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Y224: Apartheid and Reconciliation: South African Politics 1948–1999

A New South Africa 1989–1999: negotiations, the 1994 election and the Government of National Unity

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 2

Overview

Recall questions on South Africa in 1989, the first steps to settlement, CODESA and its breakdown, the resumed talks, political violence, the white right, the 1994 election, the Government of National Unity and Mandela’s presidency.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What condition was South Africa in by 1989?

Key term

How were the talks put back on track after 1992?

Key term

Why was the level of violence between 1990 and 1994 so high?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What condition was South Africa in by 1989?

    Model answer

    The economy was stagnant under sanctions and debt with high black unemployment, the townships were under emergency rule, and the National Party had lost ground to both the right and the liberal opposition in that year's whites-only election.

  2. 2

    What were the first steps towards a negotiated settlement in 1990?

    Model answer

    After the unbanning of the movements and Mandela's release, the government and the ANC agreed at Groote Schuur and Pretoria to remove obstacles to talks, and the ANC suspended its armed struggle.

  3. 3

    Explain what CODESA was and why it broke down.

    Model answer

    It was the multi-party convention that began negotiating a new constitution at the end of 1991, but it collapsed in 1992 over the size of majority needed for decisions and then over the Boipatong massacre, after which the ANC withdrew.

  4. 4

    How were the talks put back on track after 1992?

    Model answer

    Mass protest and the shock of further killings pushed both sides back to the table, a record of understanding restored trust, and the ANC accepted sunset clauses guaranteeing power sharing and civil service jobs for a transitional period.

  5. 5

    Why was the level of violence between 1990 and 1994 so high?

    Model answer

    Conflict between ANC supporters and Inkatha in Natal and the Reef townships killed thousands, and elements of the security forces covertly fuelled it in an attempt to weaken the ANC before the election.

  6. 6

    How was the threat from the white right dealt with before the 1994 election?

    Model answer

    An armed intervention by right-wingers in a homeland collapsed humiliatingly, and General Viljoen led most Afrikaner conservatives into contesting the election rather than boycotting it.

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