Political Science

South Africa is a country with a diverse population.  Majority are black people that come from various tribes from Bantus to the Zulus. The minority is made up of the South Asians, mostly Indians whose ancestors migrated there during the colonial period. The other minority is made up of whites who are then divided into the English or descendants of English settlers and Boers, later on called Afrikaners, who are the descendants of Dutch settlers in the land. Following settlement and colonizaton, South Africas society has been created on the basis of race with the whites on top and the blacks at the bottom.  Following the end of the Second World War, South Africa became independent and in 1948, the ruling Reunited National Party, implemented the policy of apartheid which called for total segregation between the whites and blacks on the country.  Unlike segregation in the United States in the pre-civil rights movement era which emphasized  separate but equal,  apartheid differed slightly in the sense that the policy marginalized the black people socially and economically. Blacks were denied the chance to get quality education in the best schools of the country, and they could not get white-collared jobs and were limited to blue-collar jobs or those that entail manual or menial labor. They were forced to live in townships and had to carry special passes which identifies their ethnicity. Even before the implementation of this policy, racial segregation had been in force in South Africa since the colonial period. As a footnote to the struggle for racial equality, an Indian lawyer named Mohandas Gandhi first practiced his passive resistance formula here before going back to India where he would figure prominently in its independence movement.

For over 40 years, apartheid was not only the law in South Africa but the norm.  Because of this, South Africa became a pariah state. Boycotts, censures, and sanctions were thrown at it almost all sides as the rest of the world was appalled by the apparent lack of humaneness of the ruling white minority in their treatment of the black people whom they were trying to keep inferior even by using force and repression to maintain the status quo. It was a blatant violation of human rights which the ruling government felt no shame flouting (Nkosi, 1997 Gann  Duignan, 1978)).

In his novel, Vortex, Larry Bond (1992)  predicted the end of apartheid,  although not exactly the way he imagined it in his book where foreign intervention was needed. In reality, the political atmosphere began to change under the leadership of Fredrik W. de Klerk. He made a bold move by releasing dissident Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 and started initiating reforms that began to gradually dismantle apartheid. The 1994 elections was a sign that apartheid had been finally dead and buried with the participation of all race and with the election of Mandela as President of the  new  South Africa, thus ending as well the countrys pariah tag and rejoining the family of nations (Faure  Lane, 1996).

Despite the demise of apartheid, reconciliation still has a long way to go in South Africa. There are still a few concerns to address regarding the issue and that is seeking redress for the victims of apartheid throughout those 40-plus years. There are those who have not forgotten the pain and suffering inflicted upon them by the apartheid-era regime and therefore seek justice.  For this purpose, the Mandela administration created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to help redress the grievances of the victims of apartheid by documenting human rights violations. At the same time, the TRC is also tasked with granting amnesty to those who voluntarily confess their crimes as part of the reconciliation process. In addition, this also applies to those who struggled against apartheid as well, especially members of the militant African National Congress (ANC) who were involved in the armed struggle through their armed component  Umkhonto we Sizwe.  One of the challenges facing the TRC is determining who deserves to be punished and forgiven for their crimes, whether black or white. It is still an ongoing issue that remains to this day (Gibson  Gouws, 1999).

Nonetheless, reunification is the goal of the leaders of post-apartheid South Africa. In comparison to other  separated  peoples of Germany, Korea, and PalestineIsrael, the people here have been separated by their race and this can be blamed on colonialism which had planted the seeds of this segregation leading up to apartheid. It was fear of domination that drove the white minority to implement apartheid, and they thought ruling by repression would keep the peace. De Klerk changed all that and later Mandela. Mandela himself extended the hand of forgiveness and reconciliation and he enjoined his fellow citizens to do the same in putting behind the past and move forward to a brighter future. The challenge here would be for the different ethnic groups to put behind their past, especially those who belong to the conservative and radical wings.  On the same token, the road to reconciliation can be difficult especially with those who want to see a pure society of black and white, but whatever the new government decides, it will ensure that South Africa will not go back to where it once came.