PACKED FOR PERTH
Peter Fabricius on the South
African government's efforts to improve national morale
Cape Town THE South African Bureau for Informa- tion is not noted for the levity of its reports. As almost the sole source of news about political violence now that the press has been largely muzzled, it normally gives morbid, po-faced press briefings about deaths in the townships, such as the 11 in Soweto on Tuesday night, car bombs, police shootings, gruesome necklace assas- sinations or landmine explosions perpe- trated by the dastardly cowards of the African National Congress.
The bored journalists who attend its daily briefings were thus a little surprised last week when it announced that it was about to produce a multiracial pop song called 'We'll build a Brighter Future'. Somehow that seemed comparable with the band playing as the Titanic went down.
There has been mixed reaction to such positive lyrics as 'Yes, black and white all building our land together', and — in a pointed reference to the scrapping of job reservation and influx control — 'Work together at jobs that suit us best'.
The liberal opposition Progressive Federal Party (PFP) endorsed the song's sentiments, if not its R500,000 price tag, in parliament last week. The ultra-right Con-
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