Process to end apartheid 'halting' but 'on course.'

UN Chronicle, Dec, 1991

Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, in the second progress report on the implementation of the 1989 Declaration on Apartheid and its Destructive Consequences in Southern Africa, stated that "over the last 12 months, the process towards the end of apartheid in South Africa, although halting, remained in course".

The 4 September report (A/45/1052), covering the period from July 1990 to August 1991, emphasized that the "wave of violence that has engulfed the country" had become a "severe test of confidence" and a "serious obstace to the evolving political dialogue". The Secretary-General observed in particular that the impartiality of the security forces had been called into question, and that the potential for destabilization by extremist groups remained a cause of concern. He expressed the hope, however, that the recent initiatives aimed at ending violence would allow the process of change to regain momentum.

Since June 1990, he noted, South Africa had enacted important measures towards dismantling the basic laws of apartheid. However, concomitant attitudes and practices, let alone the consequences of those lawd, persisted and the magnitude of the socio-economic inequalities in South Africa could jeopardize a process which would probably be "lengthy" and "vulnerable".

South Africa appeared to be moving ahead again towards the beginning of substantive negotiations. At the top of the political agenda was a meeting of all parties on the mechanism to draft a new constitution and the necessary arrangements for the transition to a democratic order. The Secretary-General was encouraged by the "broad consensus" which had emerged on the need for human rights to be protected in a democratic South Africa, and observed that the ratification of international human rights covenants could be a significant step.

The Secretary-General asked that the response of the international community to developments in South Africa be "finely tuned to this complex and delicate process" and that "encouragement, pressure and assitance be suitably applied" as envisaged by the Declaration and bearing in mind its ultimate objective, namely, the establishment of a non-racial democracy in South Africa.

In an 11 September statement (A/46/476) on the report, South African Foreign Minister R.F. Botha said that, although he was not in agreement with some of the remarks in the report, it nevertheless contained "important, positive acknowledgements".

These included:

* That the process towards the end of apartheid in South Africa, although halting, was "on course";

* That the most important development in this regard was the removal of basic apartheid laws; and

* That initiatives to address the violence issue were encouraging, as was the broad consensus that human rights in a democratic South Africa must be protected.

There also appeared to be a "growing convergence" of the views of parties on basic principles of a new constitution. Agreement on mechanisms to arrive at a new constitution, as well as on the process for transition to a democratic system, must still be reached.

He found it "encouraging" that a number of leaders in South Africa "now realize that there is no other realistic alternative to negotiating together a democratic, non-racial future for their country".