S. Africans Open Beaches to All Races : Apartheid: President Frederik W. de Klerk promises that other recreational facilities will soon be desegregated.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa —  The beaches of South Africa were thrown open to all races today, in time for blacks to enjoy the summer holiday in areas where they could not go under apartheid laws.

President Frederik W. de Klerk also said he will soon desegregate other recreational facilities.

Over the last three years, segregation on the beaches has been gradually lifted, but two beaches in Cape Town, five in Durban and many in other resorts remained reserved for South Africa’s white minority.

“All beaches will henceforth be accessible to all members of the public,” De Klerk told the advisory President’s Council in Cape Town.

De Klerk also said he will repeal the Separate Amenities Act, a key apartheid law that regulates access to facilities such as parks, libraries and town halls, after talks with community leaders.

“The time has arrived to repeal this act. The government has decided to do so as soon as possible,” said De Klerk, announcing the latest in a series of reforms since he replaced Pieter W. Botha in August.

De Klerk said he will announce further reforms at the opening of Parliament in February, but he gave no details.

White supremacists fumed over today’s move while anti-apartheid leaders gave it guarded approval.

“I am upset. This will not be tolerated. We will all have to take the necessary steps to stop this,” said Rozier de Ville, a parliamentarian of the white pro-apartheid Conservative Party. He declined to say what those steps might be.

“This is the best news I have had for a long time. . . . We can look forward to a peaceful Christmas,” said anti-apartheid campaigner Margaret Ambler.

One analyst said the abolition of the Separate Amenities Act would make it impossible for town councils controlled by the far-right Conservative Party to bar blacks from public places as they do now.

“I really do not see why we cannot mix with our own kind if we so wish,” said Fraser Gordon, a right-wing city councilman in the Indian Ocean holiday resort of Durban.

Dissident leaders said the reforms were welcome but long overdue.