Bedrock Of Apartheid Shows Signs Of Erosion
March 04, 1985 By Ray Moseley, Chicago Tribune
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — When Sen. Edward Kennedy visited South Africa in January, six leading white and black chambers of commerce presented him with a statement advocating major reforms in South Africa`s racial apartheid laws.
What was unusual about that, and little noticed outside South Africa, was that one of the business groups represented Afrikaners, the people who imposed apartheid on South Africa when they came to power in 1948.
The statement given to the Massachusetts Democrat marked a radical departure for the Afrikaner organization, Die Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut. It had never done anything like that.
Now it is even talking of opening its membership to people of mixed race, known here as coloreds.
``The present generation of (Afrikaner) businessmen is at the forefront of reform,`` says a leading Afrikaner newspaper editor, Willem de Klerk.
But the change in business attitudes is only part of a major transformation that has taken place in recent years in the ranks of the Afrikaners, the descendants of the Dutch, French and Germans who were the original white settlers of South Africa in the 17th Century.
Many Afrikaners provide the major support for President P.W. Botha`s program of cautious racial reform, and some Afrikaners are critical of him for not pushing reform further than he has.
On the other hand, a significant body of Afrikaner opinion opposes change and regards Botha as dangerously liberal.
Botha`s racial reforms look like half-measures to blacks. But in terms of Afrikaner politics, he has forced through a change of seismic proportions, one that even his most ardent critics acknowledge required political courage.
Throughout their history, unity of the ``volk`` (people) has been of cardinal importance to Afrikaners. They have been imbued with what is known here as a laager outlook--a fortress mentality--and they saw their salvation in unity and in the apartheid system.
Former Prime Minister John Vorster often talked of racial reform. ``Give me 90 days,`` he said, ``and I will transform South Africa.`` But Vorster could never bring himself to carry forward his intentions because he did not want to go down in history as the man who split the Afrikaners.
That was left to Botha. When he came to power, his Afrikaner-dominated Nationalist Party was determinedly right-wing.
But Botha`s racial reforms have shifted the party to the center of the political spectrum, and he has co-opted some of the positions once advocated by the opposition Progressive Federal Party, which is moderately left of center.
In shifting the Nationalist Party to the center, Botha split it asunder.
Because it could not stomach racial change, a right-wing group led by Andries Treurnicht bolted the party three years ago to form the Conservative Party. An earlier Afrikaner breakaway group, the Herstigte Nasionale Party, also opposes the Nationalists on the right.
All this represents a major change in white politics. Sylvia Gon, assistant director of the South African Institute of Race Relations, said,
``The Conservatives and the Herstigte Nasionale Party are parroting the same ideas that the Nationalists advocated 20 years ago, and they are looked upon as the lunatic fringe.``
Sheena Duncan, president of Black Sash, a women`s organization that assists blacks with legal problems, said, ``There is a real sense in which P.W. Botha is no longer an Afrikaner Nationalist. The Conservatives are.``
Botha`s strategy has been to move away from politics based primarily on support from Afrikaners. He is seeking to build a grand coalition of Afrikaners, English-speaking whites, coloreds, Indians and urban blacks.
All of the pieces have not fallen into place--the urban blacks particularly have shunned him--but his support has broadened enough to enable him to dispense with the Afrikaner right wing.
The changing political alignments within Afrikaner ranks reflect a social transformation. Traditionally the Afrikaners were farming folk. They tilled the land while English-speaking whites controlled industry and lived in the cities.
But gradually Afrikaners moved into business and industry, and some of them are among the nation`s wealthiest entrepreneurial families. At the same time, many Afrikaners have moved from rural areas into the cities.
This has brought a change in outlook, enabling many Afrikaners to break out of the laager mentality.
``In the old days the Afrikaners were prepared to say they would rather be poor and white,`` Gon said. ``Now that they are in powerful positions in business and mining, they have developed a pragmatic approach. Like English-speaking businessmen, they are looking at the bottom line. The state of the economy is bad, and they see that as the result of apartheid and sheer mismanagement.``
Pressure for reform also has come from Afrikaner academics and Afrikaner newspapers. Piet Muller, deputy editor of the newspaper Beeld, recently went to Zambia and met with exiled leaders of South Africa`s leading black nationalist organization, the African National Congress.
He wrote a series of articles in which he pointed out similarities of viewpoint between the African National Congress and the Nationalist Party, and he urged a dialogue between the groups.
Change also is occurring in the Dutch Reformed Church, long a bastion of Afrikaner conservatism. The Cape Province regional synod of the church has rejected its position that apartheid is based on the Bible and now says apartheid is contrary to biblical teachings.
