In a land where bad news is the norm, word that Zulu nationalists will take part in next week's all-race election gave the country a shot of euphoria Wednesday.
"I'm over the moon," said Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. "It's wonderful, wonderful."Mangosuthu Buthelezi, head of the Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party, called off his election boycott Tuesday and agreed to participate in the April 26-28 ballot ending the apartheid system of racial segregation.
Inkatha is expected to finish a distant third to Nelson Mandela's African National Congress and President F.W. de Klerk's National Party. But Inkatha's participation is extremely important because it should help ease the political violence and intimidation that threaten to undermine the vote.
"We are happy that he (Buthelezi) is taking part because it makes the election all-inclusive," Mandela said this morning at a news conference outside the southern city of Port Elizabeth.
On Johannesburg's Radio 702, angst-ridden whites usually call in to air their apprehensions about the country's transition to black majority rule. After Tuesday's announcement, they were ecstatic.
"This is the best news we've had in years," gushed one woman caller. "Our country has hope again."
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange's overall index surged to 5,080 on Tuesday, up 110 points on Buthelezi's announcement.
Warfare between Inkatha and ANC supporters responsible for much of the political violence that has claimed more than 12,000 black lives since 1990 won't cease overnight, however.
There was heavy fighting Tuesday in Tokoza, a convulsed township near Johannesburg, that left five dead and 40 wounded in running gunbattles. The situation was tense Wednesday morning.
Buthelezi launched the Inkatha campaign Wednesday in Ulundi, capital of the KwaZulu homeland he administers. Thousands of people thronged the streets, honking horns and singing.
"I could have jumped through the roof, I was so happy," said Phumla Nxumalo, a KwaZulu government worker.
In joining the election, Buthelezi backed off his demand for a sovereign homeland for the country's 7.5 million Zulus. But he said he secured official recognition for Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini.