At the same time, I sense a growing realization, here and in the region, that sanctions by themselves do not amount to an effective policy in southern Africa.  We must now use all the instruments at our disposal to make our limited influence count.  In a word, the time ahead is one for diplomacy guided by a long-term view of our interests and objectives in southern Africa.
President Reagan has expressed clearly America's hopes for the future of South Africa.

“This Administration is not only . . . against apartheid; we are for a new South Africa, a new nation where all that has been built up over generations is not destroyed, a new society where participation in the social, cultural, and political life is open to all people – a new South Africa that comes home to the family of free nations where it belongs.”

So spoke the President.

We cannot prescribe – and we do not presume to offer – detailed political blueprints for South Africa's future.  But we can and should state with precision what we are for as well as what we are against.  We are for a South Africa whose people enjoy equal political, economic and social rights.  We are for a South Africa whose leaders are chosen in democratic elections with multiparty participation and universal franchise.  We look forward to the day when basic human rights for each individual are protected by firm constitutional guarantees.  And we strongly support opening the free, market-oriented South African economy to all the people of that rich land so that black South Africans can rapidly redress past economic injustice by raising their own living standards while contributing to the prosperity of all.

This vision of the future of South Africa is ambitious.  It is worthy of our best efforts as a people.  But if the United States is to contribute to a process of positive change, we have to do more than assume a righteous moral posture.  We must reach out to all southern Africans and make effective use of our limited influence.  And we must measure our hopes for the future against the background of today's realities.