There was this thing about amnesty, and I was one of the people who said I’m not applying for amnesty. I didn’t do anything wrong, and amnesty from somebody like de Klerk, I just will not do it. A number of us refused to apply for amnesty on political basis. Some did, some didn’t. That was an individual choice. The ANC [African National Congress] never forced us. When we went to the TRC [Truth and Reconciliation Commission], we did say we accepted responsibility as the leadership for anything done in the name of the ANC, so we claimed responsibility even if someone else took the action. On an – overall, we didn’t claim amnesty for any individual act. So that was policy.
[Frederick Willem de Klerk (1936 – ) served as President of South Africa from 1989 – 1994. Under de Klerk’s leadership the apartheid system was dismantled, the African National Congress’ (ANC) 30 year ban ended, political prisoners were released and majority (multiracial) elections were established. The ANC is a political party that served as the most prominent resistance movement against South Africa’s apartheid system, at times resorting to violence through its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. It was officially banned by the South African government from 1960 to 1990. As apartheid collapsed, the ANC’s leader, Nelson Mandela, was elected President of South Africa in 1994 and established a democratic government. The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up by the Government of National Unity in 1995 to investigate violence and human rights abuses committed under apartheid by all segments of society.]
Now, when we were coming back [1990] and as we were landing, I remember sitting next to somebody else and holding hands and wondering what was going to happen. I don’t think we were afraid, but already people had come back, and some of the lawyers were saying, “You watch it. We’re not gonna get you out of prison if they lock you up.” But we were not really worried about that.
And it was some concern. We didn’t know what we were going to find. We theoretically knew what was happening in South Africa, but practically we didn’t know. So there was concern, not for oneself, but concern for the unknown. Let me put it that way.
Most of us didn’t trust the National Party government or de Klerk, and so there was a lot of concern of that, not so much for personal reasons, but for what sort of position are we going into. I was immediately conscripted into setting up the Women’s League again, reviving it.
[The National Party, founded in 1914, ruled South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Its following included mostly Dutch-descended Afrikaners and English-speaking whites. The National Party was long dedicated to policies of apartheid and white supremacy. By the early 1990s, the party had moved toward sharing power with South Africa’s black majority. Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician who served as the first post-apartheid President of South Africa from 1994-1999.]
Before I knew it, I was part of Mandela’s secretariat. I was anxious to set up the research department. This was a constant problem, and I kept saying we will need the research department here if we are going to negotiate. So anyway, I was doing both things in a sense setting up, but I didn’t spend a lot of time in his secretariat. I was there for meetings and things like that, but much more as the negotiations went on, preparing for the negotiations.
At the women’s end, we were setting up the Women’s National Coalition. We managed to set it up as the most representative body until the Parliament was elected because every political party was there. It was a coalition. We took a decision as women, we are not setting up one women’s movement. Let people keep their – it’ll be less threatening. [The Women´s National Coalition in South Africa launched in 1992 to bring together groups of women across political, economic, racial, cultural and religious lines and ensure their common interests were reflected in South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution.]
But let us – and our question was simply what change is coming? What change do we, as women, want? And we then put up a Canadian-funded, largest participatory research program that at least they told us was there where we put up big news sheets outside supermarkets, come and write what you want changed. We asked the churches. Now it was strange that, because of South Africa’s apartheid and thing, people – women, domestic workers did not have weekends off, but the Mothers Unions used to meet on Thursdays at the churches. So we asked the churches, on three consecutive weeks, please ask the Mothers Union meetings what it – to write down what it is they want changed as women. How it affects them.
And we got these thousands of replies and this was all put together into a women’s charter. So that was something I was very much involved in as well. So I was doing a whole range of things, and too busy to be too worried about what was going to happen, but we were convinced that, once there were negotiations, there was no argument that could be made, and this was true, because our teams were all sorts of people.
Frene Ginwala was born in 1932 in Johannesburg. A South African of Indian descent, Ginwala was keenly aware of the role race played in South African society. She studied law at the University of London and then returned to South Africa.
As political tensions rose between the white minority government and non-whites, Ginwala joined the African National Congress (ANC), the country’s main opposition group to the apartheid government. Following the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, during which police shot at thousands of demonstrators protesting travel restrictions for non-whites, the government banned the ANC. Ginwala was tasked with coordinating the escape of senior ANC leader Oliver Tambo to Tanzania and establishing the organization’s external mission. She wouldn’t return to South Africa for thirty years.
