version"; others have called it a "religious conversion. "14 After reviewing
the situation, the new president concluded that the best hope for his peo-
ple was to negotiate a settlement from a position of strength, while his
government was still the dominant force in the country, and he persuaded
his cabinet to approve of a remarkably radical initiative. IS On February 2,
1990, he announced in parliament the lifting of the ban on the ANC, the
Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and the South African Communist party
246