"I Must Keep This Country Safe"

A rare interview with Justice Minister James Kruger

Prime Minister John Vorster kicked off his National Party's campaign last week in what is being billed as the country's "crisis election." Looking rather like a grumpy air-raid warden, Vorster warned a rally of party faithful in the eastern Transvaal that only a National landslide on Nov. 30 could hold back the "swart gevaar" (black menace). Vorster has every reason to expect an overwhelming mandate from South Africa's 4.3 million whites. (The country's 18 million blacks, 2.5 million mixed-blood "coloreds" and 850,000 Asians cannot vote.) The latest polls indicate that his Nationals will capture 64% of the vote, up from 57% in the 1974 election.

But despite Vorster's campaign thunderbolts, there are signs that the Prime Minister wants to moderate both the leadership and direction of his party. One hint of a future change: the resignation last week of Michiel C. Botha as Minister of Bantu Administration. An unbending Afrikaner, Botha was responsible for enforcing the education, housing and labor laws that cover the country's blacks. He was a main target of black wrath during last year's violent riots and in the current strike of teachers and students that has paralyzed the school system in Soweto.

There is also pressure on James Kruger to resign as South Africa's powerful Minister of Justice, Police and Prisons. Kruger triggered an international furor by his seemingly casual handling of the death of the 30-year-old black leader Stephen Biko in a Pretoria jail (TIME, Sept. 26). The minister first strongly implied that Biko, who was detained for questioning under South Africa's tough internal security laws, had died as a result of a hunger strike. An inquest, expected to be held later this month, will inquire into the suspicious circumstances of the death. Kruger further infuriated blacks by saying that Biko's death had "left him cold."

A deceptively cherubic-looking man whose rosy face would seem more appropriate to a Dutch baker than a gruff police chief, Kruger last week extensively discussed details of the Biko case for the first time. Showing no outward emotion, the 59-year-old official patiently fielded questions in his wood-paneled Pretoria office during an interview with TIME Johannesburg Bureau Chief William McWhirter. Excerpts from their talk:

Q. What happened to Biko before he died?

A. He was brought up by van [750 miles from the prison in Port Elizabeth to Pretoria]. He got into the van himself and was made comfortable. He was ill at various stages, but that was after [we had requested] medical advice as to whether he could travel and they said he could. [In Pretoria], he was put in a prison cell because that was the warrant and they immediately tried to get hold of a doctor. But the soonest they could reach him was early afternoon, so Biko was left [in prison] and treated there; that evening he died. I have never said that he died of hunger; he had definitely been on a hunger strike. He refused to eat. There is also a medical history there.

Q. Do you regret your early remarks about Biko's death?

A. I think that my first statements were not correctly interpreted. I used an Afrikaans expression [Dit laat my koud] which meant that I was not emotionally involved, the same as if you would say to me that your aunt died yesterday. I would simply say, "Well, I'm sorry." The direct translation into English sounds a little bit callous, but I only meant to say that I was neutral. I feel sorry for any person's death. But you understand, I'm not emotionally involved; I was not a particular supporter of Mr. Biko. I knew who he was, of course, and the record of his organization. But, personally, I didn't know the late Mr. Biko from a bar of soap. I think that [police] judgment may have been at fault. With a big administration, it is quite impossible for my office to control every single aspect [of operation], but that doesn't lessen my responsibility. There is a human element which no one in the world can really control.

Q. Did you ever reprimand or fire a policeman for torturing or beating a prisoner?

A. Not that I can remember. I haven't got all the facts. I frankly do not think that the security police would beat a man. It is possible for a policeman to react to a prisoner who starts with violence--a person who gets a clout or something like that. Policemen never really start the trouble. Policemen try and stop it.

Q. Was Biko a danger to the state?

A. The man is dead. Does it really matter what I believe? I wouldn't have arrested him if I didn't believe he was a danger. I have the pamphlet for which he was arrested, and these are the words in it: "Organize yourselves into groups to deal with those who do not heed this plea. Beat them, burn their books, burn their cars and shops. Show no mercy to informers and collaborators. They must all be killed. Long live the revolution! Power to the people!" I'm not pinning this [directly] on Biko, but this pamphlet is heavy meat. I cannot allow the black people to be intimidated by this sort of activism, just as I am not going to allow them to try and overthrow our state.

Q. Will there be martial law?

A. If such should happen, it will be for a very short period. I think that [our] security measures are adequate. But it is an old Roman-law maxim that the security of the state is the highest law. The state is entitled to take exceptional measures to preserve its own security in exceptional circumstances. I think that anybody who says my country is not under exceptional circumstances must have his head examined. We have no option; I must keep this country safe. If [the blacks] were not stimulated from the outside, then I think they would change their minds. I sincerely believe we can show our black people the good fruits of our policy of separate development.

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