Red Carpet for a Black Man

Students at Stellenbosch University near Cape Town stood, applauded, and sang Lank Sal Hy Lewe (Long May He Live), the Afrikaans equivalent of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow. Surprisingly for South Africa, the object of their hearty tribute was a black man, Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, President of the tiny African state of Malawi, Last week Banda concluded a five-day state visit to South Africa; he was the first black President ever to visit the white-dominated Republic and the first chief of any foreign state to come calling since England's King George VI turned up in 1947.

From the moment he stepped out of his Air Malawi BAC-111 jetliner to receive a 21-gun salute and a red-carpet greeting from South Africa's State President Jim Fouche, the emotional Banda seemed delighted to be there. Hustling over to a crowd of waiting Africans, he waved his fly whisk, made from a wildebeest's tail, and shouted in Fanagalo, the language of the South African gold mines, "Kamuzu is glad to be here." Later Banda led South African officials on a tour of the mine offices where he had worked as a youth 50 years ago. "It hasn't changed much," he noted. "They still have fish on Wednesdays."

Clicking Heels. Throughout the visit, Banda displayed the same amiable zest. "Stop! Stop!" he shouted once, bringing his motorcade to such an abrupt halt that a member of his delegation was slightly injured in the pile-up (and was treated in a "whites-only" hospital). Undeterred, Banda threw his arms around two white children, shouting "I love you, I love you."

How did South Africans react? "The blacks are intrigued," reports TIME's Peter Hawthorne, "delighted with the pomp afforded Banda and perhaps secretly amused that one of them could have whites clicking their heels. The whites are wryly interested, privately a bit cynical, but when confronted with the whisk-waving Banda, gleefully cavorting like a black leprechaun, they tend to be shy, a little confounded, but ultimately pleased to have shaken his hand. As one government official observed at a state banquet in Banda's honor, 'Suddenly South Africa isn't the same any more.' " For South Africa, the Banda visit was a milestone in Prime Minister Balthazar Johannes Vorster's "outward-looking" policy of seeking rapprochement with Black Africa. For Dr. Banda, who is sometimes called "Africa's odd man out," the trip enhanced his chance of receiving a $17 million loan for a new airport.

Commitment to Liberation. Banda, who defied the 41-nation Organization for African Unity to make the trip, attempted to justify his visit by declaring, "If we do not agree and we do not meet, how are we going to resolve our problem?" But the visit still evoked considerable antagonism in much of Black Africa. Tanzania's government paper, The Standard, urged the O.A.U. to expel Malawi, adding that the trip would "further alienate Banda from all those who believe in the equality of man." In Kenya, the Daily Nation declared that Banda's visit, if followed by those of other African leaders, would "set into motion a train of diplomatic events that may well make nonsense of Africa's commitment to the liberation of the millions of black people who still live under colonial or racist subjugation."

Even before Banda's trip, Black Africa's solidarity was not all that solid. Four small black states in southern Africa, as well as the island nations of Madagascar and Mauritius, now have formal diplomatic or trade links with Pretoria. The leaders of a few others, notably the Ivory Coast's President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, have advocated a "dialogue" with South Africa. Such talk is heard mostly in former French colonies and is quietly encouraged by Paris, which seeks African support for its own efforts to increase trade with Pretoria.

By itself, the Banda visit does not mark the beginning of closer relations between Black and South Africa. But South Africa itself is slowly changing, as more and more South Africans realize that apartheid laws are stifling growth and hurting business at home--as well as largely barring them from a huge potential market to the north. Now, having seen their Prime Minister seated at a banquet table between two black ladies from Malawi, the South Africans may have taken a cautious step toward a more civilized future.

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