Several years ago, newspaper editor De Klerk identified the change that was developing in Afrikaner thinking. He coined two terms to describe those favoring reform and those clinging to the status quo.
On one hand were the ``verligtes,`` the enlightened ones; on the other were the ``verkramptes,`` literally the narrow ones.
Botha`s reform program has formalized this division and projected the verligtes into a prominence they had not known before. Now the verligtes represent a significant pressure group on the left of the Nationalist Party, and De Klerk has warned that the government must move faster on reform or risk losing their support.
Willem Esterhuyse, a professor at the Afrikaans University of Stellenbosch, recently wrote that verligtes have as their goal the dismantling of apartheid, the extension of political participation to all racial groups and a more just division of economic and social advantages.
He said verligtes do not favor a black-majority government but have no objection to sharing political power with blacks.
There is even a third Afrikaner camp, described by some commentators as neo-verligte. Consisting mainly of Afrikaner academics, they seek reform from outside the Nationalist Party and are highly critical of Botha for not pushing change at a faster pace. But they do not, as yet, represent a significant body of opinion.
What is uncertain is the right-wing parties` strength. They are powerful in the northern Transvaal, a farming area, and they seem to be gaining support among blue-collar workers in such places as Pretoria.
They do not appear to have the kind of broad national base that could represent a serious challenge to the Nationalists. But government officials profess deep concern over their strength and say it is growing.
``Naturally the right wing is a drag on reform,`` said Louis Nel, a deputy foreign minister and government spokesman.``If the government were to lose power, it would not be to the Progressive Federal Party. It would be to the right wing, and that would be a setback for the country.``
Most political observers believe that if an election were held now, the Conservatives would gain a number of parliamentary seats at the expense of the Nationalists.
An election does not have to be held before 1989, and that could provide time for many wavering Nationalist supporters to adjust to the kind of changes Botha is seeking.
Louis Oosthuysen, assistant editor of the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, is confident the Nationalists will weather the challenge from the right. He said the number of Conservative sympathizers inside the Nationalist Party is ``relatively small,`` and he does not foresee further serious breakaways.
Within the Cabinet, Law and Order Minister Louis LeGrange is widely regarded as a right-winger who has opposed Botha`s reforms. But LeGrange is reported to be seriously ill and may be replace.
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA — When Sen. Edward Kennedy visited South Africa in January, six leading white and black chambers of commerce presented him with a statement advocating major reforms in South Africa`s racial apartheid laws.
What was unusual about that, and little noticed outside South Africa, was that one of the business groups represented Afrikaners, the people who imposed apartheid on South Africa when they came to power in 1948.
The statement given to the Massachusetts Democrat marked a radical departure for the Afrikaner organization, Die Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut. It had never done anything like that.
Now it is even talking of opening its membership to people of mixed race, known here as coloreds.
``The present generation of (Afrikaner) businessmen is at the forefront of reform,`` says a leading Afrikaner newspaper editor, Willem de Klerk.
But the change in business attitudes is only part of a major transformation that has taken place in recent years in the ranks of the Afrikaners, the descendants of the Dutch, French and Germans who were the original white settlers of South Africa in the 17th Century.
Many Afrikaners provide the major support for President P.W. Botha`s program of cautious racial reform, and some Afrikaners are critical of him for not pushing reform further than he has.
On the other hand, a significant body of Afrikaner opinion opposes change and regards Botha as dangerously liberal.
Botha`s racial reforms look like half-measures to blacks. But in terms of Afrikaner politics, he has forced through a change of seismic proportions, one that even his most ardent critics acknowledge required political courage.
Throughout their history, unity of the ``volk`` (people) has been of cardinal importance to Afrikaners. They have been imbued with what is known here as a laager outlook--a fortress mentality--and they saw their salvation in unity and in the apartheid system.
Former Prime Minister John Vorster often talked of racial reform. ``Give me 90 days,`` he said, ``and I will transform South Africa.`` But Vorster could never bring himself to carry forward his intentions because he did not want to go down in history as the man who split the Afrikaners.
That was left to Botha. When he came to power, his Afrikaner-dominated Nationalist Party was determinedly right-wing.
But Botha`s racial reforms have shifted the party to the center of the political spectrum, and he has co-opted some of the positions once advocated by the opposition Progressive Federal Party, which is moderately left of center.
In shifting the Nationalist Party to the center, Botha split it asunder.
Because it could not stomach racial change, a right-wing group led by Andries Treurnicht bolted the party three years ago to form the Conservative Party. An earlier Afrikaner breakaway group, the Herstigte Nasionale Party, also opposes the Nationalists on the right.
