South Africa From God to Mortal

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Mandela's damaged stature has achieved an important aim of De Klerk's white government: to demystify the A.N.C. and make clear that Mandela is only one of many black players. Before his next session with the A.N.C., De Klerk plans to meet with the leaders of the country's six self-governing black homelands and with the chairmen of the ministers' councils of the "colored" (mixed race) and Indian chambers to discuss "the structuring of the process of negotiation." The talks with the A.N.C. will set the ground rules for future bargaining on majority rule that will presumably include other nonwhite groups.

But there is no single black agenda for postapartheid South Africa, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Natal, where for the past three years the inhabitants of the KwaZulu homeland have been killing one another. On one side is the A.N.C., the United Democratic Front and the Congress of South African Trade Unions, whose vision is of a unified black majority taking over the reins of power. On the other is Zulu chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, president of the 1.5 million-strong Inkatha Movement and an old antagonist of the A.N.C., who has a strong investment in the traditional tribal and economic structure.

The violence last week was triggered when vans and taxis returning Inkatha members from a rally in Durban were attacked near Pietermaritzburg by stone- throwing youths loyal to the A.N.C. In three days of clashes, hundreds were injured, villages were burned, and thousands fled.

Buthelezi will meet with Mandela, perhaps as soon as this week, to try to restore peace to Natal. But a rally to be addressed by the two black leaders was called off, and few hold out much hope for the talks. Last week Buthelezi dismissed the power of the A.N.C. as a set of "myths that have now been exploded." Obviously miffed that he was not to be included in De Klerk's session with the A.N.C., the Zulu chief predicted that at the first sign of trouble the A.N.C. would "pack its bags and go home." The comment does not bode well for black cooperation as South Africa tries to negotiate its way to a more enlightened future.