South African Politics

Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, a South African political party, held a press conference in the National Press Club to discuss his visit to the U.S. and the political situation in South Africa. Mr. Mandela had met with President Bush at the White House earlier in the day. Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner in South Africa for over twenty years before his release in 1990, discussed upcoming negotiations between the white South African government and black political parties concerning a new constitution for the country. Mr. Mandela said one of the main obstacles to a democratic society in South Africa was the South African government itself, and advocated the installation of an interim government to oversee the beginning of a multiracial democracy in South Africa.