Merger moves by S. African liberals

Press, 17 December 1988, Page 38

Merger moves by S. African liberals

NZP A-Reuter Johannesburg South Africa’s three liberal opposition parties have agreed in principle to merge under a single banner in an effort to reverse a swing to the Right among white voters. Louis Luyt, an Afrikaner businessman and former National Party supporter, told the South African Press Association that the parties’ leaders reached consensus at a meeting at his home. “Enthusiasm and a sense of urgency for the establishment of a new party was confirmed,” he said. The party, not yet named, could bring together several renegade Afrikaners who have broken with President P.W. Botha’s ruling National Party. They include Willem de Klerk, brother of senior Cabinet Minister,

Frederik de Klerk and former editor of the proGovernment newspaper “Rapport Sunday.” Also in the running to lead the new party are the former South African Ambassador in London, Dennis Worrall, and Mr Luyt, who led a recent attempt to negotiate with the outlawed African National Congress over an end to South Africa’s isolation in world sport. The merger talks coincide with speculation that Mr Botha might call a General Election next year for whites, Indians and mixed-race Coloureds. The three races are represented in separate chambers of Parliament in Cape Town, but the majority black population has no voice in central Government. Merger talks have been under way for some time, but disputes over leader-

ship and a political platform proved serious hurdles. The biggest of the three parties is the Progressive Federal Party (P.F.P.) of veteran liberal legislator Helen Suzman, the longest-serving member of the white House of Assembly. The P.F.P lost status as official opposition to the far-Right Conservatve Party in a whites-only General Election last year. The others are Mr Worrell's Independent Party and the New Democratic Movement led by a renegade Nationalist, Wynand Malan. Mr Luyt said the proposed new party would campaign for true democracy in South Africa, for the abolition of apartheid and for the protection of cultural and religious rights.