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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 4, 1993                   TAG: 9306040230
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA                                LENGTH: Short

S. AFRICA SCHEDULES ELECTION

The parties postponed final approval of the date until multiparty talks resume later this month, but the agreement was an important victory for President Frederik de Klerk's government and the African National Congress, the two powerful opponents that have emerged as unlikely allies in the election-date debate.

Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC's chief negotiator, said the decision would "reverberate throughout the length and breadth of the nation."

Both the government and the ANC said setting an election date, no matter how tentatively, would restore confidence in the negotiation process, spark a resurgence of the moribund national economy, dampen violence and cool growing black anger over the lack of progress toward extending voting rights to the disenfranchised majority.

Under the resolution adopted Thursday, the election date still could be changed. Delegates agreed to consult their parties and reconvene June 15 to confirm the date. Then the recommendation will be forwarded to the full multiparty forum, scheduled to meet June 25.

The ANC has been under increasing pressure from its supporters to persuade negotiators to set an election date. The issue had become an important test of the negotiating process in the eyes of many blacks. The ANC also has promised to call for lifting all remaining economic sanctions against Pretoria when a final election date is set.