S. Africa moves to create Mozambique buffer zone

June 16, 1982

Black leaders and opposition politicians denounced a South African government proposal to transfer two inhabited eastern border areas, one of which the Zulus claim, to Swaziland.

The move would give landlocked Swaziland an outlet to the Indian Ocean and create a buffer between South Africa and Mozambique-based South African guerrillas fighting for racial equality. South Africa's official opposition said the proposal would leave the Swazis with no national homeland inside South Africa.