Conservative Bid to Change South Africa Charter Fails : Reform: Alliance that includes Afrikaners and the Zulu party deadlocks with De Klerk’s white reformists and the ANC.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — After four months of talks, taunts and political tumult, a fractious alliance of right-wing whites and conservative blacks failed in a last-ditch attempt Tuesday to delay or win major changes in the democratic constitution that will be adopted here today.

The missed deadline means that South Africa’s last white-controlled Parliament will vote to ratify the historic charter, which for the first time guarantees equal rights and freedoms to the 5-to-1 black majority, without any of the concessions demanded by the extremist coalition.

The Freedom Alliance, a bellicose group that includes neo-Nazi white separatist organizations as well as Zulu leader Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi’s Inkatha Freedom Party, has repeatedly threatened to boycott the country’s first all-races elections next April 27, and even launch an armed revolt, unless its demands for greater regional autonomy and ethnic self-determination are met.

But a final, frantic two days of closed-door talks here and in Johannesburg failed to break the deadlock between the holdouts and their foes in the white reformist government of President Frederik W. de Klerk and the black nationalist African National Congress, led by Nelson Mandela.

The government and ANC ultimately had insisted that if the alliance were to be granted the constitutional changes it sought, its members would have to agree to join the multiracial executive council overseeing the transition to democracy, and commit to joining the election campaign. The alliance refused.

Even a separate, vaguely worded proposal to continue discussions between the ANC and the Afrikaner Volksfront, a member of the alliance, unexpectedly ran aground. That agreement would have created a task force to consider the establishment of a self-ruling white state for Afrikaans-speaking descendants of the country’s early European settlers.

Reporters who attended a press conference that was called for the signing of a five-page “Memorandum of Agreement,” the first accord since the alliance pulled out of constitutional talks last July, were stunned when the Afrikaner leader, former armed forces chief Constand Viljoen, instead refused to sign.

Viljoen said government and ANC negotiators in Cape Town had refused to incorporate the deal in the constitution. He said he concluded they were not seriously considering the demand for a white homeland but simply trying to split the alliance to win votes.

“I got the impression that people are not taking us seriously and have very little regard for what we are doing here,” Viljoen said.

Both he and the ANC negotiator, Jacob Zuma, said their organizations remain committed to continued talks rather than armed confrontation. Viljoen urged his supporters to stay calm despite the collapse of the agreement.

“But I am worried,” he added. “There is a degree of impatience developing among our people that could explode.”

At a separate press conference here, De Klerk said the Freedom Alliance was disenfranchising its members without their consent.

“I have always been convinced the supporters of the Freedom Alliance want to join the elections,” De Klerk said. “They want a voice in the future of South Africa.”

ANC negotiator Mohammed Valli Moosa said the alliance had little bargaining power despite its threat to boycott the election. “My personal view, and the view of many of us, is that they cannot afford not to participate in the political process,” he said.

The alliance members are united mostly by their shared opposition to the ANC, which is expected to sweep the elections next year. In the end, the two groups remained far apart in the diplomatic dance. The talks dragged on to the end because neither side was prepared to quit first and be accused of breaking off the talks.

Indeed, talks may continue even after the constitution is approved. But any future amendments would require recalling the Parliament into session.

“It may still be possible to get these people involved in the transition and election,” said Izaak Retief, an aide to Roelf Meyer, the government’s constitutional minister. “It’s much more difficult now, I grant you. But it’s not necessarily the end of the world.”

Robert Schrire, a professor of political science at the University of Cape Town, said the government and ANC had won valuable time by talking to the holdouts, if only to prevent their militant factions from moving more forcefully to derail the coming elections.

At his press conference, De Klerk, who heads the ruling National Party, also announced the formal start of his campaign for president. He challenged Mandela to a series of debates.