NELSON MANDELA
Q. How important a milestone is the setting of the election date?
A. This decision to have an election by April 27 introduces an element of irreversibility. It is a landmark.
Q. Is it a safe assumption that you will be the next President of South Africa?
A. (Chuckling) Some of the young men would not agree with you because they all want to be President. The opinion polls say that if elections were held today, the A.N.C. would probably win by an outright majority. It is then for the A.N.C. to decide who should be President. We have many dynamic people, and I would be prepared to serve under them.
Q. Do you believe De Klerk's National Party will abide by the results of the election?
A. I have no reason to doubt they are negotiating in good faith. But of course their concept of democracy is different from yours and mine. We have already encountered this problem in their concept of power sharing, which to them means the party that loses the elections should continue to govern. Now we have moved them away from that, and they are coming to accept our concept of a government of national unity which is based on majority rule. We are saying all political parties with a substantial following should be included in government, so we can face problems together.
Q. But in the end, won't their bottom line be permanent power sharing?
A. My view is that they are moving away from that bottom line.
Q. Can you deliver on people's expectations, or is the damage of apartheid too deep?
A. Forty years of apartheid have been like 40 years of war. Our economy and our social life have been completely devastated, in some respects beyond repair. That was the situation in Europe after the last World War. What the Western world did was to mobilize their resources and introduce Marshall Plan aid to ensure that the countries of Europe devastated by the war recovered. What we expect -- and this is a matter which I'm going to raise with President Clinton -- is that the Western world, led by the U.S., should ensure that massive measures of assistance are given to the people of South Africa so we can address their expectations.
Q. What do you say to your supporters who don't want to share power with former practitioners of apartheid?
A. Last week I met the executive committee of the African National Congress Youth League, which has been vocal in criticizing the government of national unity. Quite understandably, they say, "These are the people who have been oppressing us since 1948. We are on the verge of overthrowing apartheid and their government, and now you say we must work with these people." That is perfectly reasonable. But we discussed the matter at length, and at the end of that meeting they accepted that the strategy of a government of national unity is a correct one.
Q. And what about those on the right who fear and might resist black majority rule?