
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1993                   TAG: 9312080052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA                                LENGTH: Medium

S. AFRICAN BLACKS JOIN COUNCIL

Blacks took seats in government for the first time Tuesday to help steer South Africa toward democracy and end 341 years of white domination.

Right-wing whites staged a theatrical bid to stress their opposition to reforms by seizing an abandoned fort hundreds of miles away, but their action was dwarfed by the significance of the Transitional Executive Council's first meeting.

Although the council cannot introduce legislation, it can veto government decisions on security, intelligence-gathering and finances. It will serve as a government watchdog until the country's first multiracial elections, scheduled April 27.

"To be part of the TEC means the struggle we have engaged in over the years is bearing fruit," said the African National Congress' secretary-general, Cyril Ramaphosa.

The council consists of representatives from the ANC, government and other black and white groups. The number of votes necessary for a veto varies according to the issue.

It is the first time the black majority has had the power to affect the future from within the halls of government. The election of a new Parliament will give blacks their first vote in national affairs since Dutch settlers arrived in 1652.

"Certainly the TEC is the final step in the process to bring about true democracy in South Africa," said the government's constitutional affairs minister, Roelf Meyer, one of seven whites among the 32 politicians who met at the old President's Council chamber.

Each of 16 parties sent two representatives. Three other parties planned to join the meetings later in the week.

The President's Council, disbanded earlier this year as part of President F.W. de Klerk's reforms, was used by past presidents as a rubber-stamp body to push through legislation that lacked sufficient support in Parliament.

The Conservatives were among several groups absent from the Executive Council's first meeting. They have joined other right-wing white groups and the mainly black Inkatha Freedom Party in a boycott of the council, saying it evolved from negotiations hijacked by the ANC and de Klerk's government.

by CNB