Life Is Not a Beach

South Africa’s President Frederik W. de Klerk is maintaining some momentum in keeping his commitment to bring democracy to his troubled nation. He has ordered South Africa’s beaches desegregated and promised to seek repeal of the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act. Previously, he had released some political prisoners and permitted two major opposition rallies to take place.

Still, the record is a mix of progress and misgivings. There is still no timetable for the release of Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, which remains officially banned along with other major opposition organizations. The state of national emergency has not been lifted. There has been an increase in detention of political activists, according to the State Department. And government officials continue to belittle and demean some leading critics, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Anglican primate. These are the very people with whom the future of South Africa must one day be negotiated.

Indeed, the movement toward fundamental reform is so modest that opposition leaders in South Africa remain skeptical about De Klerk’s sincerity. And, in Congressional testimony last month, Herman J. Cohen, assistant secretary of state for Africa, could only say that “It is still too early to say whether the first steps of the new De Klerk government will lead to a process of dialogue and an end to the state of emergency, but they offer reason for hope.”

De Klerk knows what the essentials are if he is to accelerate the process. And he knows that the peril of increased violence will rise in the absence of more rapid movement. Permitting peaceful assembly, releasing some prisoners and calling for an end to segregation of public facilities serve only to restore a few of the basic human rights so long withheld from the black majority.

If De Klerk is serious about putting South Africa on “the road of reconciliation and of creating opportunities for all people of this country in a way that is just, fair and equitable,” then he must tackle the crucial issues of the Group Areas Act, which controls where people live, the race registration regulations that divide the nation permanently on racial lines, and the segregation of public education and health services.

Once all political prisoners are free, political groups have full legal status and freedom of assembly is again a right, not a privilege, De Klerk can turn to the negotiations he says he wants. In that context, South Africans could talk seriously about charting the future, a future so well-described by Washington’s Cohen when he said the goal is “a nonracial and democratic South Africa.”