page.
This material contains information affecting the national defense
of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission oi revelation of
which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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February 1966
SECRET/NO FORE
1. Political
SOUTH AFRICA
The Republic of South Africa left the Commonwealth upon be-
coming a republic in 1961, in protest over general opposition to
the national policy of Apartheid. Apartheid ("separation" in Afri-
kaans) is the political program which brought the Nationalist Party
to power in 1948. It implies not only the separation, but also the
independent development of South Africa's four ethnic categories.
A White minority maintains complete control over the country's
Asiatic, Bantu and Colored (mixed origin) population. The Na-
tionalist Party, which had the support of only the Afrikaans-speaking
element of the White population, has emerged as the symbol of
White supremacy in the face of international criticism and has re-
cently won over many English-speaking Whites from the opposition
United Party, which offers no distinctive alternative program. The
other White parties, the small Progressive Party and the Liberal
Party, offer a political alternative to Apartheid, but lack popular
support and are operating under government restrictions. They
stand more as a symbolic than an actual threat to the present gov-
ernment. The non-White parties are treated under "Subversion,"
since only the South African Whites can directly elect delegates to
the legislature.
South Africa is a republic ruled by a president who acts as chief
of state with powers to call and dissolve the legislature. The head
of government is the prime minister; he is supported by a 19-member
executive council. There is a Senate composed of 54 members and
a House of Assembly with 160 members. The Colored in Cape
Province elect four White representatives. Recent legislation passed
by the Nationalist majority in Parliament has given the executive
summary powers to make arrests and suppress any subversive or
anti-Apartheid threat.
2. Economic
South Africa stands in a preeminent position in Africa, not only as
a producer of minerals and agricultural products, but also as a mod-
ern industrial nation. The Republic accounts for almost one-half
of the total of US investments in Africa and more than one-third of
1
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SECRET/NO FOREICN DISEEM February 1966
US trade with Africa. South Africa produces 70 percent of the gold,
33 percent of the chromium, and 15 percent of the uranium oxide in
the free world and leads all other African countries in most categories
of industrial production and consumption. Any trade embargoes or
sanctions against South Africa would therefore also work to the dis-
advantage of the participating countries. The only major resource
South Africa lacks is petroleum.
South Africa is riding a crest of affluence and is nearing the danger-
ous inflationary level in the price/wage ratio. A good part of the
growth is due to the employment of non-White workers at very low
wages in labor intense production. The Apartheid theory treats
non-Whites as temporary sojourners in "white South Africa," to be
sent back to their home areas as soon as they are no longer needed
in the industrial sector, but the non-White population of the cities
is likely to continue to grow, the theory notwithstanding. Much
of the labor force comes from non-White migratory workers from
the British High Commission territories, Mozambique, and Rhodesia
who work in the South African mines or farms for a period of about
six months before returning to their homes.
South Africa can feed itself and normally produces a surplus of
wool, hides and skins, fruit, maize, sugar, and peanut oil. Most
of the productive areas are owned by the Whites. The Bantu, who
are not able to subsist in their own reserves, must seek employment
on the White farms or in the industrial sector.
3. International Relations
South Africa is strongly pro-West and its closest tics have always
been with Britain and the US. It is, however, an embarrassment
to the West because of the policy of Apartheid. Its relations with
much of the free world are barely correct and almost nonexistent on
the official level with the rest of Africa, except for those countries
contiguous to its borders. The South African government has at-
tempted to maintain a neutral position in the Rhodesian "independ-
ence" crisis, maintaining normal diplomatic and trade relations with
both Rhodesia and the United Kingdom.
The International Court of Justice is expected to rule in 1966 on
the Republic's mandate over South West Africa. Almost any fore-
seeable verdict will once more cause the African members of the
United Nations to demand the expulsion of South Africa and imple-
mentation of trade boycotts and sanctions. African pressure will be
directed mainly at Britain arid the US and will probably involve
the UN Security Council and a call for mandatory sanctions.
2 � South Africa
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4. Subversion
South Africa's Communist Party, founded in 1921, was outlawed in
1950 and now operates underground. South Africa has given its
police and security forces broad powers to suppress Communist and
other subversive forces and most opposition parties are either operat-
ing in exile or thoroughly infiltrated by government agents.
The Communist Party has operated through various front or-
ganizations of the non-Whites. It is strongest in the Congress Alli-
ance, consisting of the African National Congress (ANC), South
African Indian Congress (SAIC), Colored Peoples Congress (CPC),
Congress of Democrats (COD), and the South African Congress of
Trade Unions (SACTU). White Communists, by controlling the
COD's 200 members, gained a disproportionate influence in the other
organizations, which themselves contained several Communists and
sympathizers at the leadership level. The Pan African Congress
(PAC) broke from the ANC in 1959 over the issue of. non-Bantu and
specifically Communist influence and has followed a more militant
"Africa for the Africans" line. The revolution-minded PAC exile
faction has established ties with Communist China.
