THEPOLITICALTRANSITION
tive party, he held a referendum of the white electorate. The result was
resounding support for the peace process. Eighty-seven percent of those
eligible did vote, and 68.7 percent of those who voted endorsed "the con-
tinuation of the reform process that the state president started on Febru-
ary 2 1990 and which is aimed at a new constitution through nego-
tiations. "42 That result emboldened de Klerk to toughen his stand in
CODESA; however, on May 26, when he insisted that the new constitution
should place more limits on the power of the majority than the ANC could
possibly accept, CODESA broke down.
Four months of heightened conflict throughout the country followed
the failure of CODESA. There was a particularly bloody episode on June 17,
1992, when Zulu hostel dwellers at Boipatong, forty miles south ofJohan-
nesburg, made a vicious attack on a neighboring shack settlement and
killed forty-five people, mainly women and children. Three days later, de
Klerk courageously tried to appease the residents of Boipatong, but his
convoy was driven out by an angry mob and police opened fire, killing
three and wounding many more."! Mandela then suspended all talks with
the government, and fighting escalated in KwaZulu and Natal, where both