S. Africa Draft Law Would End Racial Classifications

The government published a draft law Tuesday to end race classification, the basis of South Africa’s 43-year-old apartheid system dividing ruling whites from the voteless black majority.

The six-line proposal, certain to be accepted by Parliament, which is dominated by the National Party, implements the last of several sweeping reforms announced Feb. 1 by President Frederik W. de Klerk.

It proposes the repeal of 10 laws that enforce race classification at birth and amendments to four other laws to remove sections concerning racial definitions.

The Population Registration Act classifies people into racial groupings that for decades have determined where they could live and what facilities, such as hospitals, libraries and beaches, they could use. Most laws segregating facilities by race already have been repealed.

Government officials have said the bill proposed Tuesday would end classification of people at birth but that existing racial classifications would continue until a new constitution has been approved.

De Klerk has promised to negotiate South Africa’s transition from white rule to democracy, including full political rights for blacks, who outnumber whites five to one.