Botha Counters Setback at Polls With Peace Pledge

President Pieter W. Botha today said he would not follow a policy of “stagnation” and pledged to work toward a peaceful South Africa for all segments of the population despite a major electoral setback by his ruling National Party, but he acknowledged that he had to take account of a right-wing backlash.

The Herstigte Nasionale Party, which preaches hard-line apartheid racial segregation, won one of five parliamentary elections Wednesday from the National Party, and the right-wing party whittled away the National majority in other seats.

‘Policy of Stagnation’

Botha said in a statement: “A large number of prudent South Africans hesitate to go along with the National Party on the path of realism and level-headedness. Their opinions have to be taken into consideration and they will have to be convinced that we cannot follow a policy of stagnation.”

The shift to the right confirmed National Party fears of a right-wing backlash to cautious apartheid reforms and 21 months of unabated unrest in which more than 800 people have died.

Botha added: “The government will take thorough cognizance of the reasons why people gave support in the way they have. But . . . we will have to continue to work and build towards a peaceful South Africa for all population groups in a reasonable manner.”

Some Laws Changed

In moves that seemed dramatic to South African whites but were dismissed as insufficient by many black leaders and foreign governments, Pretoria has scrapped laws against mixed-race marriages and interracial sex and brought Indians and mixed-race people into Parliament.

The National Party lost the prosperous blue-collar Sasolburg constituency south of Johannesburg to the Herstigte Nasionale Party, its first parliamentary seat ever. (Story, Page 14.)

Political commentators calculated an overall swing to the right in the five elections of about 15%, meaning that 35 or 40 of the National Party’s 122 parliamentary seats would be in danger if a general election were called now. The next one is scheduled for 1989.

Political analysts said Botha now has to tread warily between appeasing his right wing and meeting the aspirations of the 74% black majority.