NP leader FW de Klerk is expected to take a firm stand=20 to quell the dissension within his party. But it’s a=20 fine line he has to tread, reports Gaye Davis
NATIONAL Party (NP) leader FW de Klerk is expected to=20 douse the firestorm raging in his riven party by=20 backing his beleagured senior cabinet minister, Roelf=20 Meyer, and urging unity.
He will tackle the issue on Saturday when he addresses=20 the NP Federal Youth Congress in Stellenbosch.
NP sources said De Klerk would have to tread a fine=20 line between dealing with the frustrations bubbling=20 over in party ranks and curbing those behind the=20 campaign to oust Meyer. Senior MPs who support Meyer=20 want De Klerk to modify his consensus-seeking style and=20 exert a discipline some believe is lacking.
Before slipping away with his family for a 10-day=20 holiday this week, Meyer dismissed as “malicious=20 gossip” a Sunday Times report in which NP sources=20 alleged Meyer had sold the party out to the African=20 National Congress (ANC) during negotiations, and was=20 seen as a liability.
But while senior NP officials were this week pouring=20 water on rumours of a pending split, of Meyer’s and=20 other prominent NP members’ imminent defection to the=20 ANC, and other apocalyptic scenarios, it would require=20 bushels of salt to swallow their insistence that all=20 was well within the party.
For De Klerk, there will be a sense of dej=9D vu when he=20 comes to deal with the dissension. Clearly, his efforts=20 during the NP’s national caucus in February to address=20 the party’s burning problems — chiefly its inability=20 to carve an independent profile as a party of=20 opposition within the Government of National Unity=20 (GNU) — have failed.
The attack on Meyer is rooted in a long-standing intra- party feud, but the problems besieging the party run=20 deeper. Its bid to re-invent itself as a non-racial,=20 liberal democratic defender of minority groups and=20 civil order have seen its complexion change. But not=20 all party members are on the bus.
Stellenbosch University political scientist Professor=20 Hennie Kotze believes the party’s problem is=20 psychological: it is suffering from a split=20
“The whole problem comes down to the fact that the NP=20 has still not sorted out the role it should play within=20 the GNU. They still don’t understand the nature of=20 coalition government. From being top dogs, they’ve=20 become the total underdogs. A psychological adjustment=20 is necessary.
“The party’s support is broadly spread but they haven’t=20 made peace with the new party they are. The whites=20 can’t get used to the idea they no longer run the show.=20 There are no signs of any coloured people in the NP=20
Political analyst Harald Pakendorf, brought in as a=20 consultant by the NP to spell out where the party was=20 going wrong during its February caucus meeting,=20 believes the party to be so incoherent a split is=20
But party strong-man Hernus Kriel, premier of the=20 Western Cape and tipped to challenge NP crown prince=20 Dawie de Villiers for the Cape NP leadership next year,=20 could well draw support from NP MPs unhappy with the=20 party’s lack of direction and perceptions that it has=20 been swallowed by the ANC.