De Klerk Calls For Repeal Of Last S. Africa Race Laws
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - President F.W. de Klerk today proposed the repeal of all major laws enforcing racial discrimination, and pro-apartheid white lawmakers stormed out of parliament in protest.
Thousands of demonstrators marched outside parliament and in cities across the country to demand the immediate abolition of apartheid, closure of parliament, and formation of a multi-racial government. Others stayed away from work in protest.
De Klerk's speech, coming one year after he stunned the world by promising to end apartheid, represented another major step toward his promise of sharing power with this country's black majority.
African National Congress leader Walter Sisulu, speaking to an opposition rally in Cape Town, said de Klerk's reforms fell far short of what most South Africans want. ``We don't have the vote. This is what our people want today,'' he said.
However, de Klerk, speaking to the opening session of parliament, said his proposals augur the quick end of sanctioned racial discrimination:
De Klerk said the government will propose scrapping the last three pillars of apartheid. He said it will call for ending outright the Group Areas Act and the land acts, while modifying the Population Registration Act in advance of its abolition.
The Group Areas Act segregates residential areas along racial lines, and the land acts similarly regulate land ownership rights. The population act forces South Africans to register in separate racial groups for political, educational and other purposes.
De Klerk's speech prompted a walkout by outraged lawmakers of the pro-apartheid Conservative Party, the main white opposition party. Conservative Party lawmakers interrupted the address and stormed out of the chamber.
Some Conservative lawmakers were ordered out after yelling that the president is a ``traitor to the nation'' and the ``hangman of the Afrikaner'' - the politically dominant whites of mostly Dutch descent.
As the president spoke, at least 10,000 protesters calling for the end to white rule marched through the city of Cape Town as part of the nationwide protests.
Sisulu and other anti-apartheid activists led the chanting column of demonstrators in Cape Town. Protesters carried placards calling for a constituent assembly to form a new multi-racial government.
Nelson Mandela, the deputy president of the African National Congress, was to lead the march, but he did not appear because of doctors' concerns it would be too tiring for him.
In making the announcement today, de Klerk, who has been in power for 18 months, said he intends for South Africa's blacks eventually to gain the right to vote. ``All the people of our land shall participate at all levels of government on the basis of universal adult franchise,'' he said.
Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in comments after de Klerk's address, said, ``For most black people, nothing has happened to change their material position appreciably as a result of the initiatives that Mr. de Klerk has taken.''
The ANC has no immediate official reaction to de Klerk's speech.