The two major underground organizations arc POQO (We Stand
Alone) connected with the PAC, and Spear of the Nation- (Umkonto
we Sizwc), which is allied with the ANC. Neither the nationalist
groups nor their subversive wings have any trouble-making potential
inside South Africa, but some organizations are still operating in
the safe haven of the High Commission Territories. All have ex-
tensive establishments in Dar es Salaam and London. Eighty -in-
filtrators trained for subversion in Tanzania, the Congo, and various
Communist countries were apprehended in 1965 after being infiltrated
through these territories.
5. Ethnic Problems
South Africa,. in legislating the complete separation of races, has
only formalized a tacit understanding among South African Whites.
Apartheid is not merely a policy of White supremacy, but implies
the independent development of each ethnic group. Sixty percent
of the. Whites are Afrikaners, whose traditions are mostly rural, and
the remainder, who are English-speaking, have operated largely in
the business world. There has been a recent influx of English-speak-
ing White immigrants from Rhodesia, Kenya, and Zambia who sup-
port the policies of the government and have been readily assimilated
SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM South Africa �3
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in the White society. The various Asiatics, of which the Indians
are the largest group, are unwanted by the Whites in South Africa,
but attempts to return them to their countries of origin have failed.
The Bantu occupy the lowest rung on the caste-like hierarchy. Sepa-
rate Bantu areas have been established by the South African govern-
ment as native reserves which in theory are eventually to become
autonomous regions within the Republic, but neither the urban nor
the rural African population as a whole enjoys the social or economic
status of the other races. The Colored (mixed origin) are caught in
no-man's land. They had aspired to assimilation by the Whites, but
have been pushed toward the Bantu by the die-hard Afrikaner na-
tionalists.
Apartheid has divided South Africa by race in spite of interna-
tional protests. The race distinction is likely to continue to domi-
nate any other social affiliations. The government has used its full
police powers to maintain the race barriers, and has managed to
control social unrest through the suppression of opposition move-
ments and the careful handling of racial protests in order not to
create incidents such as the shooting of protesters at Sharpeville in
1960.
Chronology of Key Events
1652 Landing of Dutch settlers at Cape Town and the
migration of Bantu into the area from the north.
1820 Large influx of White English settlers.
1899-1902 Anglo-Boer War.
1910 Establishment of the Union of South Africa comprising
Cape Province, Orange Free State, Natal, and Trans-
vaal.
1919 League of Nations grants mandate over South West
Africa.
1948 Nationalist Party victory at the polls. Introduction of
Apartheid.
1960 World-wide attention to Apartheid b4 cause of the
Sharpeville massacre.
1961 Establishment of the Republic, withdrawal from the
Commonwealth.
1961 National election returns Nationalist Party with 51
member majority.
1962 International Court of Justice agrees to hear charges
raised by Ethiopia and Liberia against South African
administration of South West Africa.
4 � South Africa
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Selected Factual Data
LAND
472,000 sq. mi.; 12% arable (about half cultivated); 86% desert,
waste, or urban; 2% forested
PEOPLE
Population: 18.1 million; males 15-49, 4,179,000; 2,315,000 fit for
mil. service; obligation for service in Citizen Force begins at 18;
volunteers for service in permanent force must be at least 17
Ethnic Divisions: 19% Europeans, 68,5% Bantu, 9.5% Colored,
3% Asiatic
Religion: primarily Christian except Asiatics and Bantu; 60% of
Bantu are animists
Language: Afrikaans and English official, Bantu have many ver-
nacular languages
Literacy: nearly all of White population literate; government esti-
mates 35% of Bantu literate
Labor force: 8.7 million (total of economically active, 1960); 53%
agr., 8% mfg., 7% mining, 5% commerce, 27% miscellaneous serv-
ices
Organized labor: about 5% of total labor force is unionized (mostly
White workers)
GOVERNMENT
Capital: administrative, Pretoria; legislative, Cape Town; judicial,
Bloemfontein
Regional breakdown: 4 provinces, each headed by centrally ap-
pointed administrator; provincial councils, elected by overwhelm-
ingly White electorate, retain limited powers
Type: unitary republic
Branches: president as formal chief of state; prime minister as head
of government; cabinet responsible to bicameral legislature; lower
house elected directly by overwhelmingly White electorate; upper
house indirectly elected and appointed; judiciary maintains sub-
stantial indpendence of government influence despite consider-
able pressure
Government leader: Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd
Suffrage: limited to Whites over 18
Elections: must be held at least every 5 years; last elections (1961)
Political parties and leaders: Nationalist Party, Hendrik Verwoerd,
B. J. Vorster, T. E. Donges, Jan De Klerk; United Party, Sir De
Villiers Graaf, W. Horak, D. Mitchell, Marais Steyn; Progessive
Party, Jan Steytler, Helen Suzman; Liberal Party, Alan Paton,
Peter Brown
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s ttert.NO�POttEiG�P41-13igggi February 1966
Voting strength (1961 general elections): Nationalist Party, 55%;
United Party, about 30%; Progressive Party, 9%; National Union,
4.5%; Liberal Party, 1.5%
Communists: small Communist Party illegal since 1950; influential
in African movements; most leaders are refugees in foreign coun-
tries�Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Abram Fischer, Lionel Bern-
stein, Ruth First Slovo, Joe Slovo, Joe Matthews
Other political groups: African National Congress (ANC), Albert
Luthuli, Duma Nokwe, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tantbo (Commu-
nist penetrated at leadership level); Pan-Africanist Congress,
Robert Sobukwe, Nana Mabomo; "Congresses" representing other
racial groups, and South African Congress of Trade Unions (both
Communist dominated)
Member of: UN (IAEA, ILO, FAO, WHO, IMF, MED, ICAO,
UPU, ITU, WMO)
ECONOMY
GNP: US$10.4 billion (1964); over $550 per capita
Agriculture: main crops�corn, wood, dairy products, wheat, sugar
cane, tobacco, citrus fruits:, self-sufficient in foodstuffs
Major industries: mining, automobile assembly, metal working, ma-
chinery, textiles, iron and steel, chemical, fertilizer fishing
Electric power: 5.6 million kw. capacity (1962); 32 billion kw.-hr.
