A Summit of Sorts

For the first time in the land of apartheid, South African Prime Minister Hendrik F. Verwoerd last week received a black African leader. He is Chief Leabua Jonathan, Prime Minister of Basutoland, which, with independence next month, gets a new name:

Lesotho. The P.M. journeyed to Pre toria in a South African air force plane to talk business. Lesotho will be entirely surrounded by South African territory and is heavily dependent on Verwoerd's economy since thousands of Basuto regularly flock to South African gold mines for jobs. But Chief Jonathan has something to offer in return: water for South Africa's parched farmlands, and some spit and polish for the image Verwoerd would like to project to the world as a man reasonable to his black neighbors if not his black countrymen. The talk was friendly enough, but except to be photographed, Verwoerd refused to appear in public with Chief Jonathan. So the visitor had his chat, adjourned to lunch in a private room in a hotel--and flew home the same day to avoid the embarrassment of no room in Pretoria's whites-only hotels for the night.

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