Johnson,+Lucas

Luke Johnson Period 6

A. Plan of Investigation

What specifically, were the major factors to the ending of apartheid, and which had the greatest influence? The focus of this investigation is mainly in the late 1980’s and the early 1990’s, on the major events and ideas that affected the end of apartheid. The scope will be on the major political and social events that took place in this time period. This method of investigation will analyze the governmental negotiations, economic trade sanctions, and the actions by leaders in South Africa through different lenses, to determine what brought an end to apartheid.

B. Summary of Evidence

The black natives of South Africa fought back, sometimes peacefully and sometimes violently, against the Afrikaners. The first coalition formed was the South African Native National Congress in 1912; it later became the African National Congress (ANC) [i]. The ANC, under Mandela, begins numerous campaigns of non-violent protest to apartheid in the 1950s and 1960s [ii]. In the mid 1970s, the Afrikaners began to rethink apartheid, because of its moral and economic costs [iii]. Large resistance to apartheid began with the formation of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983, who was opposed to apartheid and sought to battle unfairness done to blacks by the Afrikaners [iv]. The election of F.W. de Klerk, after Botha’s health forced him to resign, brought in a less harsh time and mood for negotiations and Africans [v]. De Klerk meets Mandela in 1989, and the next year he releases Mandela, many other anti-apartheid leaders, and the ban on the ANC [vi]. The example set by many important Afrikaner leaders, particularly F.W. de Klerk, established an important precedent for the Afrikaner people to be more accepting and to share South Africa. The rest of the world, upset with apartheid, forms a boycott of South African goods with the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in 1986. This heavily damaged their economic state, and would have to bring back the international community to restore their economy [vii]. The releasing of Mandela and other political prisoners led to an end to the economic sanctions set upon South Africa. This allowed the ANC to have more power and have the ability to start negotiations with the Afrikaner government. The UN imposed arms trading sanctions in South Africa, because they saw that South Africa’s governmental laws and activities were a threat to international peace [viii]. As a result of the Sharpesville Massacre, a United States General Assembly met to disbar South Africa from trade. They set boycotts, refused their ships from docking in ports, and refraining from diplomatic relations with South Africa [ix]. Foreign investments were also extremely limited or non-existent in South Africa. This heavily damaged their industry, as they couldn’t pay for advancements in technology and material. This decreased the inputs of the businesses in South Africa, which in turn decimated the outputs of their production. The institution of apartheid was bearing a heavy cost on the South African economy. In 1986, the very first meetings between the National Party and the ANC takes place with a meeting between Thabo Mbeki and Pieter de Lange in New York [xix]. Meetings begin with Mandela while he is incarcerated in 1988. These meetings started under Botha’s rule, but they were secretive as the National Party didn’t want to lose the support of the Afrikaner people [xx]. Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) meets to settle the terms of agreement for the end of apartheid, begins 1991. The convention produces a Declaration of Intent in 1991, which states how the political process should fold out [xxi]. In 1993, the ANC creates a Bill of Rights focusing on equality, personal rights, and political rights, which was revised and accepted by CODESA. Affirmative Action was also implemented by the government, in order to create political, economic, and social equality [xxii]. CODESA agrees on an election date and on the basis for the constitution in 1993 [xxiii]. Mandela won election on April 26-28 1994, and new constitution was set for effect in 1999 [xxiv]. South Africans celebrated their newfound freedom and the death of apartheid [xxv] (805).

