[Previous entry: "As Catholic as the Pope"] [Next entry: "Fire and rage in the shadow of Abu Ghraib"]

04/10/2005:

"S.African Party That Introduced Apartheid Disbands"

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - The South African party that introduced apartheid and enforced racial segregation for 50 years has voted itself out of existence after a series of stinging electoral defeats.

The federal council of the New National Party (NNP), renamed from the National Party in 1997, voted Saturday for a motion to disband the party by a margin of 88 in favor and two against. Three people abstained.

``The forerunner to the NNP, the National Party, brought development to a section of South Africa but also brought suffering through a system grounded on injustice,'' former leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk said in a speech.

``No party... could hope to successfully atone and move ahead in the same vehicle,'' said van Schalkwyk, environmental affairs and tourism minister in President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet.

He addressed NNP members who joined the African National Congress (ANC) when the two parties merged last year.

But former president F.W. de Klerk said the NNP's demise undermined effective opposition to the ANC.

``The dissolution of the National Party creates a void in the party political scene in South Africa,'' he told the BBC.

``We need a fairly young person without any political baggage to stand up and be counted and say 'we are going to fill this void','' said de Klerk, who led talks to dismantle white rule and then turned his back on the NNP after last year's merger.
Full Article: nytimes.com

The corporate interests the NNP represented are certainly not going to go away. Maybe they figured they didn't need the party anymore.