S. Africa Urges Joint Action in West’s Battles

Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha, reacting angrily to the latest American criticism of South Africa’s white-led minority government, said Friday that the United States should side with it in the West’s battle against communism and terrorism.

Botha described as “nothing new” a speech Thursday in Washington by Secretary of State George P. Shultz outlining U.S. policy toward South Africa and appealing to blacks and whites here to begin talks on establishing a multiracial democracy.

Shultz was “quick and categoric” in his denunciation of the Pretoria government, Botha said, but was “quite apologetic” to the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, guerrilla groups fighting white rule here.

“It continues to amaze me that a powerful country like the United States, which sends spacecraft to the planets, is unable to judge the realities on earth in a balanced way,” Botha said.

“Mr. Shultz tries to sit on all the chairs of southern Africa simultaneously. This is simply not possible. He and the American government will sooner or later have to decide exactly where they stand in their struggle against communism and terrorism.”

Greatest Strategic Ally

He said the United States must soon realize that Pretoria is its greatest strategic ally in southern Africa and thus should accept uncritically its commitment to step-by-step reform and temper its criticism of apartheid.

Botha’s criticism reflected the deep and increasingly bitter estrangement between the Reagan Administration and Pretoria, which feels betrayed by the U.S. imposition of economic sanctions. The government here attacks Shultz and President Reagan despite their strong opposition to the congressionally mandated sanctions.

Shultz, in a major policy statement in Washington, criticized what he saw as a lack of progress and many opportunities for change that the government here has missed, but he also pledged that, “if whites begin a meaningful political dialogue . . . with all their fellow South Africans, they will have firm--I repeat, firm--American support.”

Noting the exodus of American companies from South Africa, Shultz urged U.S. firms to remain here and promote political, economic and social reform.

But Fluor Corp., the American construction and engineering giant headquartered in Irvine, Calif., announced here Friday that it is pulling out, selling its subsidiary to a trust fund for local employees but retaining a right to repurchase the South African operation in the future.

Departure of Companies

Earlier, Honeywell Inc. and Revlon, Inc. announced that they are selling their South African operations to local buyers. Dozens of American companies have pulled out of South Africa this year as a result of political pressure in the United States and growing disillusionment with the pace of reform here.

In the country’s continuing political violence, the Soweto home of pop singer Steve Kekana, who is blind, was attacked with firebombs Friday in apparent reprisal for his participation in a project called “Together We Will Build a Brighter Future.” This is a controversial government project modeled on the American effort “We Are the World.” Kekana was not home at the time. Four people were injured attempting to put out the fire.