S.AFRICAN WHITES NOW WANT BILL OF RIGHTS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 3, 1993                   TAG: 9302030112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA                                LENGTH: Short
S.AFRICAN WHITES NOW WANT BILL OF RIGHTS
The white-minority government, after insisting for more than four decades that South Africa did not need a bill of rights, officially changed its tune Tuesday, proposing a "charter of fundamental human rights" to take effect before whites relinquish their grip on power.
The charter, proposed in Parliament by Minister of Justice Kobie Coetzee, would empower the courts to protect rights that previous governments have denied to blacks. It calls for freedom of speech, religion, political expression, movement and association. It also would grant all South Africans, regardless of race or gender, equal protection under the law and equal access to public education.
Under the charter, the right to one's own "language and culture" would be protected. And it makes special provision for South Africans to be able to communicate with the state "through the language of their own choosing."
- Los Angeles Times

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB