The Mandela-De Klerk row

The two-day opening session of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa in December 1991 featured a blazing row between F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela. De Klerk criticised the ANC for not disbanding Umkhonto weSizwe. Mandela reacted vehemently, saying that the ANC would not do this until an interim government, of which it was part, was installed and there was multiparty control of the security forces.

The episode indicated the mistrust that prevailed: Mandela repeatedly accused De Klerk either of being responsible for orchestrating a campaign of violence aimed at weakening the ANC, or of failing to use his power to bring the perpetrators of violence to justice. De Klerk, in turn, accused the ANC of complicity in violence.

The truth was that neither De Klerk nor Mandela was fully in control of his armed forces. The same was true of Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, some of whose followers were also deeply implicated in violence.

The row between De Klerk and Mandela caused enmity that was never fully overcome. The leadership of both men was indispensable to the eventual successful outcome of the negotiations – and both real ised that, having sunk all of their political and moral capital into reaching a political settlement, there was no going back. It was this recognition of mutual interdependence that ultimately kept the process on track despite many vicissitudes.