Word: klerk
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...national conference six months. The gathering will elect a new executive body and is expected to elevate Nelson Mandela to the A.N.C. presidency to replace the ailing Oliver Tambo. But government officials complained that the A.N.C.'s organizational problems could make it difficult for President F.W. de Klerk to convene full-scale discussions on a post-apartheid constitution by March, as planned...
When President F.W. de Klerk lifted emergency rule last June, he left the security regulations intact in the province of Natal, where fighting between the followers of the Zulu political movement Inkatha and the African National Congress has claimed 4,000 lives since 1986. Last week De Klerk freed Natal from the restrictions, thus removing a major obstacle to negotiations with the A.N.C. over a new constitution. Though violence still flares occasionally in Natal, the province has grown calmer since De Klerk dispatched additional troops there in April...
Meanwhile, De Klerk is not likely to attain full compliance with last week's repeal of the Separate Amenities Act, the 37-year-old law that segregated public facilities such as beaches, swimming pools, parks and libraries. Towns controlled by the right-wing Conservative Party are ready to keep blacks out of their public places under "undesirable visitors" laws. Others will charge blacks up to $200 for library membership and allow entrance to swimming pools only to white season-ticket holders...
Some view De Klerk's measures as just another way for the National Party to maintain power by confusing the majority. But sanctions will not--and should not--be lifted until the reigns of political power are held by the majority. De Klerk knows that the South African economy can no longer support the costly system of apartheid; the changes he has set into motion are irreversible...
...Klerk has raised expectations both inside and outside of the country. Sanctions have strapped the South African economy and De Klerk and his party do not have the resources or borrowing capability to retreat back into a renewed stronghold...