page 270 - Long Walk Original Manuscript [LWOM_270.jpg]

White officials at such meetings were usually greeted with "Bayethe!", the royal salute which, according to tradition, was reserved for the king. On this occasion it was decided not to elevate Verwoerd to that honour and, instead, he was greeted with the salute "Bayeza"" (They are coming) meaning the whites, of course.

Sabata and other chiefs in the Transkei have fought Bantu Authorities until the 60s.

However in the end the government having failed to persuade some areas to accept the system on their free will, began using force. It made it clear in 1965 that the peoples' acceptance of the system was unnecessary as long as they have been consulted. The law empowered the government to proclaim tribal authorities whether the people approved or not; and in cases where the government met resistance it did precisely that.

Of course, behind the resistance of the chiefs were the masses of the people and it is possible that without mass perssure some of the resisting chiefs would have immediatly accepted. But all the same a man's stand will go down on record as progressive whether that stand was conceived in his own brain or he was merely acting as an agent of his people.

To be sure the whole system of Bantu Authorities rests on Chiefs and their councillors and we must unreservedly condemn them for their share in making the system work. As traditional leaders they still wield a lot of authority on substantial sections of the population and what they do is bound to