After months of halting, halfhearted gestures toward racial reform, South Africa last week finally took a step that may significantly alter its detested system of apartheid. The government announced proposals to abolish the pass laws, a complex web of 34 regulations and proclamations that have severely restricted the ability of blacks to move freely within the country. The laws, said an official white paper announcing the reform, are a "relic of the past" and will be replaced by a non-discriminatory program of "planned, positive urbanization." Declared State President P.W. Botha: "Today we have arrived at the emancipation from guardianship of the...
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