[i] Waldmeir, Patti. //Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa//. New York: Norton & Company, 1997. Print. Pg. 14. [ii] Sparks, Allister. //Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa's Road to Change//. 1994. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Print. Pg. 42. [iii] Waldmeir, Patti. //Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa//. New York: Norton & Company, 1997. Print. Pg. 11 [iv] Ibid. Pg. 48. [v] Sparks, Allister. //Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa's Road to Change//. 1994. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Print. Pg. 90 [vi] Usborne, Simon, and The Independent. "FW de Klerk: The Day I Ended Apartheid." //The Independent//. N.p., 2 Feb. 11 2010. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. . [vii] Norment, Lynn. "How African Americans Helped Free South Africa." Ebony Aug. 1994: n. pg. Questia Online Library. Web. 2 Sept. 2010. . [viii] Shepherd, George W, Jr. //Effective Sanctions on South Africa: The Cutting Edge of// //Economic Intervention//. New York: Praeger, 1991. //Questia Online Library//. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. . [ix] ibid. [x] Sparks, Allister. //Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South// Africa’s //Road to Change//. 1994. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Print. Pg. 49. [xix] Sparks, Allister. //Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South// Africa’s //Road to Change//. 1994. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Print. Pg. 38. [xx] Sparks, Allister. //Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa's Road to Change//. 1994. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Print. Pg. 86 [xxi] African National Congress. "Negotiations- A Strategic Perspective." //African National Congress//. N.p., 18 Nov. 1992. Web. 9 Sept. 2010.  [xxii] African National Congress. "Negotiations- A Strategic Perspective." //African National Congress//. N.p., 18 Nov. 1992. Web. 9 Sept. 2010.  [xxiii] African National Congress. "Negotiations- A Strategic Perspective." //African National Congress//. N.p., 18 Nov. 1992. Web. 9 Sept. 2010. . [xxiv] Waldmeir, Patti. //Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa//. New York: Norton & Company, 1997. Print. Pg. 223-230. [xxv] Commonwealth Secretariat. __End of Apartheid: The Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the South Africa Elections 26-29 April 1994__. 1994. London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 1994. Pg. 71.

C. Evaluation of Sources

**Sparks, Allister. //Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South//**
 * //Africa's Road to Change//. 1994. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Print.**

//Tomorrow is Another Country// gives a liberal account of the end to Apartheid, through the secret, true events that happened. Its origin is from Allister Sparks, a renowned journalist and author in South Africa who lives in Johannesburg. He was born and raised during apartheid and its end, and has worked for various newspapers in South Africa and internationally in South Africa reporting on the racial unrest. The purpose of this book is to provide the reader with an inside view of the ending of Apartheid, through accounts of important events and interviews with important people. The book helps the reader to understand both sides of the fight, and to show the commitment and sacrifice the leaders made to reestablish their country. Specifically, this book is helpful to my inestigation, because it provides secret accounts of government actions to end apartheid before there was ever mention of ending apartheid in the government. The value that this book holds is that it portrays the opinions of a South African as he lived through the end of Apartheid. It also provides a very accurate and in depth account of secret meetings between the government at that time and the African National Congress (ANC). A limitation of this book is that the author holds a bias towards the left and the ANC, sometimes portraying the previous government as the evil wrong doers. Overall, //Tomorrow is Another Country// is an informative perspective of South African politics and events, during the end of Apartheid (272).


 * Commonwealth Secretariat. __End of Apartheid: The Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the South Africa Elections 26-29 April 1994__. 1994. London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 1994.**

//The End of Apartheid// is a first hand documentation of the election in South Africa, in 1994. It originated from the Commonwealth Observer Group as a report on the National and provincial elections that took place in South Africa. The purpose of this report is to note the use of democratic choice in South Africa, and of the newly found freedom from the ending of apartheid. The report looks at the political background of the elections, the legal framework involved, the preparations for it, the role of the media in the elections, the campaign, the poll and the count, and the actual election itself. This resource is helpful to me, because it allows me to look at how the 1994 election impacted the people and their country. The value that this report holds, is that it provides a first hand account of the 1994 election, along with information that can be used to understand the process that was taken to get to this point. It shows the procedure taken for this election, and many events that took place during them. A limitation of this report is that it may be biased towards one party, which could mess with information provided. It could also have missed events or information, because they could not have been everywhere in South Africa during the election (246).

