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Vol 37 No 9

Published 26th April 1996


South Africa

The fading Nats

Two years after it lost power, the National Party seems to have lost its credibility too

The National Party spent ten million Rand (US$2.27 mn.) on its relaunch in February. The main results were more defections and derision from the African National Congress. The same Afrikaans newspapers that once fawned upon the party now describe Frederik Willem de Klerk and his circle of male confidants as 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'. Just like many Afrikaner voters, Die Burger and Rapport regard Tony Leon and the Democratic Party as best qualified to defend their interests in the new South Africa. A respected Afrikaner at Stellenbosch University privately describes the NP as 'the RDP' – the Rapidly Disappearing Party.

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