Soviet African Policy is currently in a consolidation phase. It is true that the 1970's brought the Soviet Union great military and political successes in Angola and Ethiopia — successes which signaled not only a new stage in Soviet strategic capabilities but also a new ability and willingness to influence events far from its borders. However, these triumphs should not blind us to the constraints under which the USSR has labored, the resulting limits on its influence, and the ensuing move away from interventionist activism.

The year 1977 was a good one for Marxism-Leninism in Africa, for in the space of a few months, three important countries officially embraced that ideology. Ethiopia did so after three years of revolutionary upheaval, and in the wake of a shoot-out in the old imperial palace, during which Mengistu Haile Mariam managed to eliminate the more moderate members of the ruling military committee. In Angola and Mozambique, which had gained independence from Portugal less than two years earlier, Marxism-Leninism was officially adopted at party congresses which decided to transform the pre-independence liberation movements into orthodox vanguard parties.

Since the enforcement of 1983 constitution, several years have passed. The 1983 constitution is the third constitution since the founding of the Union of South Africa in 1910. By observing the history of the constitutional development in more than seventy years in South Africa and the content of the current South African constitution, it is not difficult to find out that the constitution, as a fundamental state law, is an important weapon of racism. South Africa's white regime consistandy upholds and consolidates its racist rule by adopting and implementing constitutions. The aim of this article is to analyze and expose the essence of the South African racist system in mis aspect.

The impassioned debate between those who support sanctions in order to bring about change in South Africa and those who favor “constructive engagement” misses the point. Each side assumes that the problem is to exercise U.S. leverage and pressure on the South African government. It is not. Instead the opportunity is for the U.S. to assist in human investment to help South Africans to acquire the education, skills and training to build their own future. Pressure may or may not contribute to the South African government changing its policies and practices. Investment in human resources has a more reliable payoff in terms of individuals capable of participating in building a new South Africa.

Every year statistics seem to demonstrate another decline in the quality of life in Southern Africa. The annual growth rate per capita of agricultural production in the region deteriorated to -1.04 percent from 1978-85. In March 1987, UNICEF reported that every four minutes a child under 5 years dies in Angola and Mozambique, the highest death rate among children in the world. International agencies like UNICEF now cite the major cause of this devastation: war waged by South Africa against its neighbors.