NEWS ANALYSIS : ANC Militancy Reflects Distrust of Pretoria’s Reforms : South Africa: Success of the fragile peace process depends on bringing along hard-liners in both camps.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —  The militant stance taken by the African National Congress on everything from sanctions to negotiations is partly strategic rhetoric, analysts here say. But it also reflects a renewed distrust among the rank and file of the government’s reform package.

And it is the strongest reminder yet that no matter how well ANC Deputy President Nelson Mandela and South African President Frederik W. de Klerk get along personally, the fragile peace process they have launched depends on their ability to bring along hard-liners in both camps.

“The (ANC) youth have seen this government cheat and lie to black people for so long that they think it’s almost certain the government will cheat again,” said Pasty Malefo, a veteran ANC activist from Mamelodi township near Pretoria.

“We’re all putting a lot of faith in negotiations because if they fail there isn’t much hope,” Malefo added. “But even if negotiations succeed, there’s still going to be a lot of blood flowing.”

Meanwhile, De Klerk, in his annual holiday message televised nationwide here Tuesday night, chided the ANC for “reverting to outdated rhetoric and policies that fan the flames of confrontation.”

Mandela received a strong taste of the militant grass-roots sentiments of his followers over the weekend, during the ANC’s first consultative conference inside South Africa in more than three decades.

Many felt that their leaders had not properly consulted the ANC membership during talks with the government. Mandela remarked in his closing speech that he had been disappointed by the absence of praise for the 37-member national executive committee, the ANC’s chief policy-making body.

Although the 1,600 delegates decided to continue to pursue “talks about talks” with the white government, they weren’t pleased with the progress thus far.

They blamed the government for growing township violence and criticized a delay in implementing the agreement that exiles would return and political prisoners be freed by April 30.

When Mandela in his closing speech mentioned that some delegates wanted to halt all confidential discussions between ANC leaders and the government, he was taken aback by a burst of applause.

“I hope you are not applauding because you support that statement,” he said. “Because that statement could only be made by those who do not understand the nature of negotiation and the practical problems that face us on the ground.”

But the criticism suggested a change in attitude among many ANC members since Feb. 2, when De Klerk legalized the liberation movement. The mood of optimism so prevalent then has been all but washed away by the bloodiest 10 months in South African history.

Of the more than 3,000 deaths in political violence this year, most have occurred in factional fighting between supporters of Mandela and followers of Inkatha leader Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi.

The wave of violence in Johannesburg-area townships, where more than 1,000 have died since July, began in earnest only days after the ANC agreed to suspend its armed struggle against Pretoria.

The ANC believes the government, specifically the police and other security forces, is orchestrating Inkatha attacks on ANC supporters. (The government denies this and says it is dedicated to stopping the violence.) Buthelezi charges that the ANC is trying to wipe out its political foe, Inkatha.

Whoever is to blame, there have been few criminal charges filed as a result of the violence, in sharp contrast to the 1984-86 black uprising.

“The violence has changed things,” Jerry Majatladi, a union official and ANC delegate from Pretoria, said Tuesday. “The people are demanding arms and nothing else.”

Mandela admitted that ANC leaders have been running ahead of their followers.

“The ANC leadership has grasped the principle that they are the servants of the people, and that they must seek guidance from the masses in choosing important positions and in the formulation of policy,” he said.

However, he said radical ANC members who oppose talks with the government are “men and women . . . whose aim is to prove how revolutionary they are (and) who have no idea whatsoever of what a mass movement is.”

But hard-liners won several victories at the conference. An attempt to begin a phased dismantling of sanctions was rebuked by ANC members who distrust De Klerk and are angered by moves overseas to reward the government for its reform program.

Sanctions have begun to crumble anyway, with the European Community’s decision to rescind its ban on new investment in South Africa. But ANC officials note that Pretoria can expect little foreign investment until political stability returns to the country.