South Africa’s Sense of Commitment : Moving determinedly to eliminate apartheid--thanks to Mandela and De Klerk

1991 should go down in history as a landmark year for South Africa.

In January, Parliament ushered out the old as the legislative body began to repeal major apartheid laws.

In December, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, as the formal constitutional talks have become known, ushered in the new as black and white leaders negotiated for the first time on the future of their nation.

These sea changes have done little to relieve the daily struggles of most black South Africans, but there has been a commitment to unprecedented reforms and the promise of irreversible change.

At President F. W. de Klerk’s urging, Parliament repealed several legal pillars of apartheid--the pervasive system of racial, political and economic discrimination that allowed the white minority to dominate the black majority.

Parliament removed from the books the oppressive Group Areas Act. That law had segregated all residential areas strictly by race for more than four decades. Parliament also repealed the notorious Land Acts. That prohibition reserved more than 87% of the land for whites. It forced the black majority, which makes up 85% of the population, to live on 13% of the land.

In another major indication of reform, Parliament also revoked the hated Population Registration Act, which required the racial or ethnic classification of every South African. Those distinctions were then used to reward a white person or punish a black person from cradle to grave.

The repeals are welcome but the vestiges of apartheid continue to nurture inequities in jobs, education and other areas. To eliminate this de facto segregation, the Parliament must pass new laws--and black South Africans must have the right to vote.

South Africa is no longer seen universally as a pariah. President Bush lifted most of the economic sanctions imposed by the United States. The International Olympic Committee decided to allow South Africa to field an integrated team in the 1992 Games. But those developments cannot distract from the task of forging an equitable constitution.

The major players, De Klerk and Nelson Mandela, the president of the African National Congress, have approached the negotiations with a spirit of compromise. They face major obstacles, but they are committed to bridging South Africa’s historical divides.