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by Peter Hapke
Staff Writer
On June 21, 1976, the worst race
riots in South African history
began in the dusty township of
Soweto. Within two days the riots
had spread to other - black
townships, and by the weekend
more than 100 people were dead
and over 1,000 were wounded.
The death toll was much higher
than the infamous Sharpeville
"massacre" and a week later the toll
was raised to 140 dead and 1,112
injured after the rioting spread to
the townships around Pretoria.
A keen observer of South
' African affairs is Dr. Eugene
Potgieter, a visiting lecturer in
accounting at UNC for the 1975-76
academic year. A Dutch-speaking
African whose ancestors have lived
in South Africa for 300 years, Dr.
Potgieter is a CPA who has taught
at the University of South Africa in
Pretoria for the last eight years.
The press has reported that the
South African riots were spurred
by endeavors to teach the
Afrikaans language in the schools
and by the apartheid policy of
African leaders. During an
interview earlier this week, Dr.
Potgieter discussed the riots.
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WUNC-FM
On The Air
by Libby Lewis
Staff Writer
Travel down the musky, brown
lit steps below Swain Hall to a
cellar teeming with activity.
Maybe Joe Vanderford is in the
middle of taping a jazz program
while Kathy Register is on the air
announcing Vivaldi's Concerto
No. 3 in F "L'Autunno" and Jamie
Jacobson is working on an
interview with a Chapel Hill
sectogenarian. Vanderford and
Jacobson are UNC students;
Register is a housewife.
These are the kind of people who
make up UNC. The university
licensed station has only seven paid
professional staff members the
other 40 or so, like Jacobson and
Vanderford, are people who
contribute their energies to a cause
they believe in. And W UNC is a
cause to them.
The non-commercial station is a
long-awaited break in radio's
cultural drought in, and about this
area a combination of classical
and jazz music, recordings of
major performances, award
winning news and feature
programs like "All Things
Considered," and fine arts
interviews in "Voices In the Wind,"
both aired from National Public
Radio.
But the home front is WUNC's
own specialty, with "North
Carolina Voices," produced by the
WUNC staff and volunteers.
"With 'North Carolina
Voices, we're capturing and
passing on the oral tradition of our
state," says Gary Shivers,
programming director. This
collection of "sound portraits' of
people around the state sprung
from a Bicentennial grant.
Now the idea has expanded to
include interviews from all parts of
the state; with craftsmen,
townspeople ord inaryr people
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"I don't think apartheid is an issue anymore," maintains Dr. Eugene Potgieter, a Dutch-speaking
African who aired his views recently on the South Africa race riots.
Q: What caused the outbreak of
violence in Soweto?
A: The press said the Afrikaans
(the language of education) was the
issue, but I don't think it was. The
students complained about
Afrikaans, mathematics and
history. Also, the demonstrations
started at a school where the main
teaching language is English.
Many people don't realize that all
people in South Africa, whether
white or black, must learn both
Afrikaans and an African
language. But, the demonstrations
just spread from one excited group
to another until you had a riot.
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who have stories to tell as
everybody has.
"We may be interviewing a judge
on juvenile injustice, but suddenly
he breaks into a story about the
greatest fishing hole he discovered
once you don't let that go," says
Barbara Bernhard, WUNC's News
and Public Affairs Director.
Bernhard typifies a set. quality in
WUNC workers; one that is open
and friendly, in control of a loose
(or so it appears) structure.
"It's amazing that everything
gets done, but they're all such good
people working here," says
Vanderford.
That could be the station's
success formula a definite lack of
professional tension at the studio.
Those willing to take on fhe
responsibility of working with a
progressive station such as WUNC
usually have some qualification,
though not professional.
"They needed me because I can
pronounce all the classical
composers names correctly, jokes
Register, a morning announcer.
"What we need especially are
operators with third- and first-class
licenses, explains Joan Watrous,
development director for the
station. "But we won't turn
anybody away who wants to help.
Until she finds someone
v t jnterssted in working v in graphic .
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Q: Many government officials
believe the riots were fomented by
an organized group to embarrass
Prime Minister Vorster on the eve
of his talks with Kissinger. Do you
believe it?
. A: I believe these riots were
started as small things with the
primary objective to influence and
break down the Vorster-Kissinger
" talks. We (blacks and whites) are so
interdependent that one group
can't live without the other. That's
why it's only the small groups that
think they can chase out the whites
and seize power.
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arts, Watrous is combining the
duties of that department with
public relations work, fund
raising, and coordiantion of the
station volunteers.
