South Africa, 1983-1994

     The South African revolution was unique in several ways from others at the time. For instance, under the apartheid regime most people of the country experienced a cruel dictatorship, however, for a sizable minority, many experienced the benefits of a democracy. Another unique aspect of the revolution in South Africa was the determination of peaceful resistance against leaders who would not hesitate to kill their opponents.


     Apartheid is an institutionalized form of racism which would separate people based on their ethnic backgrounds to “a degree well beyond what was the case in other segregated societies such as the United States South”. Some of these laws included a prohibition of mixed marriages and the Group Areas Act which forced physical separation between the races by creating different residential areas for different races. More of these laws can be found here . Opposition to this institution can be found early on, particularly in the African National Congress which practiced non-violence and methods of passive resistance. One instance is shown in the Sharpeville Massacre when the ANC and Pan Africanist Congress began to launch an anti-pass campaign where PAC president Robert Sobukwe stated that the

"African people have entrusted their whole future to us. And we have sworn that we are leading them, not to death, but to life abundant. My instructions, therefore, are that our people must be taught now and continuously that in this campaign we are going to observe absolute non-violence."

     Crowds gathered in a field and began to sing freedom songs and chant slogans such as "Izwe lethu" (Our land); "Awaphele amapasti" (Down with passes); "Sobukwe Sikhokhele" (Lead us Sobukwe). Soon reaching the Sharpeville police station the protestors began to leave without their passes. For a period of about 13 hours the protestors made their way through without passes when a police officer was knocked down causing one of the policeman on top of an armored vehicle to panic and begin firing into the crowd causing other officers to follow suit. Reports say that 69 people were left dead and 180 others seriously wounded. Humphrey Tyler, the assistant editor at Drum magazine: stated the following in response to the massacre:

"The police have claimed they were in desperate danger because the crowd was stoning them. Yet only three policemen were reported to have been hit by stones - and more than 200 Africans were shot down. The police also have said that the crowd was armed with 'ferocious weapons', which littered the compound after they fled.

I saw no weapons, although I looked very carefully, and afterwards studied the photographs of the death scene. While I was there I saw only shoes, hats and a few bicycles left among the bodies. The crowd gave me no reason to feel scared, though I moved among them without any distinguishing mark to protect me, quite obvious with my white skin. I think the police were scared though, and I think the crowd knew it."

    This footage helps to show how the news was used to misrepresent the ANC and PAC peaceful protests.

     It was instances such as this that led to the formation of the ANC's military wing. ANC leaders, such as Nelson Mandela, began to see that violence as a necessity, however this lead to South African white leaders to claim that they were under attack from communists.     

     There are several factors which led to the end of Apartheid. As the powers of the Soviet Union began to diminish several countries began to see the apartheid system in South Africa as something that was no longer tolerable as many of the revolutions at the time encouraged self determination and democracy. Student led protests took place in the United States such as that of the University of Illinois which eventually led to 60 students being arrested and, the following day, a 300 student "mock riot".              

     President Botha appealed some smaller apartheid laws between 1986 and 1988 which only triggered more political violence as more political groups and communities began to join resistance movements. In 1989 Botha suffered a stroke and was prevailed to resign and was then succeeded by president F. W. de Klerk. President de Klerk moved to repeal the ban on anti-apartheid groups and release prisoners of these groups, such as Nelson Mandela.

          In a series of negotiations between 1990 and 1993 Apartheid was dismantled, culminating in the 1994 elections, the first in the history of South Africa with universal suffrage, resulting in the election of President Nelson Mandela. The date 27 April is now a public holiday in South Africa, Freedom Day.