CAPE TOWN : New South African Reforms
President Frederik W. de Klerk is expected to take another significant step on the path of reform by announcing plans to repeal two more pillars of apartheid when he opens a new session of the South African Parliament on Friday.
One is the Group Areas Act, which for 40 years has forced blacks, mixed-race “Coloreds,” Asians and whites to live in separate neighborhoods. In recent years, that measure has created a massive housing shortage in the overcrowded black townships while suburban white neighborhoods have a housing surplus.
Also said to be on the way out is the system barring black ownership of 87% of South Africa’s land. But anti-apartheid leaders say that’s not enough. They demand that the government redistribute land to blacks.
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