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FT 11 MAY 91 / Painful push for peace: Efforts to halt South Africa's
violence
By PATTI WALDMEIR
Nelson Mandela is an angry man.
In 1964, Mr Mandela, deputy president of the African National Congress
(ANC), told the court trying him for treason that he was prepared to die for
the ideal of 'a democratic and free society in which all persons live
together in harmony and with equal opportunities'. Twenty-seven years later,
the realisation of that dream has been blocked by the township violence
which has resulted in the deaths of more than 1,500 people since August.
That violence led Mr Mandela this week to the brink of severing contacts
with the South African government on the issue of the country's
post-apartheid future. For the moment, that crisis seems to have been
averted, as the ANC and the government have reached outline agreement on
some measures to stop the killing.
But the threat of civil war remains real, and Mr Mandela's anger has yet to
cool. He blames the violence on government, arguing that the police have
failed to intervene in black-against-black fighting which has caused nearly
10,000 deaths since 1984; that murders are not investigated and charges
seldom brought; that police have turned their own guns on ANC supporters,
but rarely on those of the rival Inkatha Freedom party.
'To the whites in general, the life of a black man is cheap,' according to a
top ANC official. His complaint reflects the anger and frustration that
pushed the organisation to threaten to boycott constitutional talks unless
Pretoria acted by Thursday to halt violence.
After six hours of talks on Wednesday with Mr F W de Klerk, the South
African president, Mr Mandela backed down on this threat. Both sides made
concessions on the issues dividing them - the ANC's demands for a ban on
carrying dangerous weapons in public; barring of the use of live ammunition
by police for crowd control; phasing out of single-sex hostels; disbanding
of counter-insurgency units; disciplining of police involved in recent
killings; and an independent commission of inquiry to investigate violence.
The seventh demand in the ultimatum issued by the ANC on April 5 - that the
ministers of defence, and law and order be sacked - was clearly unrealistic,
and treated as such by the government.
The two sides reached what Mr de Klerk called 'broad consensus' on the most
important demands. So-called 'traditional weapons' are to be banned in
public, with the contentious exception of spears. Hostels will be phased out
over time, though some single accommodation will be maintained. Police will
follow a more impartial code of conduct in black areas.
Deadlock has thus been avoided. But the resolution is far from definitive:
the two sides are still fighting over whether spears, too, should be banned,
or under what circumstances they could legitimately be carried; and over who
should convene a planned national conference on violence.
The ANC has, somewhat navely, reserved the right to revive its boycott
threat unless the dispute over spears is resolved satisfactorily within the
next seven days. And even if that new deadline is met, it has indicated it
expects further concessions on the other demands.
Obviously, this brinkmanship will not work forever: but the threat of an ANC
boycott has concentrated the minds of government on the seriousness of the
violence. Mr Mandela is highly emotional on the subject, which has
threatened to destroy his otherwise good rapport with Mr de Klerk; and the
president has committed himself to measures which, if carried out
scrupulously, could reduce violence.
He has forced Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the Inkatha Freedom
Party, to drop his insistence that lethal implements like knobkerries,
pangas and axes be carried as so-called 'traditional weapons' by his
supporters. (The sight of Inkatha supporters brandishing such weapons at
political rallies has often sparked conflict). And he has guaranteed the
impartiality of police in situations where conflict threatens.
Improved policing and the disarming of protagonists, should lead to a large
drop in the number of deaths. For there have been instances to support Mr
Mandela's claim that police stand by while rival supporters battle in the
townships - especially when the battle favours Inkatha. They do so partly
because they are heavily outnumbered by the combatants, and might be killed
if they intervened; but the effect of 30 years of Pretoria's propaganda -
which branded the ANC as South Africa's most important enemy - should not be
underestimated. Many white policemen hate the ANC because it threatens white
supremacy; and black officers fear it because the ANC calls them
collaborators, and has sought to kill or maim them as part of its strategy
for ending apartheid.
Nobody (not even Mr Mandela) believes that Mr de Klerk seeks a continuation
of the violence. But until this week, he has lacked the political will to do
what he can to stop it. The next few weeks will demonstrate whether his
security forces can be dragged into the new South Africa - and whether, once
there, they can halt the violence.
For if broad agreement has been reached between Pretoria and the ANC,
powerful enmity remains between the ANC and Inkatha. Indeed, Mr Mandela's
condemnation of the police is ingenuous: police may spark violence, or fail
to stop it. But supporters of either Inkatha or the ANC itself have actually
done almost all the killing.
Contact between Mr Mandela and Chief Buthelezi were severed last month, and
last Sunday an Inkatha leader threatened to deploy 100,000 heavily armed men
in Soweto in a clear challenge to the ANC. So far, they cannot agree to
attend the same national peace conference. ANC officials stress that local
peace initiatives are going forward, including a joint peace rally tomorrow
in Natal. Unless the rivalry between them can be contained, police can
hardly be expected to stop the violence single-handed.
Nobody can expect a rapid resolution of the crisis. The irascible and
unpredictable Chief Buthelezi will never accept a deal which appears to
sideline Inkatha. Mr de Klerk will no doubt continue to plead that fear of a
right-wing backlash from police constrains him. And Mr Mandela will have to
sell this week's compromise deal on violence to his own increasingly
traumatised constituency, especially at the ANC's planned national
conference in July, where new leaders will be elected.
But finally, South Africa's leaders seem to be gearing themselves up to push
for peace: they have begun to accept that the alternatives is simply too
ghastly to contemplate.
The Financial Times
London Page 9