De Klerk Sworn as Acting President of South Africa

National Party leader F. W. de Klerk was sworn in today as South Africa’s acting president, a day after he and other Cabinet members forced the resignation of Pieter W. Botha.

In a news conference immediately after taking the oath of office, De Klerk praised the ousted Botha, who was in power 11 tumultuous years, as one of South Africa’s greatest leaders.

“His greatest gift to South Africa is the fact that he has put our country on the road to fundamental reform, that he has successfully started pulling South Africa out of its dead-end streets and that he guided us in the direction of a totally new dispensation,” De Klerk said.

Shortly after being sworn in at the Union Buildings by Chief Justice Michael Corbett, De Klerk said he planned to convene a new Parliament on Sept. 13, a week after national elections. He is expected to be chosen by an electoral congress the next day to serve a full five-year term as president.

Undignified Farewell

Botha had attacked De Klerk personally in what was seen as a bitter and undignified farewell speech broadcast on national television Monday night. Specifically, Botha said he opposed De Klerk’s plans to make an important diplomatic trip to Zambia later this month.

De Klerk defended himself in a television interview immediately after Botha’s speech and said the 73-year-old president’s departure “was in the best interest of South Africa.”

Botha, with his party’s support, initiated South Africa’s first halting steps toward race reform in the late 1970s and early 1980s, although his efforts slowed considerably after nationwide black unrest erupted in 1984.

After his swearing-in, De Klerk said of Botha, “His place in history among the great leaders that our country produced is already assured.”

‘Threshold of New Era’

“There is no doubt that we stand on the threshold of a new era in South Africa and southern Africa,” the 53-year-old De Klerk said. “History offers us a unique opportunity for peaceful solutions.”