Mandela Out of Jail, ‘Not Free,’ Jackson Says

Jesse Jackson left a meeting with Nelson R. Mandela today saying the black leader might be out of jail but is “not free.” He urged the West to keep pressure on South Africa to end apartheid.

“We must not lower the standards of democracy or expectations for democracy in South Africa,” the former U.S. presidential candidate said after visiting Mandela for about an hour at his home in the black township of Soweto.

“The misnomer around the world is that Mandela is free. That is not true. Mandela is out of jail; he is not free,” he told reporters.

Jackson hailed South African President Frederik W. de Klerk for his reforms but said Mandela and South Africa’s blacks are still not free and apartheid must be abolished. The government retains apartheid laws segregating residential districts, schools and other facilities.

Jackson said he had also extended an invitation to Mandela from New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins, asking the South African leader to visit New York. President Bush has invited De Klerk and Mandela to visit the United States.

In Pretoria, hundreds of white supremacists flooded a square in the center of the capital today in a “struggle for freedom” protest against the government’s release of Mandela and proposed power-sharing negotiations with the black majority.

Police maintained a low profile as the rally began at Church Square, the site of a monument to Afrikaner hero Paul Kruger, the Bible-toting fundamentalist who ruled the Transvaal Republic from 1883 to 1902.

Supporters waved the green, red, white and blue flags of the old republic--a symbol of demands for an exclusively white nation. One demonstrator carried a Nazi flag, others the swastika-like banners of the militant Afrikaner Resistance Movement.

Most black workers in the area cleared out as hundreds of whites streamed into the square around 5 p.m. A few watched from buildings overlooking the area.