Black Africa’s boycott of Pretoria also never had as much impact as its participants initially claimed. It was Europe and the United States, which never severed official ties to South Africa, that made sanctions work. A cutoff of Western credit was instrumental in launching de Klerk on his reform path. Today Pretoria still has full diplomatic relations with only one African country, Malawi; but it maintains some sort of official presence in 13 more, from the consulate in the Comoro Islands to an interest office in Namibia. A quarter of South Africa’s manufactured exports goes to other African nations, and officials in Pretoria say total trade with the rest of the continent exceeds $3 billion a year.
With the upcoming repeal of the Population Registration Act, the final vestige of apartheid law, South Africa’s ties to the rest of the continent are bound to strengthen. De Klerk is said to be particularly interested in adding Egypt and Nigeria to the 11 African countries he has visited, and Zaire may become the second country in Africa to post an ambassador to Pretoria. De Klerk and his aides see the greatest potential for economic gain in their home region. With its vast mineral resources and First World transportation and communications networks, South Africa is well positioned to lead a southern African trading bloc. Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe continues to urge the international community to maintain its sanctions against Pretoria, but his country is Pretoria’s biggest African customer. Mozambique has invited foreign investment in tourism and agriculture. With the apparent end of the Angolan civil war, South African officials are eager to swap mining equipment, processed foodstuffs and other manufactured goods for crude oil - the one vital resource they lack.
De Klerk is counting on his fence-mending forays to undercut militants at home. At the OAU summit in Nigeria this month, Mandela warned against any “headlong rush” to lift sanctions against Pretoria. But a group of “pragmatist” states led by Kenya and Madagascar made it clear that they will improve transportation and trade links with South Africa as a gesture of support for de Klerk. “Up until now the ANC has had a veto on African foreign policy toward South Africa, and that has been broken,” noted an official in South Africa’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “That has quite a considerable psychological effect.” If better relations with Black Africa produce tangible benefits, that will help de Klerk convince jittery white voters that his program is the right one.
