SOUTH AFRICA-POLITICS: GOVERNMENT SPLIT WIDENS

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

CHRIS LOUW

PRETORIA, Jan 19 1995 (IPS) - SPECULATION WAS RIFE THURSDAY THAT SOUTH AFRICAN DEPUTY PRESIDENT F.W. DE KLERK WOULD ANNOUNCE HIS RESIGNATION FROM THE CABINET FOLLOWING A BLAZING ROW WITH PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA.

AT A MEETING OF HIS NATIONAL PARTY (NP) WOMEN’S CONGRESS EARLY THURSDAY, DE KLERK REFERRED TO A “THREATENING CRISIS” IN THE GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY.

ALTHOUGH THE CRISIS RELATES TO THE DEBACLE ABOUT WHETHER AMNESTY SHOULD BE GRANTED FOR 3,500 POLICEMEN AND TWO FORMER CABINET MEMBERS, NP SOURCES SAID THE ROW BETWEEN MANDELA AND DE KLERK WAS A “PERSONAL CONFLICT” WHICH BURST INTO THE OPEN DURING WEDNESDAY’S CABINET MEETING HERE.

APPARENTLY MANDELA TOOK EXCEPTION TO THE WAY DE KLERK TRIED TO DEFEND THE INITIAL GRANTING OF AMNESTY TO THE POLICEMEN, AND MADE A DEROGATORY REMARK REFERRING TO THE NP LEADER’S INTEGRITY.

A ROW BROKE OUT IN WHICH THE ISSUE UNDER DISCUSSION WAS COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN, WITH HEATED ACCUSATIONS MADE FROM BOTH SIDES.

DE KLERK, SAID AN NP SOURCE, WAS SMARTING ABOUT WHAT HE REGARDED AS AN “UNCALLED FOR” INSULT BY MANDELA. HE WAS NOW WAITING FOR THE PRESIDENT TO APOLOGISE.

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE TWO LEADERS HAS BEEN BREWING FOR A LONG TIME. IN 1992, DURING THE NEGOTIATIONS, MANDELA SAID FROM THE PLATFORM THAT HE WAS BEGINNING TO DOUBT DE KLERK’S INTEGRITY.

THE REASON FOR HIS ANGER THEN WAS BECAUSE DE KLERK HAD TRIED TO MANIPULATE THE OPENING SESSION OF THE NEGOTIATIONS TO MAKE IT APPEAR THAT THE POLITICAL CHANGES, INCLUDING THE UNBANNING OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (ANC), WAS HIS OWN INITIATIVE FOR WHICH MANDELA COULD TAKE LITTLE CREDIT.

WEDNESDAY’S HEATED CABINET MEETING WAS FOLLOWED BY AN EMERGENCY MEETING AT MANDELA’S HOUSE ATTENDED BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI AND TRANSPORT MINISTER MAC MAHARAJ FROM THE ANC AND THE NP’S CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS MINISTER ROELF MEYER AND MINERAL AND ENERGY AFFAIRS MINISTER PIK BOTHA.

A VISIBLY AGITATED BOTHA APPEARED ON SOUTH AFRICAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION (SABC) TV LATER TO DISCUSS THE INDEMNITY CONTROVERSY.

DURING THE INTERVIEW, BOTHA MADE IT CLEAR THAT HE HELD HIS NP COLLEAGUE, FORMER JUSTICE MINISTER KOBIE COETSEE, RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CRISIS. “HE MUST COME AND EXPLAIN WHAT HE HAS BEEN UP TO,” AN IRATE BOTHA TOLD INTERVIEWER, FREEK ROBINSON.

SOUTH AFRICAN NEWSPAPERS REPORTED THURSDAY THAT COETSEE WAS WIDELY HELD RESPONSIBLE WITHIN THE NP FOR THE PRESENT CONFLICT TRIGGERED BY THE NP’S ATTEMPT TO PROTECT THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY UNDER APARTHEID.

A FORMER NP ADVISOR, WHO ASSISTED THE PARTY DURING THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS OF MULTI-PARTY NEGOTIAITIONS, TOLD IPS THAT AS MINISTER OF JUSTICE, COETSEE HAD DRAWN UP THE PROCLAMATION IN 1991 ACCORDING TO WHICH PEOPLE APPLYING FOR INDEMNITY HAD TO STATE THE NATURE OF THEIR CRIMES.

“IT WAS A STRATEGIC FAUX PAS,” SAID THE ADVISOR, WHO REQUESTED ANONYMITY. “COETSEE HAS A LEGALISTIC APPROACH AND HAS VERY LITTLE SENSE OF STRATEGY.”

THE RESULT WAS THAT ANC MEMBERS WHO HAD EARLIER APPLIED FOR INDEMNITY WERE NOT REQUESTED TO PROVIDE DETAILS OF THEIR OFFENCES, WHILE POLICEMEN HAD TO UNDER THE TERMS OF COETSEE’S PROCLAMATION.

SENIOR POLICEMEN, WHO CLAIM THAT THEY HAD ACTED ON BEHALF OF THE NP GOVERNMENT DURING THE 1980S, NOW FEEL THAT THEY HAVE BEEN STABBED IN THE BACK BY THEIR FORMER POLITICAL MASTERS.

PIK BOTHA HAD SIGNED THE PROCLAMATION WHILE ACTING AS STATE PRESIDENT IN 1991 AND THIS WEEK WAS LEFT TO CARRY THE CAN FOR THE NP. COETSEE REFUSED TO APPEAR ON TELEVISION TO EXPLAIN HIS ROLE IN THE CONFLICT.

IT IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT COETSEE HAS BUNGLED IN THIS WAY. HIS ROLE IN THE KEMPTON PARK MULTI-PARTY NEGOTIATIONS WAS LESS THAN DAZZLING, SOURCES SAY.

THE PRESENT CONFLICT HAS UNMASKED SERIOUS DIVISIONS WITHIN THE FORMER WHITE ESTABLISHMENT. POLICE COMMISSIONER JOHAN VAN DER MERWE, WHO SERVED THE PREVIOUS WHITE-DOMINATED GOVERNMENT WITHOUT ANY PUBLIC CONTROVERSY, HAS NOW THREATENED COURT ACTION IF INDEMNITY IS NOT GRANTED TO THE 3,500 POLICEMEN.

DEPUTY HOME AFFAIRS MINISTER PUNUELL MADUNA SAID ON THURSDAY THE SPIRIT OF THE TRANSITIONAL CONSTITUTION, WHICH COMMITS ALL PARTIES TO NATIONAL RECONCILIATION, WILL BE STRICTLY FOLLOWED IN GRANTING INDEMNITY.

THE ISSUE AT STAKE AT THE MOMENT, HE SAID, WAS NOT WHETHER INDEMNITY SHOULD BE GRANTED TO THE POLICEMEN WHO HAD APPLIED. RATHER, WHAT WAS AT STAKE, WAS THAT THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW COULD NOT BE GRANTED TO POLICEMEN WHO DID NOT SPECIFY THE NATURE OF THE CRIMES THAT THEY WANT INDEMNITY FOR.

MEANWHILE, A VISIBLY UPSET DE KLERK TOLD REPORTERS AT THE WOMEN’S CONGRESS HE HOPED HE WAS NOT HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONFLICT IN GOVERNMENT.