Mandela Bids Adieu to Coalition Partner
President Nelson Mandela bid farewell Friday to the white-led National Party, thanking it for its help in his power-sharing government before it becomes an opponent.
Deputy President Frederik W. de Klerk announced last month that the National Party would play an opposition role rather than stay in the government led by Mandela’s African National Congress. It will officially withdraw on June 30.
The other minority party in government, the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party, remains a part of the Cabinet.
Mandela wished De Klerk, with whom he shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, and other National Party leaders well.
“We are hopeful that, in their new role, they will add another brick onto the edifice of our young democracy,” he said.
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