Marion Edmunds
NATIONAL Party leader Deputy President FW de Klerk is to spend as little time as possible in a suit in the run-up to the local government elections, possibly hoping to match President Nelson Mandela’s casual shirts with a range of his own.
Sources in the NP say they are doing their best to keep FW away from jacket and tie and in more casual gear. “It is a new wave,” said one source close to De Klerk,”… away from the pulpit towards the people.”
De Klerk’s make-over is happening slowly, but he has been courting the people in a series of grassroots appearances this month — Sebokeng on the 11th where he shook hands with everybody: the police, nurses, hostel-dwellers and schoolchilden.
KwaZulu/Natal followed the next week — De Klerk allegedly was troubled by news reports and Cabinet discussions and went immediately to see first-hand the effects of the violence on the people. He was still wearing suits when he visited Sebokeng, but by the time he got to Beaufort West two weeks ago, he was sporting a creamy, short-sleeved shirt with small brown patterns on it.
And if clothes maketh the man, speeches are often his measure. At important public occasions De Klerk has been adopting a more gracious approach to the Government of National Unity, and presenting himself to the public not so much as a carping oppposition leader, but rather as a leader of the people, a caring, feeling man with a vision that over-rides party politics.
Adressing the European Federation Investment Summit in Johannesburg earlier this month, De Klerk compared the GNU to an 18-month -old toddler and called himself the proud dad.
“By and large the baby is healthy,” he said, “… it’s now beginning to walk — and even run. Admittedly some of its first steps have been precarious. It still falls over and bumps into things quite a lot … It experiences problems with hand-eye coordination and from time to time has bouts of colic.” (Fatherhood and apple-pie was overtaken at a later stage by a reasonable analysis of the government’s strength and weakneses.)
His appeal as a senior statesman of the GNU clashes with recent moves in the NP to strengthen its opposition and play harder ball against the ANC.
The battle of wills between the two parties is expected to intensify over disagreements sparked by the recent Constitutional Court ruling and in the run-up to the
De Klerk’s spokesperson Frik Schoombee said De Klerk would take on the role of the GNU’s Deputy President or the role of leader the NP depending on what the occasion demands.
However, De Klerk’s image-makers seem to want him to follow a track of his own, a little separately from the party itself.
While needing him to “crack the whip” when internal strains undermine the NP, and needing him to give to the rallying cry when the ANC appears to be getting the better of the situation — his speeches and his shirts point to the fact that he is wanting to rise above party concerns and policy to touch the soft spot in voters’ hearts, the way President Nelson Mandela does.
“He’s not going to wear a number six rugby jersey — that’s not his style, but it is an image competition, a beauty competition,” said a National Party source a little wistfully this week.