Word: klerk
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...commission appointed by President F.W. de Klerk leveled a stinging indictment last week: 30 police officers had acted illegally when they fired into a crowd of black protesters last March, killing five people and wounding 200. The direct cause of the shootings was a lack of discipline and control over the ranks, said the report, and the commission recommended that the officers be prosecuted. In another memorandum, prominent church leaders charged that police helped stir up the recent black rampages in the townships around Johannesburg that left more than 500 people dead...
With that announcement, the drive for political change in South Africa took on fresh life. Following 15 hours of talks last week between delegations led by Mandela and President F.W. de Klerk, the Pretoria government agreed to the gradual release of as many as 1,500 political prisoners and the return of more than 20,000 political exiles. Both sides have now met most of the conditions each had demanded before formal negotiations over a new constitution could begin. Challenged by militant followers who thought Mandela gave away too much for too little, A.N.C. officials said they felt compelled...
...many obstacles still stand in the way of settling on a new political system for the country. Mandela will continue to press De Klerk to abolish draconian police powers, which the A.N.C. has demanded as a condition for constitutional talks. The President will continue to resist A.N.C. proposals that he give up power in favor of an interim government...
...root of the problem remains Natal province, where bloodletting between A.N.C. supporters and the largely Zulu following of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi has claimed nearly 4,000 lives in the past few years. At a joint press conference with De Klerk last week, Mandela charged that police violence against blacks continues -- especially in Natal, where security forces allegedly collaborate with Buthelezi's Inkatha movement -- and complained that key elements of the police force may simply be outside the President's control. Buthelezi again called for a face-to-face meeting with Mandela, a development that many believe would cool...
...danger is that A.N.C. supporters may ignite even more trouble in Natal, where local leaders had argued against suspending the armed struggle. That would invite De Klerk to charge the A.N.C. with violating the spirit of the Pretoria Minute, in which the A.N.C. cease-fire was announced, and threaten to put the peace process on hold. As an A.N.C. leader conceded last week, "There probably won't be real negotiations until the war is over in Natal." But with their compromise in Pretoria, both sides have probably gone too far now for either to turn back...