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Impact of
the end of Apartheid on South Africa
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The impact was positive and
negative.
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The collapse of Apartheid in South
Africa created room for black majority rule after the 1994 general election,
which were swept by the African National Congress making Mandela the first
black President.
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The collapse of Apartheid led to the
peaceful co-existence among the races in South Africa, that is blacks, whites,
Asians and coloured and in the new Mandela government, Frederick De' Klerk was
made minister of internal affairs.
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The end of Apartheid led to the
establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Bishop
Desmond Tutu where all Apartheid leaders and there informers were given the
opportunity to confess and apologize for the atrocities committed against the
blacks, for example Pieter Botha a former Prime Minister in the Apartheid era.
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The end of Apartheid in South Africa
manifested the demise of cold war politics, which was an ideological
misunderstanding between the capitalistic west and the Communist East. This
conflict had hijacked the freedom in South Africa, for instance USA backed the
Pretoria government while USSR aided the non-white nationalists.
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The end of Apartheid boosted South
Africa's re-admission in the OAU and the UNO diplomatic ties with other
countries were re-established.
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The collapse of Apartheid boosted
South Africa's position in the field of sports, for example in 1996 it lifted
the African cup of Nations, in 1998 participated in the world cup, in 1999
lifted the rugby world cup and it has qualified for the 2002 world cup in South
Korea and Japan.
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With the collapse of apartheid,
Nelson Mandela and Frederick De' Clerk emerged as heroes after defeating their
common enemy- Apartheid and in 1993; they received the Nobel Peace Prize award
for their tireless efforts in the struggle against racial segregation.
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The dismantling of Apartheid in 1994
created hope for peace and stability in the Southern hemisphere of the
continent. It should be noted that South Africa under the whites was accused of
fuelling civil strife in neighboring states of Angola and Mozambique supporting
UNIT A against the MPLA, RENAMO against FRELIMO in the two countries
respectively.
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The end of Apartheid perpetuated
different levels of development in South Africa, whereby whites have enjoyed
better standards of living compared to the Africans, for example the blacks who
comprise of 76% control only 285 of the total income while the whites who are
13% earn 61% of the total income. The income gap between the blacks and whites
is one of the widest in the world up to date. More than 50% live below the
poverty line and more than 50010unemployed, a quarter live in economic shocks,
have on houses and 40% had no access to clean water.
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The aftermath of Apartheid resulted
into increased violence in South Africa being the most dangerous in the world
outside war zones. Thousands have been murdered a year and these have been
greatly due to shortage of housing and unemployment in the black youths.
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An economic recovery programme was
launched to uplift the standard of living of the blacks, for example in
education and health. The post-Apartheid government now faces the challenges of
land redistribution, which would not antagonize the whites as in Zimbabwe in
2003. The Mbeki regime has been challenged by the Aids endemic
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Major
challenges to the South African path to freedom 1948-1994 (an Intellengsias
view)
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The enactment of racist laws. The
south African government enacted the Pass Book Law, which limited the free
movement of non- whites, the Residential Areas Act which restricted Africans to
certain area, the Non- Intermarriage Act which prevented inter marriages
between various races, the Communist Act which prevented freedom of
association, among others. All these made Africans unable to organize
meaningful nationalist movements .
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An interior education. The Bantu
Education Act prevented the advance of Africans in terms of education. Africans
were subjected to inferior primary education. They were denied secondary and
tertiary education, which made them slow thinkers with no political skills.
Hence many Africans accepted their status as migrant laborers and this delayed
the independence of South Africa.
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The use of terror against
nationalists also demoralized them. The South African police used to arrest and
detain people without tail, tortured them with corporal punishments, electric
shocks, long term imprisonment, among others, for instance, nelson Mandela was
imprisoned for 27years, Steve Biko was tortured, sustained brain injuries and
died in prison. 1977, the ANC Chairman Oliver Tambo was also forced to exiled
in London.
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In 1960, Africans who were
demonstrating peacefully at Sharpeville were crushed with brutality, killing 67
people and injuring 180 others. Then at Soweto in 1976 police killed 176
Africans. All the above South African's demoralized the nationalists and
delayed the attainment of South Africa's independence.
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The creation of Bantustans. Bantu
homesteads also delayed the independence of South Africa. The Group Areas Act
of 1952 created residential provinces for Africans. These were created along
ethnic lines and in the process promoted ethnicism and lack of inter-tribal
co-operation against whites. African was granted pseudo independence in these
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Bantustans. This led them think that
they were independent. They realized when it was too late that Bantustans were
an obstacle to South African black freedom.
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The strong espionage network also
delayed the attainment of independence in South Africa. This was because the
spying network was used to check African liberation movements, for instance the
Bureau of State Security (BOSS) and the Parliamentary Internal Security
Commission (PISCO) spied on the anti-Pretoria’s movements both within and
outside South Africa.
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The ban on political parties such as
the ANC, PAC and SACP led to the delayed independence of South Africa.
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The formation of the triamuvulate
or the league of the three. The th
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