The P.C. constitution

International | Conservatives decry new pact's hostility to moral values | Mindy Belz

Whites in South Africa have known for two years they would never have majority status in the government again. But when National Party leader F.W. de Klerk pulled out of the Mandela government two weeks ago, they officially-and perhaps permanently-lost their place at the cabinet table.

The move by Mr. de Klerk came one day after passage of a permanent post-apartheid constitution by South Africa's Parliament. Mr. de Klerk was one of two deputy presidents in an interim unity government brought together after April 1994 elections swept Mr. Mandela and his African National Congress into power. The new constitution calls for unrestricted majority rule after 1999, and Mr. de Klerk, the last president under the apartheid system, called it "unnatural" to remain in a cabinet due in just a few years to become obsolete. He and six other National Party members will quit June 30, but his party will retain 99 seats in the 490-member parliament.