Sequel to Long Walk to Freedom - Revision 3 - Chapter 2 Page 2

permitted to rise above the status of hewers of wood and drawers of water. The apartheid regime, even during the period of negotiations between the ANC and the apartheid regime, still believed that they could save white supremacy with black consent. Although the apartheid negotiators tried to be subtle, it was clear from the start of the talks that the overriding idea was to prevent us from governing the country, even if we won in a democratic election. I was still a prisoner in Victor Verster when I first met President De Klerk of the National Party on 13 December 1989. Shortly before that meeting I had read an article written by the editor of Die Burger, then the official mouthpiece of the National Party, under the pen name of Dawie, in which he sharply criticised the concept of Group Rights which was being peddled by that Party as the best solution for the country's problems.