Between February 1990 when the South African president, F.W. De
Klerk, released Nelson Mandela from prison and legalised the ANC,
and April 1994 when the first democratic elections were held, South
Africa experienced revolutionary changes. This book investigates
some of the problems that came to the fore during this
'interregnum' and seeks to explain how a peaceful transition was
eventually achieved. Ordinary South Africans as well as those
entrusted with building the new state were forced to consider
questions of profound importance - human rights and land reform,
the future of the Homelands and the validity of the democratic
process. The book focuses on these issues and on the interplay of
forces of stability and instability in a period that saw the spread
of communal violence on a horrific scale such that many prophesied
the outbreak of civil war. It offers a way of understanding this
violence by looking at the way it served the perceived interests of
traditional apartheid and the objectives of the whites in the
'decolonisation' period. The book also explores the way in which De
Klerk's National Party changed from support for Inkatha and the
idea of Federalism to an alliance of convenience with the ANC which
made the elections of April 1994 possible. The historical dimension
of the new constitution is examined and the way in which the
concept of democracy was negotiated. The book also focuses on the
National Peace Accord and the attempt to create institutions to
defuse the communal violence - the first time in the modern history
of South Africa that an attempt was made to create institutions to
serve the needs of the population as a whole. Other chapters
examine the issue of a Billof Rights and land reform. A close look
at the experience of India since its independence throws light on
what can and cannot be achieved through a formal Bill of Rights,
and the options facing the new government in achieving stability in
this area are realistically appraised.
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