Anti-Apartheid Vote Inspires Optimism : South Africa: Blacks are pleased and surprised at whites’ support for reform. But the nation has a long way to go.

The first caller on John Robbie’s popular radio talk show here Thursday morning was a black woman from Soweto, reading a poem of thanks she had written especially for white South Africans.

“For the first time in my life,” she said, “I feel part of this country.”

The decision by an overwhelming majority of the privileged white ruling class to welcome 27 million blacks as equal citizens spread warm feelings across the land Thursday, creating an atmosphere of racial harmony never before seen in South Africa’s long history of conflict and bloodshed.

The rare mood of optimism suffused hundreds of black townships, from squatter shacks to middle-class homes. Blacks were surprised and relieved to learn that more than two-thirds of the 3.3 million white voters wanted to end apartheid and supported President Frederik W. de Klerk’s negotiations with blacks.

“I never thought I’d live to see this day,” said Gertrude Mazwai, 66, who works in the pension department of a Johannesburg firm. “We knew from long ago that whites did not like us, so we’ve always been on the defensive. But now whites are changing their attitudes.”

Mazwai said she is surprised that so many whites, the same people who for 44 years elected governments that brutally oppressed blacks, are now ready to share the country.

“Even those I thought supported the right wing surprised me,” Mazwai said. “There are Afrikaners at work who I thought, from their day-to-day attitude, were anti-black. But when the ‘yes’ vote won, they were celebrating.

“I think quite a lot of them will be happy to share everything with us now,” she added. “Just for their own peace of mind.”

Many obstacles to black equality remain in South Africa. Blacks cannot vote. The government spends five times as much educating a white child as a black child. Black pensions are set significantly below those for whites. And whites control the police, the army and all other levers of government.

But De Klerk and Nelson Mandela, leader of the primary black opposition group, the African National Congress, have been negotiating a new future for the country since December. While vast differences remain, negotiators report significant progress.

And, on Thursday, Mandela called on De Klerk to “do everything possible to ensure there is speedy agreement on an interim government,” which would put blacks in positions of political power for the first time.

Most of the change in white attitudes has come about since De Klerk launched his reform program two years ago. Some whites support the reforms for moral reasons, arguing that it is time to end the unjust system of apartheid.

But many others have been persuaded to change by the results of De Klerk’s reforms and a desire to end the country’s isolation. South African sports teams are competing again overseas, foreign entertainers are appearing in the country and white South Africans--once the polecats of the world--are being welcomed again in international capitals.

Blacks and whites say it will be years, perhaps decades, before the legacy of apartheid is erased. Blacks accustomed to years of oppressive policies remain suspicious of white leaders. And whites brought up to believe that blacks are inferior will be slow to change that ingrained racism.

But Tuesday’s referendum, in which nearly 2 million of the 3 million white voters indicated their support for equal opportunities for blacks, is the first important step toward improving race relations.

“Whites are opening up to us now,” said Mary Selebogo, 37, a black high school teacher in Soweto. “They’ve been in power for so long and they’ve finally realized that there’s no alternative but to come together in one South Africa.”

Blacks worry, though, about the large number of right-wing whites who remain adamantly opposed to change. Those whites, who have thus far refused to join the country’s negotiations, are likely to try to undermine any new black-controlled government.

Blacks also are concerned about internecine township violence, which they believe is orchestrated by blacks and whites opposed to negotiations. Since the referendum campaign began three weeks ago, more than 300 blacks have been killed in attacks on train commuters and clashes between rival black groups.

“There is still a lot to be done,” said Mashadki Sexwale, 31, who is helping resettle black exiles in Johannesburg. “We’re still a bit frightened of things like walking along the streets. But this referendum has been quite a relief.”