Inching Closer to a New South Africa : Are the days of sanctions soon to be numbered?

The progress in South Africa has been nothing less than astonishing since President Frederik W. de Klerk released the world’s most prominent political prisoner, Nelson Mandela, in February of 1990. At De Klerk’s urging, the Parliament has repealed all of the major legal pillars of apartheid, including the Population Registration Act, the latest and most significant discriminatory law to come off the books.

For more than four decades, South Africans have been classified by race at birth. Race has determined where they would be born, grow up, go to school, work and be buried. The classifications--white, black, Colored (mixed race) or Asian--have been used to determine who could vote, own land or serve in a Parliament that has no black members.

These racial distinctions have doomed the huge black majority to separate and unequal lives marred by handicap and poverty for generations. At the same time, the classification has guaranteed lives of privilege for the small white minority.

SEPARATE LIVES: A baby born today in South Africa will escape the official racial classification. That won’t necessarily be true for adults; the repeal of the Population Registration Act is not retroactive. That means the government will continue to classify and limit citizens by race unless progress continues and a non-racial constitution finally takes effect.

A black baby born today in South Africa may also, in theory, escape significant handicaps because of the repeal of other major discriminatory laws. Earlier this month Parliament repealed the Group Areas Act, which segregated all residential areas strictly by race. The Land Acts, which reserved 87% of the land for ownership by whites (about 13% of the population), also came off the books.

So how close is South Africa to meeting the five conditions set by the United States’ 1986 Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act? President Bush believes the recent gains are sufficient to start talking about lifting economic and cultural sanctions. But the release of political prisoners--which is one of the five conditions mandated by Congress--remains a hurdle to the relaxation of the punitive restrictions.

Bush is sure to get more ammunition today in a meeting scheduled with Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, who heads both the Zulu homeland created by the white government and Inkatha, the Zulu-based political party. Buthelezi has long been cozy with the white minority government and has opposed sanctions for years. However, on one point the Zulu chief is right: Those who want to help should address the pervasive poverty that will prevent most black South Africans from testing the new freedoms.

WORKING TOGETHER: De Klerk and Mandela are also scheduled to meet today. These two leaders must discuss ways to clarify the definition of a political prisoner--with help from the International Red Cross, the South African clergy and human rights organizations--and get back on track the talks leading up to negotiations on a new constitution.

In the meantime, it’s time to start thinking ahead to South Africa in its post-sanctions period. The removal of the racial hurdles, though very significant, has done nothing to right the wrong of lands taken from black and mixed-raced families that were forced to relocate. Restitution and land reform are in order.

The repeal of the discriminatory laws also does not guarantee equality in education. Most schools remain segregated, and before black children are admitted to white schools, three-fourths of white parents must agree. That too must change.

De Klerk deserves the worldwide credit he has received for the progress that has taken place in South Africa. The removal of sanctions is that much closer because of the reforms. That’s all the more reason that reforms must continue apace.