De Klerk Set to End Apartheid Laws, Paper Says : South Africa: The president will reportedly make his proposals to Parliament this week.

A leading South African newspaper reported Sunday that President Frederik W. de Klerk plans to make a “statement of intent” this week to eliminate remaining apartheid laws.

The Sunday Star of Johannesburg, citing “political insiders,” said De Klerk is expected to outline his plans in a speech to Parliament.

De Klerk has initiated a series of reforms of South Africa’s system of racial segregation since assuming power in August. He says he wants to dismantle apartheid and negotiate a new constitution that will include the country’s blacks.

The apartheid laws include the Group Areas Act, which segregates neighborhoods by race; the Population Registration Act, which classifies all South Africans by race, and the Land Acts, which allocate 13% of the land for blacks, who make up 75% of the population.

The Sunday Star quoted sources as saying that De Klerk is likely to make a “statement of intent” this week to do away with these measures but is not expected to scrap them unilaterally. He apparently would prefer to negotiate the final details with opposition groups, the newspaper reported.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified member of Parliament as saying: “We are now telling our people--and they accept it--that the next government will be mainly black.”

The Star said the speech has been timed to increase the momentum of political reform heading into groundbreaking talks with the African National Congress scheduled for May 2-4. The discussions are designed to clear the way for formal negotiations on a new constitution.

De Klerk legalized the ANC and more than 60 other anti-apartheid groups in February.