CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling African National Congress agreed Tuesday to share power at all levels of government with the party that imposed apartheid for more than 40 years and jailed and murdered opponents.
The ANC and the New National Party (NNP), formerly the whites-only National Party, announced that their accord would enable the NNP to return to government as a junior partner.
The accord followed the failure of a year-old alliance between the NNP and the bigger, white-led Democratic Party. It will allow the ANC and the NNP to take charge of the affluent Western Cape province, a showcase for opposition social and economic policies.
For the NNP, the deal means a share of power despite its poor showing in the 1999 general election when it won only 28 of the 400 seats in parliament. The ANC holds 266 seats.
Political sources said President Thabo Mbeki was likely to give NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk a cabinet post or make him a deputy minister. The parties declined comment.
``The ANC and the NNP will cooperate in all areas of South Africa's political life,'' the parties said in a joint statement which Van Schalkwyk read out at a news conference.