clarinews@clarinet.com (ROHAN MINOGUE) (02/03/90)
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (UPI) -- Stock prices soared on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Friday on a wave of confidence generated by President Frederik de Klerk's racial reform measures, but right-wing whites decried a sellout and demanded de Klerk call fresh elections to test his mandate. When word of de Klerk's unexpectedly detailed reform program hit the streets at lunchtime, blacks celebrated in the cities and townships, though many in the anti-apartheid leadership had a more restrained reaction and warned apartheid was still firmly in place. In Johannesburg, demonstrators celebrated the unbanning of the African National Congress by toyi-toyiing in the streets -- an agressive dance of protest that police moved swiftly to curb. Witnesses said police fired tear gas, charged marchers with batons and herded them with attack dogs on Wanderers Street in the heart of downtown, where several anti-apartheid organizations hold offices. Demonstrators responded, hurling bottles and stones at police but no arrests were immediately reported. Police and witnesses said six people were injured during the running protests, including two policemen. The JSE, enjoying record trading in recent days due to the strong gold price, soared again Friday on the back of improved investor confidence provided by de Klerk's address to the opening session of Parliament, dealers said. De Klerk announced the lifting of the ban on the ANC, outlawed since 1960, the release shortly of jailed black nationalist Nelson Mandela and other sweeping measures regarded as the most significant since the National Party won power in 1948. The overall JSE index was up to a new high of 3279 from 3194 on Thursday and the investment currency known as the financial rand, which makes foreign investment in the country more attractive, also gained strength against the dollar. By mid-afternnon the financial rand had firmed to 3.29 to the dollar after opening steady at 3.43. The angriest reactions came from a formidable right wing among the country's white minority. Conservative Party leader Andries Treurnicht, whose party has consistently rejected any concessions to the country's 28 million blacks, challenged de Klerk to call another general election. Treurnicht described de Klerk's address as ``most revolutionary'' and declared the party had never secured a mandate for such drastic reforms in elections last September. Further to the right, Eugene Terre'Blanche, leader of the extremist Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB), said de Klerk's speech amounted to ``handing the government over to the ANC and the communists,'' state-run radio reported. Terre'Blanche predicted a revolution, not peace, it said. The conservative women's group KappieKommando -- so named for the traditional bonnets, or kappies, of the Afrikaners -- decided to apply the idiom: ``Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.'' Leaders of the anti-apartheid community were clearly caught off-guard by the extensive announcements from de Klerk. But they generally agreed that, although significant, the measures failed to meet all the demands necessary for negotiations on a political settlement to the country's racial conflict. ``While we concede the boldness of some of the steps of the government, we insist on the fulfillment of the total conditions of the Harare Declaration,'' the United Democratic Front said in a statement at a news conference in Cape Town. The Harare Declaration, endorsed by the Organization of African Unity on Aug. 21, listed eight demands on the government. Anti-apartheid leaders said de Klerk met only two Friday. Among the demands that were not met were the release of all political prisoners and removal of army troops from the nation's black tonwships. The UDF, one of 33 organizations whose restrictions were lifted by de Klerk Friday, said ``a large number of laws'' remained that effectively curtailed political activity.