THEPOLITICALTRANSITION
two leaders to"talk with each other. On September 26, when they met,
Mandela and de Klerk signed a Record of Understanding that incorpo-
rated Mandela's demands. The hostels would be fenced, IFP members
would be prohibited from publicly carrying axes, knobkerries, sharpened
metal sticks, and spears (which they called their traditional weapons), and
the remaining ANCprisoners (including convicted criminals) would be re-
leased. Martin Meredith, a biographer of Mandela, believes that this was
the moment when the government lost control of the transition process
and Mandela gained a psychological ascendancy over de Klerk that he
never lost. 45 Although de Klerk endorsed that Record of Understanding,
he still hoped to get a white veto in the constitution, but Mandela made it
clear that that was not possible. It was Joe Slovo who paved the way to a
solution of the problem of satisfying the National party without sacrific-
ing the long-term interests of the ANC.Realizing that an ANc-dominated
regime would not be able to govern effectively without the cooperation of
Whites, he suggested in an article in the fall 1992 issue of the African
Communist that the constitution should contain "sunset clauses." After