ACCOUNT FOR THE TRIUMPH OF BLACK MAJORITY DEMOCRATIC RULE IN SOUTH AFRICA INTRODUCTION

In the past we felt like strangers in our own country but today south Africa belongs to us once ore for the first ti e! since the union! south Africa is our own " ay god grant that it always re ain our own##" Those were the words of Daniel $alan the leader of the herenigde %reunited or purified& national party %'N(&! on )une * *+,- when he arri.ed in (retoria to take control of the reins of go.ern ent" To account for the triu ph of black a/ority de ocratic rule in 0outh Africa we therefore need to ask! who were the black a/ority1 And how they triu phed in the de ocratic rule in 0outh Africa" 2urther ore we can#t forget to ention the introduction or the institutionali3ation of apartheid as a policy of go.ernance Apartheid is a political syste in south Africa where only white people had full political rights and other people especially the %black people& were forced to li.e away fro white people! go to different schools e"g" this was what led to the do inance of white people o.er the blacks and the blacks had to fight back and take what was theirs" 4lacks in south Africa constitutes a a/ority go.erned by a inority of white supre acists" The later possessed coerci.e superiority and until the id *+-5co anded sufficient international support to aintain their ascendant position" Discri ination against non6whites were inherent in south Africa fro the earliest days! 0outh Africa blacks had an e.en lower states in the white do inated states" Urban blacks li.ed in segregated areas and could not hold any office or .ote" They had no .iable labour unions and technical and ad inistrati.e positions were closed to the e.en so the national party accused pri e inister s uts of allowing whites to be swallowed in a black sea so blacks were not treated well"

The go.ern ent#s position was strengthened when the national party erged with the s aller Afrikaner party in *+7, alan! with growing support in parlia ent introduced se.eral laws designed to relegate all non whites to per anent inferior status" A se.ere anti co unists# law %e8uating co unis with political econo ic or social changes bought by uncon.entional eans&! 9as passed in *+75! arriage between whites and blacks was ade a cri e and education for blacks was defined differently fro the whites" $ost drastic was the group act of *+75 which aug ented by later legislation! pro.ided that specific areas be reser.ed for each of south Africa#s four racial groups as defined by aparethied! that is the :uropeans %white&! 4antu %blacks&! colored % i;ed race&! and Asians" These laws and the ho elands concept which robbed ost blacks of their south African citi3enship and which denied the the right to li.e in cities without special per ission were the foundation of apartheid! all blacks were restricted in %white& areas"the good was to create so called <<ho elands<< for all blacks in response to these harsh policies! the A N C decided to pursue a ore ilitant stance through ass ci.il disobedience! Nelson $andela e erged as a central leader at this ti e"

In *+7* a si ple a/ority passed the 0eparate Representation of =oters Act" It pro.ided for the re o.al fro the white register of the na es of Colored .oters in the Cape of >ood 'ope (ro.ince! re.ersing a policy that had been in effect since *-7?" The bill was declared unconstitutional by the nation#s 0upre e Court in $arch *+7? because it had been passed by less than the two6thirds a/ority re8uired to a end .oting laws" @egislation to gi.e parlia ent power to o.errule the 0upre e Court was passed in $ay! but it was also declared unconstitutional"

THE TRIUMPH: FREE AT LAST, THE END AND A NEW BEGINNING.

The nationalists! it would see they were at their wits end" The wheel had turn full circle" It has been forty years of daring! though rapidly racist! social engineering had brought the back to where they had been in *+,-" In *+-?!there were series of eetings between go.ern ent and business representati.es of the ANC which took place in Aa bia! 0enegal! the U0 and elsewhere" Their secret eetings and foru s brought the two sides closer and strengthened the hope for a negotiated settle ent but produced few concrete results" In *+-B ("9 4OT'A had warned his fellow Afrikaners that they ust either adapt or die## but he lacked the ability and the power to carry out what needed to be done and who to do it" In *+-+ ("9 4OT'A! was edged out of power! bringing 2"9 D: C@:RC! an astute politician and the erstwhile inister of education to the negotiating table" $aneu.ered into power by refor ed party supporters already disenchanted with the indless and costly repression of both and his securocrats de klerk was sue the ti e was ripe for decisi.e action to resol.e the state ent" D: C@:RC within onths of his accession to power! he unbanned the ANC! the 0AC( and the (AC On 2ebruary ? *++5 after ?Byears the ost fa ous prisoner in the world! N:@0ON $AND:A" 9aked out of prison tall! giant and dignified a an of destiny caring and so it see ed the pro ise of sal.ation under his belt" Apartheid would not die easily howe.er its final days would be as bloody as its early years"

There were ele ents within the white establish ent deter ined to stop the negotiations by launching rando and i pro.ed attacks on blacks where.er they were ost .ulnerable" In *++* $agnus $alan the defense chief was forced to resign when it was re.ealed that the security force was pro.iding financial aid to destabili3e the ANC! and derail the negotiations" 'owe.er! despite onths of senseless .iolence and inte perate agitation for secession by e;tre ist white Afrikaner groups negotiated settle ent resulted in a general election in April *++," On ay*5 *++, in the presence of scores of world leaders and as illions watched on tele.ision across the globe following the swearing in of 2"9 D: C@:RC and T'A4O $4:CI as /oint .ice presidents! N:@0ON $AND:@A took the oath of office as president of a free de ocratic united and non6racial 0outh Africa"

CONCLUSION
Now that a new era has dawned in the new 0outh Africa! we scholars of political science should not e;pect that the harsh and brutal legacies of apartheid would disappear o.ernight The ain challenges of the new south Africa is their econo ic re ains! according to de klerk<s phrase! forty fi.e percents of backs are une ployed! se.en illions blacks are ho eless out of about forty four illion! and si;ty percent of blacks are illiterates while there is no illiteracy a ong the whites" Though a few blacks are being gradually inducted into the co anding heights of the econo y! the yawning gap between the rich and the poor re ains one of the wildest in the world! as eighty eight percent of the nations personal wealth is controlled by fi.e percent of the population"

BRIEF INTRODUCTION ON THE COUNTRY SOUTH AFRICA

0outh Africa! officially Republic of 0outh Africa! republic and southern ost country of continental Africa! bordered on the northwest by Na ibiaD on the north by 4otswana and Ai babweD on the northeast by $o3a bi8ue and 0wa3ilandD on the east and south by the Indian OceanD and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean" The independent country of @esotho for s an encla.e in the eastern part of the country" 0outh Africa has an area of *!?*+!5+5 s8 k %,B5!E+F s8 i&" The ad inistrati.e capital of 0outh Africa is (retoria! the legislati.e capital is Cape Town! and the /udicial capital is 4loe fontein

REFRENCES
T': :ND O2 CO@ONIA@ RU@:D D:CO@ONIAATIOND BY TOYIN FALOLA T': $ICRO0O2T :NCARTA" T': INT:RN:T" NATIONA@I0$ AND

ACCOUNT FOR THE TRIUMPH OF BLACK MAJORITY DEMOCRATIC RULE IN SOUTH AFRICA
OLAYIWOLA OGUNDOLAPO EFC /2005/1 !
EFC POLITICAL SCIENCE FACULTY OF EDUCATION COURSE CODE: POL 20