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

DATE: THURSDAY, December 23, 1993                   TAG: 9312230016
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA                                LENGTH: Medium

S. AFRICA PARLIAMENT VOTE `NOT A FUNERAL, BUT A BIRTH'

Defying shouts of "Treason!" and threats of war from rightists, the white-run Parliament approved a constitution Wednesday giving whites and blacks equal status in South Africa for the first time.

The historic road map to a new South Africa, endorsed by the African National Congress, passed by an overwhelming vote of 237-45. It was probably the last seating of a Parliament that excludes the black majority and gives Asian and mixed-race lawmakers little power.

The document will result in self-government for blacks for the first time in South African history, and promises protection of individual and minority rights. The country's first election open to all races is set for April 27.

Pro-ANC lawmakers at the emotional session shouted "Viva!" and "Amandla" ("Power is ours") and lifted their fists in a jubilant salute. Flushed members of the right-wing Conservative Party, sputtering in rage, denounced as traitors all those who voted "yes."

Despite four years of "attacks, curses and insults" since he began the process of dismantling apartheid in 1990, de Klerk said Wednesday: "I am now more convinced than ever that I have made the right choice."

Responding to the gloom of some, de Klerk said the constitution would not detract "one iota" from their freedom, but would give freedom to the millions of South Africans who were denied it in the past.

"The end of this parliament is not a funeral, but a birth," he said.

The new constitution replaces a system that for generations denied the black majority the right to vote, hold political office or have any voice in national affairs.

"Now, for the first time, the future holds the promise of a brighter tomorrow," ANC President Nelson Mandela said in a statement issued by ANC headquarters in Johannesburg.

The parliament to be elected in April can make some changes in the constitution. But its basic tenets are to be kept intact and protected by a powerful new Constitutional Court. The ANC is expected to win the April vote.

by CNB