What is taking
place in South Africa is such a deed - a deed resounding over the earth — a
deed of peace. It brings hope to all South Africans. It opens new horizons for
Sub-Saharan Africa. It has the capacity to unlock the tremendous potential of
our country and our region. The new era which is dawning in our country,
beneath the great southern stars, will lift us out of the silent grief of our
past and into a future in which there will be opportunity and space for joy and
beauty - for real and lasting peace.
Former
President of South Africa.
This
speech was made at the concluding phase of apartheid’s downfall which happened
so quickly as to have taken many people in South Africa and throughout the
world which was a bombshell to millions.
The documents above indicates several
and countless support given to the indigenous South Africans during their
struggle against apartheid, but in response they paid back fellow Africans who librated them by killing and maiming them.
Following
Mandela's release from prison in
February 1990, intense negotiations began. On May 4, 1990, the ANC and the government agreed to the Groot Schuur
Minute, which featured a commitment to end the violence. A working group was
formed to discuss important issues such as the release of political prisoners
and immunity, while the government undertook a review of security legislation
to ensure free political activity.
The
international community had begun to take notice of the brutality of the
Apartheid regime after white South African police opened fire on unarmed black
protesters in the town of Sharpeville in
1960, killing 69 people and wounding 186 others. The United Nations led the
call for sanctions against the South African Government. Fearful of losing
friends in Africa as de-colonization transformed the continent,
powerful members of the Security Council, including Great Britain, France, and
the United States, succeeded in watering down the proposals. However, by the
late 1970s, grassroots movements in Europe and the United States succeeded in
pressuring their governments into imposing economic and cultural sanctions on
Pretoria. After the U.S. Congress passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act
in 1986, many large multinational companies withdrew from South Africa.
By
the late 1980s, the South African economy was struggling with the effects of
the internal and external boycotts as well as the burden of its military
commitment in occupying Namibia.
Apartheid:
Its roots and demise
1948. After decades of conflict between
gold and diamond-hungry Brits and Boers – and a rising nationalist movement
headed by the African National Congress (ANC)
– a policy of apartheid (separateness) is adopted when the National Party takes
power.
1960. Seventy
black demonstrators are killed at Sharpeville.
The ANC, which has responded to
apartheid with civil disobedience led by Nelson Mandela, is banned. The
following year, Mandela starts a campaign of sabotage with an ANC military wing.
1964. After his arrest two years earlier
and subsequent imprisonment, Mandela is handed a life sentence. He spends 18 of
his 27 years in prison on Robben Island,
where he studies law and seals his status as the hero of the anti-apartheid
movement.
1976.
Black anger boils over in riots that become known as the Soweto uprising –
South Africa's largest and deadliest anti-apartheid protests. An estimated 600
people, including child demonstrators, are killed in clashes that rage for
three weeks.
1990.
A year after FW de Klerk replaces PW Botha as president and segregation begins to
end, the ANC is unbanned and Mandela is
set free. Nine days earlier, FW de Klerk
announces the end to apartheid and the coming of a "new South Africa"
to a stunned all-white parliament.
1994. Mandela becomes President as the ANC wins South Africa's first non-racial
elections. The country is restored to the Commonwealth, sanctions are lifted
and South Africa takes a seat at the UN General Assembly after an absence of 20
years.
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