There was a lot at stake: in the weeks before the referendum, De Klerk and Andries Treurnicht, leader of the Conservative Party, resorted to hands-on campaign tactics, meeting voters face-to-face for the first time, in a country where politicians have traditionally remained aloof of the electorate.

The ANC, while giving its support to the referendum, declared that a defeat of the National Party would force it to resume armed struggle against the government.

The fact that South Africa was at a veritable watershed in deciding its future went almost completely unnoticed in the industrialized world. In this American election year, the United States was more focused on tax rates and marital infidelity than on the possible return to apartheid in South Africa.

THAT A RETURN TO apartheid was even debatable is abhorrent. It is morally indefensible that six million white South Africans decided the fate of thirty-four million of their fellow citizens. This vote is like asking an ill person whether he or she would like to take medicine. The doctor can't force you, but you would be much better off if you comply.

Fortunately de Klerk's gamble paid off, but the considerable doubt, even at a late stage in the polling, as to the outcome, attests to the strength of the bury-you-head-in-the-sand mentality that had allowed white South Africans to resist outside pressures for reform for so long.

The ANC warned several years ago that the removal of punitive measures, such as American economic sanctions, would stall the reform process. The ANC's claim was not vindicated, but the vote was close enough that the U.S. and Britain in particular, need to find more methods of keeping the pressure on the white minority government.

Topping the list of alternatives is outside assistance to alleviate the economic pressures that pushed De Klerk into the corner that forced the referendum. The country is hard hit economically--unemployment runs at 43 percent and drought has decimated crop harvests. De Klerk and Mandela recently made an unprecedented joint call for much-needed foreign investment in the country. Monetary aid would help the country's most pressing financial problems. The recent admission of South Africa into the International Monetary Fund is a definite step in the right direction.

It is sadly ironic that in an election year on both sides of the Atlantic, the vast majority of South Africans remain disenfranchised, due in no small part to inaction on the part of countries such as the U.S. and Britain.

There is little to indicate that there is still enough determination among the industrialized countries to see the reform process in South Africa through to its logical conclusion.

Last week, South Africa was in danger of returning to apartheid. That should be scary enough to convince the U.S. and Britain that all is not well in the New World Order.