De Klerk and Mandela

It’s difficult to point to one event that impelled African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela to call an end to the ANC’s 30-year war with the government of South Africa, but certainly the impression that changes brought about by President Frederik de Klerk are irreversible greatly influenced Mandela’s decision.

By suspending the acts of the guerrilla wing of the ANC, known as the Spear of the Nation, Mandela removed de Klerk’s primary complaint about the black political group. Since 1961, Spear of the Nation has used violence to try to thwart the activities of the repressive South African government, although it has had little success in influencing government policy. The well-publicized terrorism of former President P.W. Botha’s police and military and their predecessors made armed resistance seem like the only choice for the ANC.

De Klerk changed that, most dramatically in February when he freed Nelson Mandela, after 27 1/2 years in prison. Mandela’s announced intention to end the ANC’s violent resistance was an appropriate response to South Africa’s progress along a new path. No one knows more than Mandela that tremendous changes must still take place in South Africa before anything near equality between blacks and whites is reached, but the current changes are hopeful signs of the government’s commitment in a long political and cultural process.

Since becoming president of South Africa, de Klerk has frightened many Afrikaners by giving blacks some basic human rights. De Klerk recently lifted a state of emergency act (except in Natal where more than 3,000 blacks have been killed by other blacks) and helped repeal the Separate Amenities Act, which had been an essential of the apartheid system.

Those changes should be just the beginning. De Klerk has promised to review the Lands Act and the Group Areas Act, which allows for a surplus of housing for whites and results in a severe shortage for blacks, but other repressive measures, such as the Internal Security Act and restrictions on the press, must also be abolished. Mandela and de Klerk are to be commended for recognizing the need for common goals for the people of South Africa and should be encouraged now to continue negotiations to end apartheid.