ANC President Nelson Mandela confirmed Saturday that the country's largest black group had agreed to share power with the government for five years after the end of white rule.
Mandela said the agreement was a victory for the African National Congress. The leader of the ANC's main rival, the Inkatha Freedom party, said there would be violence if the plan is approved.In any case, the plan is a major breakthrough in resolving differences between the government and the ANC over how to make the transition to multiracial democracy.
The proposal still must be approved by the ANC's leadership and by the Cabinet, and both sides are expected to consider them this week.
The ANC could face opposition from its more militant members, who see power-sharing as too great a concession to the white government. But its top leadership is dominated by moderates such as Mandela, who are eager to see the country's first multiracial government installed.
The government announced the plan on Friday, but Mandela's comments Saturday, made to Britain's ITN television network, were the first confirmation that the ANC had agreed to power sharing.
Under the plan, a government will be elected in the country's first multiracial elections, expected by late this year or early 1994, and any political party receiving 5 percent to 10 percent of the vote will have representation.
During the five-year term, the parties will try to work out a permanent power-sharing arrangement. The current white-led government wants guarantees that the rights of whites and other minorities will be protected; the ANC opposes this, accusing the government of trying to maintain white veto power.
The plan is "a victory of the democratic forces," Mandela said, adding that the government had proposed a far lengthier term for the power-sharing interim government. "We have cut it down to five years."
As part of the new proposal, both sides also agreed that the body chosen to draft the new constitution would need only a two-thirds majority to approve measures.
The government also dropped its demand for guarantees of strong regional powers, South African news reports said. The government had said this would prevent domination by a powerful central government, which is expected to be led by the ANC.
Inkatha also favors strong powers for regional governments as a way of ensuring a loud political voice for the Zulu-dominated regions that are Inkatha's strong-holds.
Inkatha's leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, issued a statement accusing the government and the ANC of "connivance" and said Inkatha would never accept the power-sharing deal.