South Africa's former party of apartheid makes unlikely marriage with ruling ANC

In a unique political alliance, South Africa's ruling African National Congress yesterday embraced the New National Party, heir to the old Afrikaner-apartheid tradition.

While marking an unlikely marriage, the merging of the New National Party into the ANC in effect marks the death of the white grouping.

Last year, in an attempt to prolong its political life, the NNP made an alliance with the larger Democratic Party, but this ended in acrimony.

Reading from a joint statement, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the NNP leader, said: "The ANC and the NNP will co-operate in all areas of South Africa's political life. The spirit of participatory governance will also be reflected in appointments in national government, parliamentary and other appropriate structures."

The agreement consolidates the ANC's control of political life in South Africa, where the party won two-thirds of the vote in 1999 parliamentary elections giving it victory in eight of the country's nine provinces.

Yesterday's deal gives the ANC the ninth province, the Western Cape, where the NNP and the Democratic Party had combined forces to keep the ruling party out in the cold. Political analysts said they expected Mr Van Schalkwyk – whose nickname is Kortbroek ("short-pants") – to join President Thabo Mbeki's cabinet as a result of the deal. But neither party would confirm this.

The NNP, which used to be called the National Party, represents mainly white Afrikaners and the mixed-race "coloured'' people who dominate the population of the Western Cape.

Yesterday's deal was negotiated over several months by Mr Van Schalkwyk and the Minister for Safety and Security, Steve Tshwete, who spent 16 years on Robben Island as a prisoner of the former National Party. The National Party created the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1948, and began to dismantle it in 1990, leading to Nelson Mandela's election as president in the country's first all-race poll seven years ago.

The National Party joined a government of national unity after that election but withdrew in 1996, saying it was being ignored by the ANC and could better serve the country in opposition.

The NNP will be given seats in the ruling cabinets and councils in all cities and provinces run by the ANC, which won 66 per cent of the vote in 1999. The NNP won 8 per cent.