Observers Expect Few Dramatic Changes Under De Klerk : S. Africa’s New Leader a Lifelong Conciliator

Politics was an abiding presence in the close-knit De Klerk household in the old days, and the oldest son, Willem, a renegade liberal, was frequently embroiled in heated arguments with the father, Jan, a government Cabinet minister and steadfast defender of apartheid.

As often as not, the confrontations were smoothed over by Willem’s younger brother, Frederik.

“He always tried to explain both sides to me and to our father, bargaining for a conciliation between us,” Willem de Klerk, now 60, remembered Tuesday. “Even as a small boy, his role always was to find solutions to problems, to suggest reconciliation over confrontation. He had a lot of success, too.”

On Tuesday morning, Frederik W. de Klerk, the 53-year-old man whom friends and even rivals describe as a gifted negotiator and pragmatist, was sworn in as acting president of South Africa in a six-minute ceremony at Pretoria’s hilltop Union Buildings.

‘Courage and Vision’

De Klerk, expected to guide South Africa into the next decade as head of its white minority-led government, expressed the hope that South Africans will “show the courage and vision required to break the cycle of conflict, tension and isolation which has gripped us for so long--and to work for a new, strong and just South Africa.”

The acting president also paid tribute to his 73-year-old predecessor, Pieter W. Botha, who resigned Monday night after months of bitter feuding with his Cabinet and his party over being unceremoniously forced earlier this year to plan his retirement after parliamentary elections next month.

De Klerk, education minister under Botha, will take over as president in his own right on Sept. 14 if, as is widely expected, the powerful ruling National Party maintains its majority in the white chamber of Parliament after elections Sept. 6.

Those who know De Klerk best say his presidency will differ significantly in style, if not necessarily in substance, from Botha’s.

Although De Klerk has called for a new constitution to give the disfranchised black majority a voice in national affairs, he still supports the National Party’s longstanding policy of racially segregated residential areas, schools and hospitals, as well as its opposition to the idea of one person, one vote.

Nevertheless, many political analysts here and abroad have pinned their hopes for a peaceful resolution of South Africa’s troubles on De Klerk’s personality. Where Botha was a dictatorial and ruthless ruler who created a one-man executive government, De Klerk is a team player, highly intelligent, affable and reasonable, analysts say.

“He’s a lawyer’s lawyer, a Mr. Fix-it and a master of parliamentary procedure and rational thinking,” said Robert Shrire, a professor of political studies at the University of Cape Town.

In the months since his selection as Botha’s heir-apparent, De Klerk has consulted with world leaders, who have expressed high hopes for his presidency. But many who have followed De Klerk’s career warn against expecting too much too soon.

“All in all, he’s a tremendous improvement over what we’ve had,” said Johann van der Vyfer, a professor of law and a college classmate who was best man at De Klerk’s wedding. “But I don’t see dramatic changes in government policy. He will encourage an exchange of ideas, but he’s always been an Establishment man. And he still sits closer to the right side of Afrikanerdom than the left.”

De Klerk’s brother, Willem, whose liberal leanings caused him to break with the National Party several years ago, says the new president’s strength is his ability to bring people together, which could be useful after Botha’s repeated failure to bring recognized black leaders to the negotiating table.

But “he’s still very much linked to the National Party tradition,” including the notion that racial groups should be the building blocks of a new constitution, said Willem, who is a professor of communications at Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg. “I really hope that he will be open-minded enough to realize that (maintaining) race groups is part of the problem, not part of the solution,” he went on.

The De Klerk brothers are scions of an old Afrikaner family with deep roots in the country and in the National Party. Their grandfather was imprisoned by the British during the Anglo-Boer War and later played a leading role in developing the National Party, which instituted sweeping apartheid legislation after it came to power 41 years ago.

Father a Cabinet Minister

Former Prime Minister J. G. Strijdom was an uncle, and their father was a Cabinet minister for 14 years in the 1950s and ‘60s, serving under two prime ministers and helping write more apartheid legislation into the law books.

Frederik studied law at Pochefstroom University, where Willem, eight years older, had acquired a reputation as a liberal Afrikaner. Friends say Frederik embraced more conservative ideals in an unconscious attempt to move out of the shadow of his respected older brother.

Frederik graduated with honors and briefly practiced law before entering politics, where he quickly became known as one of the more conservative members of the ruling National Party hierarchy. But political observers find him difficult to label, owing at least partly to his ability to avoid mudslinging debates, preferring instead to resolve disputes behind the scenes.

De Klerk has a Spartan, conventional life style and is an avid hunter and golfer. He and his wife, Marike, have three adopted children, two sons and a daughter.

A Conservative Church

He is a member of the Gereformeerde Kerk, the smallest of three Afrikaner churches, which is known for its rigidly conservative ideology and relatively liberal politics, and he is the first Gereformeerde politician to ascend to the presidency.

Despite their political differences, the De Klerk brothers remain close friends--and they still manage to discuss politics frequently.

“Sometimes we have loud arguments,” Willem said. “But at the end there’s always a smile.”