Coming Clean?

THE CHARGE OF “VIOLENCE FOR THE SAKE OF VIOlence” brought by an African National Congress commission of inquiry was not the familiar litany of human- rights abuses aimed at the usual target, the South African government. Instead the report detailed violence and torture within the A.N.C. itself. The inquiry was ordered by A.N.C. president Nelson Mandela to settle allegations by former detainees of atrocities committed against them by the A.N.C.’s security department in its detention camps. Conceding that the abuses had violated the A.N.C.’s own code of conduct, Mandela promised the report would be considered “as a matter of grave urgency.”

While the A.N.C. was admitting its abuse of power, South African President F.W. de Klerk was pushing a bill through Parliament that would allow unelected persons to be appointed to the Cabinet, opening the way for blacks in the government for the first time. But De Klerk had less success with a law giving amnesty for undetailed politically motivated crimes. The bill was vetoed by opposition M.P.s. De Klerk could still railroad the bill through his President’s council, circumventing Parliament. But that, said the a.n.c., would only demonstrate his desperation to cover up the crimes of apartheid.