Apartheid's days may be numbered, but the Conservative Party won't let it die without a fight.
Shouting "traitor, traitor!" Conservative Party members stormed out of Parliament on Friday as President F.W. de Klerk announced plans to repeal all major apartheid laws still in effect."De Klerk is a traitor to his own people," said Conservative member Koos van der Merwe. "He is trying to kill the Afrikaner nation."
The Conservatives argue that whites, who account for only 5 million of South Africa's 39 million people, will become an impotent minority under a black government.
The Conservatives won 31 percent of the white vote in 1989 elections and say their call for strict segregation is even more popular today as whites grow fearful of the changes de Klerk has unleashed.
But de Klerk says there will never be another whites-only election, so the Conservatives plan to emulate the anti-apartheid movement and take to the streets.
About 5,000 farmers, most of them Conservative supporters, paralyzed the capital city of Pretoria on Tuesday when they parked trucks, tractors and other farm vehicles across downtown streets. They were protesting their financial plight as well as possible changes in property ownership laws.
Van der Merwe says more such actions are planned, along with possible strikes by white mine workers and railway workers. Also, the dozens of town councils controlled by the Conservatives will "use any possible obstacle" to block reforms, van der Merwe said.
Asked if the Conservatives would ever urge an armed struggle against the government, van der Merwe said: "I really hope we don't have to resort to violence, but I can't rule that out."
But Conservative warnings of resistance last February, after de Klerk said he would end apartheid, fizzled out. The Conservatives talked of mass petitions and strikes by white workers, but nothing came of it.