Apartheid party fades into history by merging with ANC

[T_i_B]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=S1YTZGDRBZN2FQFIQMFCM5OAVCBQYJVC?xml=/news/2004/08/09/wsaf09.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/08/09/ixportal.html&secureRefresh=true&_requestid=61512

South Africa's once all-powerful National Party, which ruled the country with its apartheid policies for 46 years, is to vanish from the political map, its last remaining members being urged to join the African National Congress, the arch-enemy it once sought to crush.

In a move that might make the party's founders and luminaries such as Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, spin in their graves, the New National Party, as it has been known for the past few disastrous political years, announced that it would fight all future elections under the ANC banner.

Successive National Party governments established a formidable and ruthless military and security apparatus, jailing black leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, banning the ANC and forcing thousands of putative black activists into exile.

The National Party won 20 per cent of the vote in the first democratic elections. But Mr de Klerk, the last white president, stepped down from the leadership two years later, leaving the party floundering and rudderless in the wake of the ANC government's policies of reconciliation and nation building. Under Mr van Schalkwyk, regarded as a political lightweight, the old National Party support ebbed away and its score in last April's election collapsed to a paltry 1.7 per cent of the vote.

[struggle4progress]

1. kick for the dustbins of history

:kick:

[DavidDvorkin]

2. What a strange development

I'm not surprised that the National Party finally faded away, but I'm astonished that it happened this way.

However it passes, its passing is a good thing. South Africa really needs a strong opposition party, and as a former South African I'd much prefer to see one arise that had nothing to do with the Apartheid era in any way -- a truly multiracial party without any baggage of any kind.