D. Analysis

Looking at the end of Apartheid, there are many different factors that contributed to its formal end in 1994. Through different lenses, one can see which factor they believe was most important to ending apartheid. The four major factors to the end of apartheid, as I see it, are the Negotiations and governmental actions, the precedents and revolutionary stances taken by many important leaders, and the economic straining of South Africa. From the different factors, it is necessary to know that there wasn’t one single contributing factor and that all contributed to the end of apartheid. And looking through different lenses, we can see the positions of these views and what that lens believes is most prevalent and impacting on the end to apartheid. The different lenses are through the International lens, the leaders lens, the state lens, and the individual lens. The South African government began meeting with the ANC and its leaders in secret starting 1986. Hardly anyone knew about these meetings and they had little impact on the policies, so they contributed nothing to the end of apartheid except for the possibility of further negotiating. The secret meetings started up again in 1988, when government officials met with Mandela while he was still in jail [i]. This began the start of negotiations towards the end of apartheid. “For four years before the rest of the world knew anything of [the meetings], the future of South Africa was being explored in secret conversations” (Sparks 36). They were kept in secret in order to not alienate voters from the National Party. This leads me to the assumption that ending apartheid was not favorable within Afrikaner voters. Actual negotiations didn’t start until 1991 with CODESA, where it began the end to apartheid [ii]. Looking through the state lens, these meetings were so important to lessening tension, as they allowed peaceful cooperation between the two groups. Also, it prevented one party from being too powerful, but CODESA still had the ability to work out problems and start a new government. Yet, very few people actually new about these meetings, so as there was a lot being done, there were still much opposition to ending apartheid. The book that I read, //Tomorrow is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa’s Road to Change//, provided an inside look into what was happening in secret. I saw this as a limitation, because the author didn’t provide much of what the people and the country as a whole believed should happen to apartheid. The negotiations did provide the legal framework to the end of apartheid, smoothing over the transition, but it had little effect on the fact that apartheid ended. On an international level, the world was upset and disgraced with South Africa’s continuance of repression. Headed by the United States, the world imposed trade sanctions of South Africa as a way to wear down the opposition to ending apartheid [iii]. “ Sanctions have demonstrated their effectiveness by freeing political prisoners and ending the state of emergency in South Africa, thus enabling African political groups to function more freely and enter into negotiations” (Shepherd). This achieves both a physical and mental opposition to many white Afrikaners. Physically, they are sent into economic downfall because they can’t trade with other countries in order to get the supplies and materials they need to thrive and expand. They received no investment from foreign countries in order to expand business. Mentally, it denies them contact from the world. It completely shuts them off from the international community, prohibiting them from being involved. The trade sanctions left them alone and without any support. Through this international lens, we can see that “the antiapartheid movement has become a major social movement that has facilitated the implementation of sanctions and progress toward a settlement. This movement has produced effective sanctions that have helped change the political balance inside South Africa and moved the conflict into a negotiation mode” (Shepherd). In essence, internationally imposed trade sanctions wore down the opposition to ending apartheid, but in the end it didn’t have a large and spread out impact on the Afrikaner populace. Viewing the end of apartheid from an individual or leader lens, there was much impact from the moral and ethical actions by leaders. These actions, set a precedent, and served as a way of change towards a better country. Opposition to apartheid began to surface before the 1990s, but none of the organizations had as much of an impact as the important leaders of the times. The ascension to power of de Klerk, installed a more progressive way of thinking, and lessened the grasp of the government on many antiapartheid groups, including the African National Congress [vi]. De Klerk’s policies that were more tolerant towards the native Africans changed the views of many apartheid-supporting Afrikaners. The most important action though, was the releasing of Mandela and other ANC leaders and the ban on the ANC by de Klerk in 1990 [vii]. This allowed blacks the opportunity to work with the Afrikaner government to end apartheid. Without the ANC’s major leaders, they were hopeless in gaining their freedom and equality. After Mandela and the others were freed, it led to the negotiations. If de Klerk hadn’t released the leaders, then negotiations would have not even began. Mandela and de Klerk were important leaders that ended the conflict between the two races. They helped promote cooperation and understanding that no other event or impact could have had on the South Africans.

[i] Sparks, Allister. //Tomorrow Is Another Country: The Inside Story of South// Africa’s //Road to Change//. 1994. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. Print. Pg. 38.

[ii] African National Congress. "Negotiations- A Strategic Perspective." //African National Congress//. N.p., 18 Nov. 1992. Web. 9 Sept. 2010. []

[iii] Shepherd, George W, Jr. //Effective Sanctions on South Africa: The Cutting Edge of// //Economic Intervention.// New York: Praeger, 1991. //Questia Online Library//. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. . [vi] ibid. Pg. 90. [vii] Usborne, Simon, and The Independent. "FW de Klerk: The Day I Ended Apartheid." //The Independent//. N.p., 2 Feb. 11 2010. Web. 14 Mar. 2010. .

E. Conclusion

The end of apartheid can be viewed many different ways, through various lenses. The major factors to the end of apartheid, negotiations, economic trade sanctions, and actions by leaders, were all important to its end and each had effects on each other. If de Klerk hadn’t released Mandela, then negotiations wouldn’t have happened. However, the most important factor was the actions by the major leaders. These leaders that established a mood towards ending apartheid, had a significant impact on all South African people. And without distinguished leaders, the populace would have erupted into complete chaos and riots, leading to much bloodshed. The actions by these leaders kept the people in control and altered their perceptions for the better.