“15 Facts About the Referendum that Ended Apartheid in South Africa”
(Thirty years after raising a new flag following the
end of apartheid, a racially-blind South Africa remains a distant dream.)
Thirty years ago, South African
whites voted in a historic referendum that put an end to privileges they
enjoyed and the centuries-old discriminatory policy of apartheid.
1. Apartheid means
‘apartness': The policy became law in South Africa after the colonial power,
Britain, left the region in 1948. Apartheid called for the separate development
of different races in South Africa. A policy of segregation had existed in
South Africa prior to 1948, and the region had been under white control for the
three preceding centuries, but the legislation crystallised the discrimination
and separate development for different races.
2. Rights of people: The
laws enacted during the apartheid era demanded the registration of people
according to their race. It created the physical separation between whites and
non-whites in public areas such as parks and bathrooms. It also forced
non-whites to live in different areas, and created a separate educational
system for them. Additionally, the policy prohibited mixed race marriages, and
banned and censored publications and political parties.
3. ANC banned and Mandela
arrest: The government banned the African National Congress, a political
party that had been campaigning against apartheid, in 1960. Nelson Mandela, a
prominent leader of the ANC, was arrested in 1962, and was handed down a life
sentence in 1965.
4. International Isolation:
As a result of its discriminatory laws, South Africa was facing international
isolation, including suspension of UN and Commonwealth membership, as well as a
cultural and sports boycott. The country was also placed under an arms embargo,
with Israel being the most notable exception, among a few others, to flout the
arms sanctions.
(Nelson Mandela, left,
accompanied by his wife Winnie, walks out of the Victor Verster prison in
February 1990, near Cape Town, after spending 27 years in apartheid jails, Feb.
11, 1990.)
5. Internal turmoil:
Internally, South Africa was at the brink of civil war with rampant communal
violence, crime and a crackdown on political parties and activists seeking
equal rights.
6. ANC legalised: The then
ruling National Party's President de Klerk, on February 2, 1990, legalised the
African National Congress and other banned anti-apartheid groups. He also went
on to free Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners, clearing a path for
the referendum on a negotiated constitution and shared transfer of power.
(Population of South Africa in
1992.)
7. Population composition:
At the time the referendum took place, about 12 percent of the population (4.2
million) was white. The rest of the population was comprised of 28 million
blacks and 4.5 million coloured/Asian and other races. Even though whites
constituted a minority of the total population, 87 percent of the land was
reserved for them.
8. Referendum held: The
referendum held on March 17,1991, asked white voters whether or not they
supported the negotiated reforms begun by State President F. W. de Klerk two
years earlier, in which he proposed to end the apartheid system that had been
implemented since 1948.
(Results of South Africa's
referendum broken down by region. Source: Center for Strategic and
International Studies. )
In a landslide victory for change, the government swept the polls in all four provinces, and all but one of 15 referendum regions. Only whites were allowed to vote in the referendum. The government won 68.6 percent of the vote in a record turn-out, which in some districts exceeded 96 percent. It was also a test of President de Klerk's government. If the referendum outcome had been negative, de Klerk would have resigned and general elections held.
(South African President F.W. de
Klerk poses outside his office while displaying a copy of a local newspaper
with banner headlines declaring a "Yes" result in the referendum in
Cape Town, South Africa on March 18, 1992.)
10. First multiracial polls: Two
years after the referendum, South Africa held its first multi-racial elections
on April 27, 1994, which resulted in a huge victory for the African National
Congress and made Nelson Mandela the first black president of South Africa. This
brought with it a lifting of sanctions, restored membership of the
Commonwealth, along with South Africa retaking its seat in the UN General
Assembly after an absence of 20 years.
(Nelson Mandela and South
Africa's last apartheid President, Frederik de Klerk, display their Nobel Peace
Prizes in Oslo, Norway, in December 1993.)
11. Nobel Peace Prize:
Both Mr Mandela and Mr de Klerk won the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for their very
different but effective assaults on apartheid and the progress of South Africa.
12. South Africa under
Mandela: Mandela signed South Africa's new constitution into law on
December 10, 1996, that went into effect in February 1997, putting an end to
all discriminatory laws from the apartheid era.
13. Changes after end of
apartheid: Demographically there wasn't much change in South Africa and it
remains divided along racial lines as far as income gap is concerned. The most
significant change is the increase in the growth rate of its black population. The
lifting of sanctions also resulted in an increase in the per capita income of
whites and Asians (mostly of Indian descent). Over the years since the end of
apartheid, the country did see development with regards to the number of people
living in proper houses and number of households with access to electricity. Murder
rates have fallen but rape has been a persistent crime, according to Statistics
South Africa.
14. Right direction for South
Africa: South Africans in general feel more satisfied with the country's
direction, the highest number since 1994 which marked the end of apartheid and
Mandela's rise to power, according to a Pew satisfaction survey on South
Africa. Corruption does remain a major concern for citizens.
15. Change in land ownership:
Black people make up 80 percent of the 54 million population yet, two decades
after apartheid, most of the economy in terms of ownership of land and
companies remains in the hands of white people, who account for 8 percent of
the population.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.