produced (1964), 1,830 kw.-hr. per capita
Exports: $2,472 million, including over $1 billion in gold; wool,
diamonds, uranium, sugar, fruit, hides, skins, metals, metallic ores,
asbestos, fish products
Imports: $2,137 million (1964); motor vehicles, machmery, metals,
petroleum products, textiles, chemicals
Trade: major partners�UK and other Commonwealth nations, US,
Germany, Japan
Aid: IBRD loans; US economic $154.1 million (prior t:o 1961, none
since)
Exchange rate: 1 Rand,US$1.40 (official)
Fiscal year: 1 Jul.-30 Jun.
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 12,200 mi., mostly 3'6" gage; 1,684 mi. electrified
Highways: 206,000 mi.; 17,500 mi. paved, 39,500 mi. crushed stone,
gravel, or stabilized soil, 149,500 mi. improved and unimproved
earth
Inland waterways: none
Ports: 2 principal (Cape Town, Durban), 3 secondary, 10 minor
6� South Africa SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM
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Merchant marine: 42 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 219,286
GRT, 305,300 DWT; includes 37 cargo, 1 tanker, 3 bulk, 1 spe-
cialized carrier
Civil air: 35 major transport aircraft
Airfields: 404 total; 22 with permanent-surface runways; 3 with run-
ways over 12,000 ft.; 4 with runways 8,000-11,999 ft.; 103 with
runways 4,000-7,999 ft.; 4 seaplane stations
Telecommunications: good telephone, telegraph, and telex service;
good broadcast coverage provided by 11 AM and 3 FM stations;
1,070,000 telephones
DEFENSE FORCES
Persormel: army 17,300, navy 3,200, air force 4,700 (373 pilots),
police 28,000
Major ground units: 9 combat-type battalions
Ships: 3 destroyers, 4 antisubmarine destroyers, 6 patrol, 12 mine-
warfare, 5 auxiliary, 5 service craft
Aircraft: 482 (134 jets, 33 turbine helicopters), including 30 prop.
aircraft subordinate to army
Supply: produces small arms and small-arm and artillery ammuni-
tion; assembles armored cars; supported primarily from UK and
France
Military budget: for fiscal year ending Mar. 1966, $321,160,000;
about 15% of total budget
National Intelligence Survey (NIS) Material
The following sections of the NIS are relevant:
NIS Area 61 (South Africa)
CHAPTER I BRIEF and the following specialized sections:
Sec 22 Coasts and Landing Beaches
Sec 23 Weather and Climate
Sec 25 Urban Areas
Sec 31 Railway
Sec 32 Highway
Sec 35 Ports and Naval Facilities
Sec 36 Merchant Marine
Sec 37 Civil Air
Sec 38 Telecommunications
Sec 40 Introduction�Sociological
Sec 41 Population
Sec 42 Characteristics of the People
Sec 43 Religion, Education, and Public Information
SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM South Africa �7
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Sec 44 Manpower
Sec 45 Health and Sanitation
Sec 51 The Constitutional System
Sec 52 Structure of the Government
Sec 53 Political Dynamics
Sec 54 Public Order and Safety
Sec 55 National Policies (b)(1)
Sec 57 Subversion (b)(3) NatSecAct
Sec 58 Propaganda
Sec 60 Introduction�Economic
Sec 61 Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry
Sec 62 Fuels and Power
Sec 63 Minerals and Metals
Sec 64 Manufacturing and Construction
Sec 65 Trade and Finance
Sec 83 Air Forces
Secs 91-94 Map and Chart Appraisal
Gazetteer Volumes I and II
(b)(1)
(b)(3) NatSecAct
Map
The best available general reference map is: South African Tourist
Corporation; Tourist Map of the Republic of South Africa; 1:2,400,000;
1960 or later; gazetteer on back.
8 � South Africa
SECRET/NO FORE4CN DIEM
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