New Era Sparks Hopes, Doubts : South Africa: Blacks ‘are rejoicing’ although unsure how much things will change. Some whites worry that De Klerk is moving too fast.

NYANGA, South Africa — Kind words about South Africa’s white leaders are rare in the volatile KTC squatter camp on the sandy flats near Cape Town, where 18,000 blacks live in shacks without electricity or running water. But Saturday was one of those rare days in South Africa’s history.

“For once we have hope that the problems facing us will one day be gone,” said Gladys Ngxose, 45, who runs a cafe and raises her five children under a tin roof. “We are pleased for what President (Frederik W.) De Klerk has done.”

But about 15 miles away in Strand, a white beach town, store owner Johan van der Walt was deeply worried about De Klerk’s decision to end the ban on the African National Congress and other groups that have been trying for years to overthrow the government.

“Legalizing a body that wants to take the country by force is not the way to solve our problems,” said Van der Walt, 40. “I think he’s moving too fast, and I think we whites will have to look after ourselves from here on. De Klerk certainly won’t do it for us.”

As De Klerk’s new, relaxed approach to political dissent took effect Saturday, the black majority and the white minority expressed mixed feelings about the new shape of things in a country that has been torn apart by decades of violent clashes.

In the sprawling black townships outside Cape Town, scene of some of the bloodiest unrest during last September’s general elections, ANC flags were hoisted Saturday in front of tiny, ramshackle homes. In Lusaka, a township named after the Zambian headquarters of the exiled ANC, women washed laundry on the sidewalks and children gathered in circles with 1- and 2-cent coins to play “calling cards,” a popular township game.

“People are rejoicing. They say De Klerk is trying to do something for the freedom of South Africa,” said Johnson Mpunkumpa, a community organizer. “But we can’t be overly excited until we see all our friends out of jail.”

Despite De Klerk’s actions, the underpinning of apartheid remains throughout South Africa. Laws instituted four decades ago still classify everyone by race, keep neighborhoods, schools and hospitals segregated, and restrict black ownership of land.

The country still is dotted with black squatter camps, which have been the breeding grounds for political unrest. And the legalization of the ANC and other anti-apartheid groups will soon increase the pressure on the government to move even more quickly to destroy its system of racial segregation and allow the black majority to rule.

More than 120 people died in the KTC squatter camp in 1986, and late-night visits to the homes of activists by police have, until recent months, been common. Despite government attempts to raze the camp, it grew to a permanent settlement in the mid-1980s as thousands of blacks fled the rural homelands in a vain search for work in the city.

De Klerk’s sweeping reform initiatives, which he hopes will lure black leaders to the table to negotiate power-sharing, are being cautiously welcomed here. But township residents have a long memory for the broken promises of white governments in South Africa.

“I do have hope, but I feel like they always say they’re going to do this and they don’t ever do it,” Ngxose said.

In Strand, where blacks were allowed onto beaches for the first time in December following one of De Klerk’s orders, many whites support the government without equivocation.

“Nobody in the history of the world has succeeded by locking up his problems for good,” said Louw Bothes, 54, whose ancestors moved to this area from Holland in 1743. “We’ve got to have a negotiated solution and this is just the beginning.”

Although Bothes admits that De Klerk “took a step further than people thought he would,” he added: “I don’t think any whites here lost any sleep over it last night.”

But at least a few whites in Strand think De Klerk is giving away too much in a bid for international acceptance for South Africa.

“Whatever whites do for the blacks, it won’t be enough to please them,” said Neville Schreudr, a 35-year-old electrical engineer. “De Klerk is busy screwing up this country.”

Van der Walt, who runs his family’s hardware store, worries that when blacks are given equal rights, there won’t be enough jobs to go around.

Both the blacks in KTC squatter camp and the whites in Strand predict turbulent times.

“You’ll see the biggest blood bath in the history of this country” if blacks are allowed majority rule, Van der Walt says. Right-wing whites “are well-trained, armed and they’ve got to look after themselves. De Klerk must take Europeans (white-skinned South Africans) more into consideration.”

Ngxose, a maid for a white family in Cape Town, thinks the trouble will come when blacks begin openly declaring their allegiance to the ANC, which has waged a 30-year guerrilla war.