During her exile, Ginwala headed the Political Research Unit in the Office of ANC President Oliver Tambo. She also served as the ANC spokesperson in the United Kingdom, often addressing matters on sanctions against South Africa’s apartheid government.
In 1990, President F.W. de Klerk’s government lifted the ANC ban and Ginwala returned to South Africa. Prior to the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, she helped set up the Women’s National Coalition, which gathered organizations from across the political spectrum to ensure women’s common interests were reflected in South Africa’s post-apartheid constitution. Ginwala was elected to parliament in 1994 where she served as Speaker of the National Assembly until 2004. As the first post-apartheid speaker, she was instrumental in setting a new course for the government, promoting an atmosphere of cooperation and reconciliation.
Since leaving government, Ginwala served as the First Chancellor of one of South Africa’s flagship universities, The University of Kwazula-Natal, until 2009. She has continued promoting democracy, good governance, development and human rights through her participation with various international organizations such as the United Nations and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
South Africa is a nation of almost 53 million on the southern tip of Africa. The nation has a unique multicultural character and is approximately 80 percent African and 10 percent European, with the remaining 10 percent being of mixed race or Asian heritage. These broad racial categories include a multitude of ethnic and linguistic groups.
Although it has the largest economy on the continent, much of the nation remains in poverty and there is great economic disparity. Historically, the mining industry has played a key role in South Africa’s economy and it continues to remain an important industry today, alongside manufacturing, tourism, and financial services.
South Africa was first settled by non-natives in 1652, when the Dutch established an outpost in what would later become Cape Town. Soon after, British, French, and German settlers came to the area. The descendants of the original Dutch settlers became known as Afrikaners. Conflicts over land and power arose between the settling groups as well as between the settlers and the native people of the region. In 1910, Britain formally created the Union of South Africa as a self-governing dominion within the British Empire.
Throughout South Africa’s history, non-whites were subjected to widespread discrimination. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the government passed a series of laws institutionalizing discrimination and segregation. In the 1948 elections, the National Party, which served as a platform for Afrikaner nationalism, gained power. The National Party program was centered on the system of racial segregation known as apartheid. Supporters of apartheid argued that South Africa was made up of four distinct racial groups: white, black, “Coloured” or mixed-race, and Indian.
The white minority oppressed the African majority and other non-white groups. Black Africans were particularly disadvantaged in terms of education, housing, income, and health. Blacks were denied citizenship and not permitted to use the services and facilities accessible by the white minority. Many blacks were forced to relocate when their neighborhoods were declared “white.” A series of laws enacted in the 1950s further codified and expanded racial segregation. In part, the National Party justified its policies by branding its opponents as communists.
The African National Congress (ANC) was founded in 1912 to advocate for the rights of black South Africans. As apartheid expanded, the ANC and other groups used both nonviolent and violent actions to combat the government. The ANC and other groups were oppressed by the government, and many of their senior leaders were banned or imprisoned. Nelson Mandela, a prominent ANC leader, was imprisoned from 1962 to 1990.
In the 1970s and 1980s, the anti-apartheid movement gained strength. Foreign governments and the international community isolated South Africa. International sanctions damaged the economy and helped erode domestic support for apartheid. Meanwhile, the end of the Cold War weakened the government’s claim that yielding power would lead to a communist takeover.
In 1990, the government of South Africa took its first steps toward ending apartheid when it ended a ban on certain political organizations including the ANC. Nelson Mandela and other opposition leaders were released from prison and apartheid legislation was repealed. F.W. de Klerk, President from 1989-1994, helped to broker this transition of South Africa from the apartheid-era to a multi-racial democracy. In 1993, de Klerk and Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize for their work.
In 1994, South Africa held its first election that allowed all adults to vote, regardless of race. The ANC gained power and Nelson Mandela was elected president. South Africa enacted a liberal, democratic constitution, backed by a strong and independent judiciary. While the ANC has remained the strongest party, elections are vigorously contested and democratic safeguards are respected. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigated abuses and crimes committed during the apartheid era.
Freedom House’s 2013 Freedom in the World report categorized South Africa as “free” with an overall freedom rating of two, with one being the most free and seven being the least. The country also received ratings of two in political rights and civil liberties. However, in the 2013 Freedom of the Press report, the nation was categorized as “party free” due to government restrictions on the press and the prevalence of civil cases brought against journalists for libel.
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