South African Regime Must Keep Up Progress : Bush lifts trade restrictions, despite one unresolved issue

After years of economic, political and cultural isolation, South Africa is no longer an international pariah. President Bush has removed the sting--and the stigma--of economic sanctions, a controversial step that will no doubt influence other nations to relax punishing trade restrictions imposed against the racially divided nation.

To lift the economic sanctions, Bush had to determine that Pretoria had met all five conditions mandated in the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986. In Bush’s view, South African President F. W. de Klerk and his minority government had complied, and the progress is irreversible. That view is not shared, however, by all South Africans.

Nelson Mandela, the president of the African National Congress, argues that the white South African government has not released all its political prisoners. His view has found support among the Democratic architects of the American anti-apartheid law. The key to that dispute is the definition of who is a political prisoner. That dispute should have been resolved with the help of human rights organizations, the clergy and the International Red Cross before the punishing trade restrictions were removed.

There are also legitimate concerns about whether the South African government will maintain the pace of reform without the prodding of restrictions. Bush, who was never a fan of sanctions, has pinned his hopes on the resolve of De Klerk. Can he win other major concessions without the pressure of sanctions?

There can be no dispute over the significant progress achieved in South Africa in less than 18 months. As required by the anti-apartheid law, De Klerk freed Mandela, who had been wrongly imprisoned for 27 years. He also lifted bans imposed three decades ago on many black and integrated political organizations.

In addition, De Klerk’s minority regime also addressed other conditions set by the U. S. law: The government repealed the state of emergency and agreed to enter into preliminary negotiations with representatives of the huge black majority.

At De Klerk’s urging, the South African Parliament--which excludes blacks--took additional steps that satisfied specific U. S. conditions. During the two most recent sessions, the Parliament repealed the major laws that impose racial restrictions from cradle to grave. Among the legal pillars of apartheid to go were the Group Areas Act, which limited where South Africans could live, and the Population Registration Act, which required the racial classification at birth of every South African. (But the government imposed a new law that allows residents of a neighborhood to block unwanted newcomers based on language and other “norms and standards.”)

Major reforms prompted the relaxation of other prohibitions. This week, the International Olympic Committee readmitted South Africa to world competition in time for next summer’s Games in Barcelona.

But despite the changes, the 30 million members of the black majority still cannot vote, send their children to decent schools or live free from restrictions prompted solely by race.

Their political and economic equality depends largely on the negotiating prowess of De Klerk, the ANC, Zulu chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi and the others who will try to chart a non-racial and democratic future for South Africa.

To encourage equality in social arenas, the Bush Adminstration rightly has doubled humanitarian aid to $80 million for black South Africans. The additional aid will help improve squalid housing, inferior schools and shameful health care.

President Bush was premature in his decision to lift sanctions. But the deed is done. Now it’s incumbent on the President to countenance no backpedaling in the quest for equality in South Africa.