De Klerk Speech Disrupted as He Woos Nonwhites

President Frederik W. de Klerk, launching an unprecedented campaign to woo nonwhite voters to his party, was driven off a podium in this township Saturday by protesters who hurled gravel at him and yanked the plug on his sound system.

“We will not be silenced by these threats,” De Klerk vowed to cheers before his speech was cut short by the hecklers. “We bring a message of hope, of prosperity, of a place in the sun for all South Africans.”

The disruption, engineered by about 100 supporters of the African National Congress and the radical New Unity Movement, suggested that the road to democracy and freedom of speech in South Africa will be long and bumpy.

More than 1,000 De Klerk supporters had turned up for the National Party rally in this Colored (mixed-race) township. Many Coloreds support De Klerk, even though his National Party created this township on desolate, sandy flats by forcibly evicting thousands from their homes near Cape Town more than a decade ago.

Many Coloreds wore National Party buttons and carried posters praising De Klerk. The president gave a short speech on the western edge of the township and was escorted by Colored drum majorettes to the center of Mitchell’s Plain, where a second speech was disrupted by the loud group of demonstrators.

The protesters shouted insults and pelted De Klerk and other National Party officials with small bits of gravel. No one was injured, but organizers, citing the security risk, canceled a planned De Klerk luncheon with Colored business leaders and escorted the president out of the township.

“These people (the ANC) who preach democracy and freedom of speech must realize that anybody who has a message, whether it’s the Communist Party, the ANC or the National Party, must be able to speak and let the people decide who to support,” said Gerald Morkel, a Colored member of Parliament who joined the National Party last year.

Morkel said the National Party’s efforts to recruit black and Colored members would not be deterred, and he pointed out that De Klerk supporters heavily outnumbered the protesters Saturday.

A Western ambassador said the rally reflected “the birth pains of democracy.”

Noting that nonwhites have been denied the vote for three centuries in South Africa, the ambassador added that democracy in the nation “is growing from a very small base.”

“Having the vote doesn’t matter,” said Joan Beukes, 35, who was wearing a National Party button. “The things De Klerk has done for us, by removing apartheid, nobody else could do. And all the ANC can do is criticize.”

But, as Beukes was being interviewed, a passerby, Mary Tuckeldoe, interrupted her.

“You can’t remember where you came from,” Tuckeldoe shouted at Beukes, adding that she had been forcibly removed from her home by De Klerk’s National Party and moved to Mitchell’s Plain 14 years before.

“I can’t see how people forget so very quickly,” Tuckeldoe said, shaking her head. “People must open their eyes. If it weren’t for sanctions, De Klerk wouldn’t have done anything.”

The ANC, the largest black political organization in South Africa, had objected to De Klerk’s rally, saying it was premature to campaign in nonwhite townships before blacks have the vote.

The ANC, the government and other political parties are in the midst of negotiations to write a new constitution, which all agree will grant blacks the vote.

Anti-De Klerk protesters carried handwritten signs reading: “Say You’re Sorry First,” “Votes Before Visits,” “De Klerk--Get Out! Stay Out!” and “FW (de Klerk) Robs the Poor.”

“He should stay away until everybody gets the vote,” said one protester, Abdullah Sullaiman, a 49-year-old Colored businessman.

The ANC called De Klerk’s rally “an extravagant flop.” It denied that protesters prevented De Klerk from speaking, saying “he could have continued had he wanted to . . . despite the heckling.”

At his first stop, De Klerk faced down hecklers, saying, “I won’t stop talking. I’m here to help.”

“We promised two years ago that we would build a new South Africa, and that new South Africa has arrived and is arriving,” De Klerk said. “We have kept our promises.”

De Klerk later vowed to make his National Party “the biggest party in South Africa.”

Public opinion polls suggest De Klerk has strong support among the country’s 3 million Coloreds, and small but significant support among the 27 million blacks. Many blacks and Coloreds fear that an ANC government would introduce socialist economic policies and trample religious freedom.

“We wish for a Christian country, not a socialist country,” said Cecil Jacobs, a 56-year-old Colored man who said he would vote for De Klerk in an election. “We don’t care about the National Party’s past.”

De Klerk and the National Party have made no secret of their desire to oppose the ANC in a future election. The National Party formally opened its membership to all races nearly two years ago and now wants to broaden its base by winning over black and Colored people.

“The Nationalists are obviously gearing up for the first democratic elections,” said David Welsh, a professor of political studies at the University of Cape Town. “They believe they can win the first elections. And there are many people who have loathed apartheid but are apprehensive about an ANC government.”