All this represents a major change in white politics. Sylvia Gon, assistant director of the South African Institute of Race Relations, said,
``The Conservatives and the Herstigte Nasionale Party are parroting the same ideas that the Nationalists advocated 20 years ago, and they are looked upon as the lunatic fringe.``
Sheena Duncan, president of Black Sash, a women`s organization that assists blacks with legal problems, said, ``There is a real sense in which P.W. Botha is no longer an Afrikaner Nationalist. The Conservatives are.``
Botha`s strategy has been to move away from politics based primarily on support from Afrikaners. He is seeking to build a grand coalition of Afrikaners, English-speaking whites, coloreds, Indians and urban blacks.
All of the pieces have not fallen into place--the urban blacks particularly have shunned him--but his support has broadened enough to enable him to dispense with the Afrikaner right wing.
The changing political alignments within Afrikaner ranks reflect a social transformation. Traditionally the Afrikaners were farming folk. They tilled the land while English-speaking whites controlled industry and lived in the cities.
But gradually Afrikaners moved into business and industry, and some of them are among the nation`s wealthiest entrepreneurial families. At the same time, many Afrikaners have moved from rural areas into the cities.
This has brought a change in outlook, enabling many Afrikaners to break out of the laager mentality.
``In the old days the Afrikaners were prepared to say they would rather be poor and white,`` Gon said. ``Now that they are in powerful positions in business and mining, they have developed a pragmatic approach. Like English-speaking businessmen, they are looking at the bottom line. The state of the economy is bad, and they see that as the result of apartheid and sheer mismanagement.``
Pressure for reform also has come from Afrikaner academics and Afrikaner newspapers. Piet Muller, deputy editor of the newspaper Beeld, recently went to Zambia and met with exiled leaders of South Africa`s leading black nationalist organization, the African National Congress.
He wrote a series of articles in which he pointed out similarities of viewpoint between the African National Congress and the Nationalist Party, and he urged a dialogue between the groups.
Change also is occurring in the Dutch Reformed Church, long a bastion of Afrikaner conservatism. The Cape Province regional synod of the church has rejected its position that apartheid is based on the Bible and now says apartheid is contrary to biblical teachings.
Several years ago, newspaper editor De Klerk identified the change that was developing in Afrikaner thinking. He coined two terms to describe those favoring reform and those clinging to the status quo.
On one hand were the ``verligtes,`` the enlightened ones; on the other were the ``verkramptes,`` literally the narrow ones.
Botha`s reform program has formalized this division and projected the verligtes into a prominence they had not known before. Now the verligtes represent a significant pressure group on the left of the Nationalist Party, and De Klerk has warned that the government must move faster on reform or risk losing their support.
Willem Esterhuyse, a professor at the Afrikaans University of Stellenbosch, recently wrote that verligtes have as their goal the dismantling of apartheid, the extension of political participation to all racial groups and a more just division of economic and social advantages.
He said verligtes do not favor a black-majority government but have no objection to sharing political power with blacks.
There is even a third Afrikaner camp, described by some commentators as neo-verligte. Consisting mainly of Afrikaner academics, they seek reform from outside the Nationalist Party and are highly critical of Botha for not pushing change at a faster pace. But they do not, as yet, represent a significant body of opinion.
What is uncertain is the right-wing parties` strength. They are powerful in the northern Transvaal, a farming area, and they seem to be gaining support among blue-collar workers in such places as Pretoria.
They do not appear to have the kind of broad national base that could represent a serious challenge to the Nationalists. But government officials profess deep concern over their strength and say it is growing.
``Naturally the right wing is a drag on reform,`` said Louis Nel, a deputy foreign minister and government spokesman.``If the government were to lose power, it would not be to the Progressive Federal Party. It would be to the right wing, and that would be a setback for the country.``
Most political observers believe that if an election were held now, the Conservatives would gain a number of parliamentary seats at the expense of the Nationalists.
An election does not have to be held before 1989, and that could provide time for many wavering Nationalist supporters to adjust to the kind of changes Botha is seeking.
Louis Oosthuysen, assistant editor of the Afrikaans newspaper Rapport, is confident the Nationalists will weather the challenge from the right. He said the number of Conservative sympathizers inside the Nationalist Party is ``relatively small,`` and he does not foresee further serious breakaways.
Within the Cabinet, Law and Order Minister Louis LeGrange is widely regarded as a right-winger who has opposed Botha`s reforms. But LeGrange is reported to be seriously ill and may be replace.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-03-04/news/8501120688_1_afrikaners-south-africa-laager