SOUTH African church leaders have welcomed the result of the whites-only referendum which received a 69 percent “yes” vote enabling President F.W de Klerk to continue negotiations with parties representing the black majority but have warned that democracy in that country is still a long way off. Anglican Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, said his immediate reaction was “a sigh of relief” since the possibility of a “no” vote had placed South Africa at “the edge of a precipice”. One church leader, Bongani Finca of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, described the referendum as pointless and said it had been an insult to the black majority in South Africa. The dismantling of apartheid should not be seen as a “gesture out of kindness of a white compatriot,” but a result of the long liberation struggle. He criticised the tendency to see President de Klerk as a saviour of South Africa and said the international community was taking advantage of anything that could justify support for de Klerk.