Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 5, 1994 TAG: 9403050055
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA LENGTH: Medium
But the groups, both members of the Freedom Alliance that opposes the election, said they continued to demand autonomous or independent states in post-apartheid South Africa. They said registering merely gave them the option to take part in the election if their demands were met.
Less than eight weeks remain until the April 26-28 vote, which formally will end apartheid by including the black majority for the first time. The deadline for registering for the election passed at midnight Friday.
By registering, Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party and a white right-wing leader signaled they believed international mediation could work out differences with the African National Congress and President F.W. de Klerk's government on the powers of regional governments in a new constitution.
Freedom Alliance members fear the ANC will win the vote and impose a strong central government that will trample minority rights. They want autonomous or independent states where they can govern themselves.
Buthelezi and ANC leader Nelson Mandela met this week and agreed on international mediation in return for Inkatha's registration.
Inkatha's central committee endorsed that agreement Friday, but said any participation in the election beyond registration depended on finding acceptable solutions to Inkatha's demand for an autonomous Zulu state.
About 20 minutes before the deadline, white right-wing leader Gen. Constand Viljoen entered the registration office. Viljoen is a leader of the Afrikaner Volksfront - an umbrella organization of pro-apartheid groups seeking a white homeland - but registered a group called the Freedom Front.
In a statement released to the South African Press Association, he said he registered "only in anticipation of possible results in negotiations or international mediation."
It appeared Viljoen acted only on behalf of a faction of the Afrikaner Volksfront, which claims to represent the interests of the nation's 3 million Afrikaners, the Dutch-descended white settlers of South Africa.
Ferdi Hartzenberg earlier had rejected any chance that his Conservative Party - a major component of the Afrikaner Volksfront - would register or take part in the election. The Conservatives are the second-largest white group in the country.
Meanwhile, the ANC confirmed it has stepped up security around its chief negotiator, Secretary General Cyril Ramaphosa, after being informed of an alleged right-wing death plot against him.
by CNB