Introduction

The most talked-about turning point in South African history is the 1994 transfer of political power from the National Party (NP) to the African National Congress (ANC). Contrary to many predictions, South Africa avoided a bloodbath.

There was no single cause for this astounding process, but rather the merging of a number of international and local events that occurred over several years. One thing remains certain, though – throughout this turning point the political climate was balanced on a knife’s edge.

On 10 April 1993 the national process of reconciliation came to within a hairsbreadth of collapsing into chaos. Chris Hani, Chief-of-staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) and Secretary-General of the South African Communist Party (SACP), was assassinated in the driveway of his Boksburg home. Two right-wingers, Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus, were arrested for Hani’s murder.

Nelson Mandela reacted immediately to the assassination:

Today, an unforgivable crime has been committed. The calculated, cold-blooded murder of Chris Hani is not just a crime against a dearly beloved son of our soil. It is a crime against all the people of our country. A man of passion, of unsurpassed courage, has been cut down in the prime of his life. During that time he served the cause of the liberation movement with distinction, earning the respect and love of millions in our country. His death demands that we pursue that cause with even greater determination. We appeal to every religious service over this Easter Holiday to commemorate Chris Hani's life and what he stood for. This killing must stop.

Mandela’s leadership helped to avoid a race war that looked inevitable.

Another moment of near catastrophe was 25 June 1993. A group of heavily-armed right-wing Afrikaners under the leadership of Eugene Terreblanche invaded the World Trade Centre while the multi-party negotiations were under way. They drove an armoured vehicle through the plate glass windows of the complex. A security adviser of one of the National Party ministers, present in the building at the time, describes the event:

As the khaki-clad masses poured into the huge vestibule they muttered that the time had come to ‘take out’ the communists and their handlangers (acolytes). Upstairs in the negotiating chamber, the ANC/SACP delegation comprising most of the current cabinet were quickly herded together by a young police officer. Acting on his own initiative, he hustled the negotiators into an upstairs strong room and locked them out of harm’s way. He was just in time. As he turned to go down the stairs the leaders of the mob, armed to the teeth, appeared at the top of the landing and demanded in Afrikaans that he get out of the way. He was carrying an R1 rifle with 11 rounds in the magazine and one up the spout. As he pointed the rifle at them and clicked off the safety catch he replied in broken Afrikaans (his first language was Spanish), ‘Please put your guns down and go back down the stairs.’ The mob numbered some 15 very angry and heavily armed men. They prepared to storm the young police officer.

The young officer raised his rifle and said in his nervous Afrikaans to the apparent leader of the group, ‘Asseblief, meneer, go back down the stairs. There are more of you than me, but I will shoot you and take as many of you with me as I can if I have to. Please, sir, I beg you; do not force me to do that. You have made your point by coming here, and no one has been hurt yet, so please go back down the stairs. Please, sir.’ For a few seconds the leader of the gang considered his options and then slowly told his men to back off. The young officer stood his ground until the building had been cleared and the negotiating team could be released, many of them shaken and understanding only too well how close they had come to the unthinkable.

History does not always provide reasons why events go one way or the other. The way in which the South African transition proceeded was made possible by a series of events for which it is difficult to claim credit. But there were also a number of well-planned and well-managed processes that increased the chances of a successful outcome.

In the first chapter of this book on our site, University of Cape Town historian Chris Saunders provides a broad outline of the developments that took South Africa from apartheid to democracy. He describes the set of compromises that made it possible for former enemies to sit down together and agree on a way ahead. Saunders reminds us of the broader process of emancipation in post-colonial Africa, of which the South African transition forms a part. He ends by placing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission within this context.

In the second chapter journalist and political commentator Max du Preez discusses the events leading up to the formal negotiation process. He describes the changes in the international context during the late 1980s. He reminds us of the “talks about talks” that helped to reduce the impact of the crude stereotypes held by South Africans of different races and political parties. These meetings involved a spectrum of leaders from many different sectors of society, and laid the foundations for the formal talks that took place later. Du Preez reminds us how, within this period, a series of little turning points each played a crucial role.

In the third chapter Hassen Ebrahim describes the significance of the Constitution in shaping the transition and the dispensation that followed. More than two million submissions were received from South African citizens who contributed to the drafting process. This helped to create the widespread acceptance of the 1996 Constitution. Ebrahim explains how the Constitutional Court continues to play a role in making law and in shaping the character of the nation.

In the fourth chapter Eddy Maloka looks at the ten years of democracy since 1994 in an effort to calculate the “fruits of our freedom”. The scorecard yields mixed results. In some ways the young democracy is doing better than anyone could have reasonably expected; in other ways we have not done so well. Poverty, inequality, unemployment, crime and HIV/AIDS remain serious challenges to the stability and progress of this new democracy.

This discussion invites each South African, especially younger South Africans who may not have lived through much of this history, to study carefully this remarkable time in South Africa’s history. The values, strategies and individuals that made the transition possible are still needed to overcome the many different challenges ahead. To this end all South Africans must be aware of this history. In order to ensure its future, we dare not take our democracy for granted.

 

BACK TO MENU PAGE