WUNC's existence and success
as a non-commercial radio service
can be linked to funding from the
Department of HEW and the
corporation of Public
Broadcasting; grants from Chapel
Hill businesses like Vickers Audio,
The Intimate Bookshop,
Soundhaus, Inc., and others; the
nearly 850 "friends of WUNC
who offer tax-deductible
contributions; and membership in
National Public Radio.
Watrous plans to hold a fund
raising marathon soon to
supplement the underwriting of
local citizens and businesses. She
also hopes to expand WUNC's
monthly program guide (mailed to
the station's "friends" and
available at the station) with
broadcasts concerning some of the
performers, programs and concerts
they air.
Local and state music festivals
and area concerts will be covered.
WUNC recorded the" recent N.C.
Folklife Festival and the Dave
Brubeck concert; they plan to
cover the Eastern Music Festival at
Guilford soon.
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Q: Do you agree with Vorster 's
response to the Soweto riots: "The
way to prevent more violence in the
future is not to make concessions
to blacks on the teaching of
Afrikaans but to take even tougher
law and order' measures."
A: For the safety of the total
population, I agree with him on the
short term direction of law and
order. But while I 'have law and
order, I would proceed with
negotiations with both parties as
Vorster did two days after the riots.
These tough measures were fprthe
safety of blacks because almost all
of the fighting and property
Age, experience
vary in race for
Lt. Governor
by Mark Lazenby
Staff Writer
Editors Note: Tftis is the first
article in a three-part series
examining the Lieutenant
Governor's race.
There are eight Democratic
candidates who have filed for the
office of lieutenant governor this
year. Their ages, backgrounds and
experience vary from young men
running for the first time to older
politicians who have been involved
in state politics for years.
Howard Lee
The son of a Georgia
sharecropper, 41 -year-old Howard
Lee is the only black candidate for
the office of lieutenant governor.
He achieved national prominence
by becoming the first black mayor
of a predominantly white Southern
town, Chapel Hill, in 1969.
Lee considers education his top
priority, and he would propose a
15-member advisory council on
education for this state with
representation from all levels of the
educational system. This panel
would offer advice and council to
the Legislature as well as
encouraging all levels of the state's
educational system to work
together constructively instead of
competing, according to Paul
Mebostat, field organizer of the
The removal of sales tax on food
and non-prescription drugs, an -additional
income tax exclusion of
$3,000 for persons 65 or older and
insuring that persons in low
income brackets are not taxed mis
proportionately, are tax reforms .
that Lee would like to see
implemented. .Mebostat said.: .v.-
damage was in black areas.
Q: Dr. Erich Leistner, Deputy
Director of the Africa Institute,
believes the riots mark the
beginning of an era in which whites
no longer hold exclusive control
over political power in South
Africa. Do you agree with him?
A: Yes, ve all know that South
Africa will be a United States w ith
nine or ten states that are
completely autonomous. Where
ethnic blacks will govern ethnic
blacks and whites will govern
whites. This plan has been in the
constitution since 1932, but
because we were a British colony
up until May 31, 1961, we couldn't
carry it out.
Q: What would happen if
apartheid laws were repealed?
A: This would be an interesting
experiment. For about four to six
months you still have a peculiar
situation, but then people will
naturally segregate. I don't think
apartheid is an issue any more it
will disappear as a formal
document and appear as an
informal behavior pattern.
Please turn to page 7
Frank Stepheson
Frank Stepheson is a 36-year-old
Admissions Director for
Chowan College from
Murfreesboro, and the lieutenant
governor's office will be his first
experience as an elected official if
he wins.
A 1965 graduate of North
Carolina State University,
Stepheson prides himself in not
being a professional politician. He
considers himself an
environmentally oriented
candidate who would fight
polluting industries, said Pam
Aldridge, assistant to his press
secretary.
Stepheson would use his"
influence as lieutenant governor to
see that more state money was
allocated for secondary education
and technical schools, Aldxidge
said.
If elected, Stepheson would
appoint a commission composed
of a cross-section of medical people
whose main purpose would be the
study of the health needs of rural
areas and the active recruitment of
doctors for those areas, Aldridge
said.
Please turn to page 6
Your Turn
There are three issues of
the summer Tar Heel yet to
come. If you'd like to write a
story for one of them, stop
by the Tar Heel office any
afternoon and see Robin
Clark or Joni Peters. You
will not be paid, but most
stories are by-lined.