Post-Apartheid South Africa
Four years after apartheid's
end, press accounts of South Africa's transition to multiracial democracy tell
a muddled tale. On the one hand, President Nelson Mandela is compared to George
Washington. On the other, the Mandela-led coalition government of several
disparate political parties has crumbled. The largest white party bolted, and
has taken an increasingly intransigent stance toward Mandela. What's the
deal?
Since
World War II, two organizations have dominated South African politics. Founded
in 1914 by Afrikaners--descendants of 17 th and 18 th
century Dutch settlers--the National Party demanded the end of British
colonial rule. South Africa was a Commonwealth member until 1961. When the
National Party took power in 1948, it imposed apartheid ,
disenfranchising and officially segregating the country's black majority.
Millions of blacks were transported to "homelands," small tracts of land
considered foreign countries. In the '60s, the African National
Congress , a party founded by the country's small black middle class in 1912
to combat segregation, adopted a Marxist line. The ANC also started receiving
funding from the Soviet Union and employing terrorist tactics.
The ANC and the National Party were forced into one
another's arms in 1990: Economic sanctions and political pressure applied by
the international community on South Africa weakened the National Party's
resolve, and the collapse of the Soviet Union left the ANC without outside
funders. When the ANC renounced its Marxist intentions to redistribute
wealth, it no longer threatened white privilege. Frederik W. de Klerk, the head
of the National Party and president of South Africa, released ANC president
Mandela, who had been jailed for 27 years, and lifted a longtime ban on the ANC
that had forced the group into exile in Zambia.
In April
1994, South Africa held multiracial elections. To ease the transition to
democracy, de Klerk and Mandela agreed that the first post-apartheid government
would include all major political parties , with each party's Cabinet
representation proportional to its electoral strength. The ANC won more than 60
percent of the vote and the National Party won 20 percent, making Mandela
president and de Klerk only a secondary player. It was an untenable
relationship. The National Party disagreed with too many of the ANC-led
government's liberal policies, including affirmative action, legalization of
abortion, and abolition of the death penalty. Last June, the National Party
withdrew from the government.
One of the National Party's main grievances is
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission impaneled by the government to
investigate political violence from the apartheid era. Headed by Nobel Peace
Prize-winner and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu, the committee grants
amnesty to all who confess to political crimes, as long as the crimes are not
"disproportionately" heinous. By the time the commission stopped accepting
amnesty applications two weeks ago, it had received more than 8,000 requests.
Most came from low-level white officers in the police and army. Only two former
Cabinet-level government officials applied. Most apartheid-era officials take
de Klerk's position, denying knowledge of assassinations or instances of
torture. Tutu, however, protests that he reported cases of illegal government
violence to de Klerk several times.
Last month, de Klerk's
National Party repudiated the Truth Commission, calling it a politically driven
"witch hunt " bent on proving the existence of a systematic program of
violence where none existed. Blacks have also criticized the commission,
complaining about the generous amnesty provisions.
Tutu has
mostly received high praise for his even-handedness. At one point, he
threatened to resign if the ANC did not admit that it had ordered violence.
Four members of Mandela's Cabinet have admitted to plotting ANC brutalities.
Deputy President Thado Mbeki, whom Mandela has anointed as his successor, has
also admitted that he commissioned acts of terrorism when he was a
member of the ANC's national executive committee. Tutu will issue a report of
his findings at the end of the year.
The National Party's obstreperousness could bode ill for
South Africa. The armed forces, police, and bureaucracy are still dominated by
holdovers from the apartheid-era government who have longtime allegiances to
the National Party. They could erode the credibility of Mandela's government.
Also, the National Party's "witch hunt" allegations could undermine the
spirit of reconciliation that the Truth Commission and coalition government
were intended to foster.
De Klerk has also discussed
moving the National Party toward the center, campaigning on a platform of
Christian values intended to appeal to black conservatives as well. But
some local National Party leaders are allying with right-wing radicals who are
campaigning for a separate white state. These local alliances could presage a
shift further rightward.
Despite
its tactics, the National Party is slipping in opinion polls. Meanwhile, the
ANC enjoys wide support , though its popularity has as much to do with
Mandela's charisma as with its own platform. (Mbeki, notorious for his wonkish
style and nervous tics, polls poorly.)
ANC power will most probably be challenged in
the 1999 election by the left. Expectations that the ANC would oversee land
reform--returning land seized during apartheid's forced migrations--and wealth
redistribution have not been met. Unions protest that the government has not
fulfilled promises made to labor. Black South Africans may throw their
support to the Pan-Africanist Party, a left-wing spinoff from the ANC. Or,
radical politicians could challenge Mbeki's control of the ANC and return the
organization to its left-wing roots.
A law-and-order
backlash is also possible. After the collapse of the apartheid
state-security apparatus, worldwide crime syndicates from Colombia, Nigeria,
and Thailand set up operations in South Africa. As a result, the murder rate
there is now the highest in the world--61 per 100,000 people. Police are said
to be inept and corrupt. The classic example: An automatic teller machine was
swiped from police headquarters in broad daylight.
The post-apartheid South
African economy has averaged 3 percent annual growth for the last three years.
Inflation is at a 23-year low of 7 percent. The country's resurgence has been
attributed to Mandela's free-market policies: His government has cut the budget
deficit from 5.9 percent of the GDP to 4 percent, deregulated aviation and
telecommunications, and cut taxes. Corporations have responded by funneling
millions into ANC campaign coffers. However, unemployment is at 32
percent , and the average black income is one-sixth the average white
one.
