Changes in South Africa
Article Summary and Author Biography
FW de Klerk's plan for South Africa is "one for the continuation of apartheid with a smiling face". His reforms affect the outwards symptoms of apartheid without touching on the essential issue of black political power. He is more likely to risk continued international sanctions than to "compromise on what he sees as nothing less than the survival of his Afrikaner volk".
Bruce W. Nelan is a Senior Writer at Time magazine. He was the magazine's Bureau Chief in Johannesburg from May 1985 until June 1989.
In his customary autocratic style, P. W. Botha, the head of South Africa's government for ten tumultuous years, insisted on presiding over the end of his own era. He refused to allow his successor, F. W. de Klerk, to arrange a dignified transition and, after a dispute over prerogatives, departed the political stage trailing bitter complaints of mistreatment. The manner of Botha's departure served to underscore the heavy-handed rigidity of his administration and to increase the sense of relief and hope that greeted South Africa's new president.
De Klerk, 53 years old, a scion of the flinty voortrekker country of northern Transvaal province, is the son, grandson and great-grandson of leading National Party politicians. Prime Minister J. G. Strydom was his uncle. He grew up immersed in the traditions of Afrikaner cultural life and the "Christian National Education" that its schools and organizations used to instill Afrikaner values. He joined the youth wing of the NP even before he enrolled at Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, where he earned a law degree in 1958. After practicing law in Vereeniging, he entered parliament in 1972 and has held cabinet posts for the last ten years.
There was nothing in de Klerk's background to indicate that he would be any less conservative than Botha. The great difference between the two men is in style: De Klerk is always described by both associates and opponents as a reasonable man, a problem-solver, someone who believes in consensus-building. While terrible-tempered Botha spent his holidays in the bush, blasting at game with a heavy rifle, the soft-spoken, courteous de Klerk is a golfer. But because of Botha, who warned his followers first in 1979 that they must "adapt or die," the slogan of reform, the idea of changing national institutions and the suggestion that power should be shared with the country's black majority had become mainstream thinking in the NP after 40 years in office...
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