The government intensified its crackdown on apartheid opponents today by introducing a bill that would outlaw foreign funding of political activity. The legislation, expected to be adopted during Parliament's current session, could cripple the operations of anti-apartheid organizations and churches spared during last week's crackdown on major black opposition groups. Eighteen groups, including the largest anti-apartheid coalition and largest labor federation, were barred from political activity. The new legislation, called ``The Promotion of Orderly Politics Bill,'' would prohibit all organizations from receiving money from abroad for political purposes. Many anti-apartheid, human rights and religious groups receive the bulk of their funds from overseas. The bill would empower the justice minister to declare certain organizations ``restricted'' and to take control of foreign funds sent to them. Money which is deemed to be earmarked for undesirable political activities will ``either be returned to the foreign source or dealt with as determined by the minister,'' the bill says. No court challenge of the restrictions would be allowed. The funding restrictions could be applied to politically related activities of anti-apartheid church organizations, which have vowed to step up protests because of bans on other groups. The South African Council of Churches, which includes most major Protestant denominations and is deeply engaged in civil rights work, has received more than 90 percent of its funds from abroad in recent years. The Roman Catholic Church, which cooperates with the council of churches but receives funds separately, also relies heavily on overseas financing. The Rev. Smangiliso Mkhatshwa, secretary-general of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference, said the bill might prove difficult to enforce. ``If the church says supporting the families of detainees and paying legal fees is the work of love, the work of evangelism, it is dificult to see how the government can define for the church what it pastoral and what is political,'' he said. Another section of the bill sets a penalty of two years in jail or a $2,000 fine for anyone who ``says or does anything'' to foment hostility or violence between of different racial, cultural or religious groups. The penalties would apply to anyone who displays any banner, emblem or slogan deemed to convey such hostility, and also to anyone who attends a gathering where such items are displayed. Helen Suzman, veteran Parliament member of the anti-apartheid Progressive Federal Party, said she planned to demand a special debate today on the arrests of prominent clergymen who were protesting the government crackdown. About 25 church leaders, including Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and more than 100 other protesters were detained briefly Monday after riot policeman blocked them from marching to Parliament with a petition protesting the bans on opposition groups. One of the arrested churchmen, Roman Catholic Archbishop Stephen Naidoo, said in an interview today that he and his colleagues considered it their duty to continue challenging the government. ``The church has got to take a stand on the morality of the use of political power,'' he said. ``If it being used by a minority for the protection of the minority and the oppression of the majority, then the church has got to point this out.'' In another development, government officials warned the country's largest conglomerate, the Anglo American Corp., that they would not tolerate its announced plan to defy the Group Areas Act _ the law that establishes racially segregated living areas. Apartheid establishes a racially segregated society in which the nation's 26 million blacks have no vote in national affairs. The 5 million whites control the economy and maintain separate districts, schools and health services. An executive in Anglo's property division, Graham Lindrop, recently described the act as a sham and said his company was prepared to negotiate leases directly with black tenants renting apartments in the ``white'' Johannesburg neighborhood of Hillbrow. Currently, most of the thousands of blacks living illegally in Hillbrow are forced to have their leases signed by a third party and are vulnerable to exploitation and threats from their landlords. The government has indicated it might allow Hillbrow and a few other areas to become integrated, but it says violations of the Group Areas Act will not be tolerated in the meantime. ``The act still stands until changes are approved by Parliament, Piet Badenhorst, a deputy Cabinet minister, said Monday. ``There will be prosecutions.'' Anglo American's stance was praised by foes of the Group Areas Act and denounced as civil disobedience by the extreme-right Conservative Party.
