THENEWSOUTHAFRICA
with hugemajorities in parliament and 'cabinet, had no compelling reason
to compromise on important issues. Moreover, de Klerk's personal rela-
tions with Mandela were abysmal. Mandela was convinced that de Klerk
had been responsible for the Third Force and distrusted him. On several
occasions, the president denounced him in cabinet, and in September
1995 a photographer caught the two of them in a heated dispute in a Jo-
hannesburg parking lot. for de Klerk, the new constitution was the final
straw because it had no provision for power-sharing beyond the 1999
election. He convened the Executive Council of the National party and
persuaded a very divided meeting that the party should withdraw from the
government. The result was that the National party began to disintegrate.
Several leaders retired from politics; de Klerk himself retired in August
1997. Soon afterward, he divorced his wife, married a wealthy Greek
woman, and spent most of his time in London.P
Mandela placed ANC
members in the cabinet seats vacated by the National party. Buthelezi and
his two IFP colleagues remained in the cabinet, and relations between
Mandela and Buthelezi improved. The ANC-IFP
conflicts decreased in
KwaZulu-Natal
and Gauteng (the province that includes Johannesburg