Africa in Global History by Toyin Falola Mohammed Bashir Salau

Africa in Global History by Toyin Falola Mohammed Bashir Salau

Author:Toyin Falola, Mohammed Bashir Salau
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2021-12-14T07:32:14.902000+00:00


Substantial political changes began on 2 February 1990 in a landmark parliamentary speech when President F.W. de Klerk announced the unbanning of the ANC along with a number of other organisations. He also lifted some of the state of emergency restrictions and announced a new dispensation that would include a democratic constitution based on a racially inclusive universal franchise in South Africa. On 11 February 1990 after the unbanning of the ANC, and on the day when Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela was released from prison, the ANC’s Politico-Military Committee (PMC) issued a two-page document titled ‘Unbanning of ANC: Some Strategic Considerations’. This document argued that De Klerk wanted to initiate negotiating procedures whilst the balance of political forces was still in his side. His strategy, though it complied with the Harare Declaration demand for substantive negotiations to take place, also highlighted the apartheid regime’s tactical endeavours to gain international legitimacy and end decades of isolation. In addition, the ANC pointed out, De Klerk also wanted to restructure apartheid policies, safeguard the faltering economy and guarantee white power and privilege. Despite the unbanning the ANC, the PMC was of the view that De Klerk had failed to meet the ANC’s conditions for substantive negotiations because he did not release all political prisoners. He had also failed to define and elaborate on the government’s conditions for the return of exiles. Furthermore, De Klerk was advised by the PMC to lift the partial state of emergency that was still in place.30

After the adoption of the Harare Declaration of 1989 by the international community, calls for an interim government and election of a constituent assembly were raised repeatedly by the ANC. For example, on 3 May 1990, Mandela called for national elections to form a constituent assembly; and in December 1990 an ANC document, ‘Programme of Mass Action to Destroy Apartheid and Transfer Power to the People’, repeated this call; it was also reiterated at the ANC’s December 1990 national consultative conference, which provided a medium for self-criticism and proper planning. Whilst these political skirmishes continued, on 13 December 1990, O. R. Tambo triumphantly returned to South Africa after thirty years in exile. His arrival was in time to attend the first ANC consultative conference held inside South Africa for thirty-one years. It took place in Johannesburg on 14 – 16 December 1990. Notwithstanding the fact that low intensity warfare and violence continued unabated in various parts of the country, the national conference was a success. The adoption of the theme ‘1991, the year of mass action for the transfer of power’, was an ANC attempt to bring mass struggle into the theatre of negotiations. All these issues were emphasised in the 8 January 1991 annual statement released by Mandela. The same call was endorsed by the ANC’s national conference in July 1991.31

The long and tortuous road to democracy in South Africa was littered with countless potholes and turning points in the early 1990s. These were defined by the Harare Declaration agreed upon by the regional leaders



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