Speeding Up South Africa’s Negotiation : ANC offers a bold compromise and agrees to temporary ‘national unity’ government

It’s hard to believe, but democracy appears to be at hand in South Africa. The African National Congress, in a major reversal from its demand for a winner-take-all form of government, now says it is willing to compromise on how the nation will be governed in the immediate future.

As South Africa, with its 40 million people, makes the transition from white minority rule to black majority rule, the ANC is willing to consider a temporary “national unity” government. This would give much greater weight to strong minority parties.

President Frederik W. de Klerk’s ruling National Party would definitely benefit from the proposal. The almost entirely white party would maintain a strong voice in the constituent assembly that would write the new constitution and function as an interim government even if, as expected, the party loses the election to the ANC. The ANC enjoys the support of the majority of South Africa’s 30 million blacks.

An ANC nemesis, Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, will also benefit. He rules the Inkatha Freedom Party, which represents the powerful Zulu nation. Buthelezi, the ambitious leader of the so-called KwaZulu homeland and a longtime ally of the oppressive white regime, has agitated hard for a major say in the constitutional negotiations and any future government. His followers have fought ANC supporters in a desperate and deadly battle to influence the new leadership of South Africa. More than 6,000 blacks have been killed in the factional fighting.

The concession by the ANC guarantees Buthelezi a prominent role in the future of the nation. When he meets in the upcoming summit with ANC President Nelson Mandela, Buthelezi should agree to end his incendiary talk and rein in his violence-prone supporters.

The ANC compromise, an indication of political maturity and pragmatism, should also please De Klerk. He should respond in kind with a timetable that speeds progress. He should set the first multiracial elections for next year, instead of 1994 as he has proposed.

For decades, the ANC fought apartheid the only way it could--outside of the system. That warfare bred a strong resolve, and an understandable unwillingness to compromise. The dynamics changed, however, when De Klerk boldly freed Mandela, the ANC champion who had been imprisoned 27 years in the battle against apartheid. That release set in motion the tortuous movement toward change.

In the new South Africa, there can be no compromise on universal political rights, including the right to vote, now denied the black majority. There can be no compromise on universal equality. But, as in all democracies, power must be shared.