ANC heads for victory, de Klerk party holding Cape

ANC heads for victory, de Klerk party holding Cape

JOHANNESBURG (Reuter): Nelson Mandela's ANC headed for a big
win in South Africa's historic elections yesterday but President
F.W. de Klerk's National Party, reformed architect of apartheid,
seemed to be clinging to power in the Cape.

With more than a third of an anticipated 22 million or more
votes counted, election officials said the ANC had 59.3 percent
of valid votes cast in the all-race elections for a new national
assembly and government of national unity.

De Klerk's party, which institutionalised apartheid after
coming to power in 1948 and began dismantling it four years ago,
had a 26.5 percent share of the national poll but it was on
course for victory in the provincial poll for the Western Cape.

It had nearly 56 percent of the vote there compared to 27
percent for the ANC. A provisional result was expected later in
the day from the region.

The National Party was pressing the ANC hard in the Northern
Cape region, a sparsely-populated area which like neighboring
Western Cape has a majority of mixed-race (colored) voters. But
political analysts said it was too early to predict most final
results.

The ANC had a firm grip on six regions, including the densely-
populated area around Johannesburg and Pretoria, but the Inkatha
Freedom Party of Mangosuthu Buthelezi was leading in KwaZulu-
Natal where most of its Zulu supporters live.

Inkatha, main black rival of the ANC, was running third
nationwide with 6.6 percent -- more than the five percent minimum
needed to guarantee it a cabinet post in the government which is
due to take office later this week.

Neck and neck

Buthelezi hinted during campaigning he would not join such a
government, saying he would prefer to operate in opposition.
A feature of last week's poll was a relative absence of political
violence by rival black groups, whose feuding accounted for most
of the 20,000 people killed in a decade of bloodletting.

But there were signs at the weekend that the men of violence
were at large again. Twenty-three people were killed in KwaZulu-
Natal and three in townships around Johannesburg over the
weekend. Police said most of the killings in KwaZulu-Natal
appeared to be politically motivated.

A spate of bombings on the eve of the elections, in which 21
people were killed, appeared to have abated following the arrest
of more than 30 right-wing whites.

Results just before 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) gave the white
separatist Freedom Front of General Constand Viljoen 3.2 percent
of the vote. The party was neck and neck with the NP in some
regions.

Political analysts said one of the biggest losers appeared to
be the black radical Pan Africanist Congress, with 1.2 percent of
the poll.

The National Party's success in the Western Cape meant Law and
Order Minister Hernus Kriel would almost certainly become premier
of the region. Kriel told state television yesterday he was very
optimistic about the outcome.

Colored ANC premiership candidate Allan Boesak conceded that
defeat was imminent, telling reporters late on Sunday: "The ANC
will accept the outcome of the democratic process."

Earlier on Sunday, radical ANC activist Tony Yengeni, a member
of the party's regional executive, said trouble could be expected
in black townships.

"Already the man in the street in the township is feeling
betrayed," he said. Yesterday, however, there was no sign of
unrest in the area with commuters traveling to work normally.

ANC information director Pallo Jordan predicted on Sunday the
movement would finish with at least 58 percent of the vote --
short of the 66 percent for which it had aimed.

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