By Norm Dixon
Gill Marcus, African National Congress national executive member and a senior spokesperson, speaking from the ANC's Johannesburg headquarters, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly that the overwhelming white vote in favour of continuing the negotiations process "says to de Klerk: 'There are no more excuses, there must be are no more delays. White South Africa also wants peace.'
"It means white South Africa in the vast majority is saying that it has identified itself with the peace process and with the process of change. That is something that they have not done before."
The vote adds "momentum to the demand for a speeding up of the process of negotiated settlement through CODESA [the Convention for a Democratic South Africa]. There must now be a speedy transition to an interim government of national unity."
Marcus explained that the ANC "rejects in total the concept of an ethnic referendum" because such racially exclusive votes "fan passions [and] make dialogue and discussion very difficult."
But in this case the ANC "said to white South Africans: 'Go out and vote. It is not our choice that you have this referendum, but once the referendum is under way we are asking everybody to go out and vote Yes. It is not a vote for a political organisation or any individual, it is a vote for peace.' ...
"A No vote would be a vote for the forces of evil, those who march around with swastikas, those who are saying we would return in law to apartheid ... We are very encouraged by the response by white South Africans [but] we hope there would never again be any form of ethnic referendum."
Now, Marcus told Â鶹´«Ã½, "the negotiations process in CODESA must be stepped up. We are looking forward to rapid decisions to ensure the establishment in the next few months of an interim government to oversee an election for a constituent assembly which would draw up a new constitution ...
"We feel that is urgent, it should be a priority. The parties in CODESA should be there because they have tested support and a mandate from the people of this country for what they are doing. The interim government would oversee the political process so that these elections are free and fair and that there is no destabilisation of the process by the security forces or any other forces."
Marcus emphasised that the ANC was demanding not only a formal, legal end of apartheid but also the elimination of "apartheid in practice". "We still have the situation where, in the budget that was announced yesterday [March 18], five times more money is spent on the education of a white child than on a black ... This is apartheid in practice. It persists in terms of housing allocation, schooling, health care, pensions, social services. This has to be addressed and eradicated so that we have a society that is non-racial, have equal opportunities."
Once the constituent assembly has been elected and discussion is under way on the constitution, Marcus does not expect agreement to come easily. De Klerk insists on a constitution which will entrench the political and economic power of South Africa's ruling class, which is all white.
"They say they don't want a 'winner-take-all' system. I think their position is that they want a 'loser-take-all' system. We can't accept that in any form ... De Klerk's proposed constitution reduces the rights of the majority to less than those of the minority.
"We recognise the complexities of this country, and we are looking at ways to try to ensure that there is a government of national unity. Our proposals for proportional representation are precisely for this purpose. We are trying to be as inclusive as possible in our approach to finding solutions. An approach that says we are one country, we are one nation.
"We want to build a climate of tolerance, a climate where ideas can grow. We are trying to achieve liberation and freedom, including the freedom of cultural expression, the freedom of ideas. It is a vision for this country which says we can live together as one nation on a non-racial basis."