South Africa The Party's Not Over

By Scott MacLeod/Johannesburg

Thought communism was dead? Not in South Africa, where the party is unashamedly resurrecting itself -- to the evident horror of President F.W. de Klerk. Last week the government arrested at least seven party activists, charging them with plotting to stage an armed insurrection by the African National Congress if negotiations to draft a new nonracial constitution fail.

The "Red Komplot," so dubbed by the Afrikaans press, may at least temporarily derail the fragile talks and even sour the personal relationship between De Klerk and Nelson Mandela, which seems so crucial to the success of the peace process. The affair goes to the heart of the impasse that has been holding up negotiations: the A.N.C. refuses to suspend its armed struggle until the government lifts tough security measures and releases political prisoners, but De Klerk is reluctant to take such steps while the threat of violence remains.

Ironically, the government touched off the renewed anxiety over communism when it legalized the party last February, along with the rest of South Africa's outlawed political organizations. Longtime party leader Joe Slovo returned in triumph from exile in April and scheduled a huge welcome-back rally in Soweto this week. Since the communists have long been a powerful part of the black nationalist movement, Slovo was named to the five-man A.N.C. delegation slated to meet with De Klerk this week.

The government claims that Slovo and other leading communists in the A.N.C. met secretly in the Natal province town of Tongaat last May to discuss a plan code-named Operation Vula to seize power by force if negotiations fail. The meeting, De Klerk suggested, violated the agreement between the government and the A.N.C. to create a peaceful climate for negotiations. Government officials say that in smashing the plot, police uncovered weapons such as rocket- propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles.

Mandela publicly scoffed at the charges, calling allegations of a plot "totally unfounded." Both A.N.C. and Communist Party officials accused Pretoria of trying to drive a wedge between the long-standing allies. Mandela freely acknowledged that A.N.C. military units continued to operate underground but insisted that all A.N.C. leaders were committed to peaceful negotiations.

Banned for 40 years, the 69-year-old Communist Party has influence with the A.N.C. as well as powerful black trade unions, which seems likely to give it a considerable say in negotiations. The party's utopian ideal of economic equality holds a powerful attraction for the millions of blacks disadvantaged ) by apartheid. But Slovo says his first priority is enfranchisement of South Africa's blacks. "I don't believe that communism is on the agenda," he told TIME. He says he now favors multiparty democracy and a mixed economy.

Mandela and De Klerk met to cool the crisis, but De Klerk wants communist Slovo dropped from the A.N.C. delegation. It will be difficult for Mandela to oblige. In the long run, though, the real danger may lie in the government's taking the threat of communism too seriously. Anglo-American Corp. director Bobby Godsell predicted that blacks in South Africa would reject socialism, just as East Europeans have. But this assumes that the government will resist any temptation to slap a new ban on the party. Says Godsell: "Communism has to be defeated in the minds of voting people."