The Path to Democracy and the 1994 Election

A negotiated ending, not an inevitable one

Apartheid was a system of racial segregation and white minority rule. By the late 1980s, resistance inside South Africa, international sanctions and economic difficulties had weakened the government. Yet the African National Congress (ANC) could not overthrow the state through armed struggle. Negotiation offered a way out of this stalemate.

The end of the Cold War also weakened the government’s argument that apartheid protected South Africa from a Soviet-backed threat. F. W. de Klerk, who became State President in 1989, judged that negotiation was the most viable route forward. However, ending apartheid required more than an agreement between two leaders: rival movements, continuing violence and disagreements over the future constitution repeatedly threatened the process.

Why Inkatha grew and challenged the ANC

Mangosuthu Buthelezi founded the Inkatha Cultural Liberation Movement in 1975. He was a former ANC member and the leader of KwaZulu, a homeland created under apartheid. Inkatha drew on Zulu nationalism, traditional leaders and Buthelezi’s position within the homeland administration. These connections gave it an organisational base from which to build support.

Buthelezi opposed apartheid and refused to accept independence for KwaZulu. Such independence would have supported the government’s attempt to separate Black South Africans into supposedly independent states. Nevertheless, he used the homeland structures to build his movement, while many traditional leaders depended on the apartheid state for their status.

During the 1980s, Inkatha extended membership beyond its original Zulu and regional base to all Black South Africans. Branches spread beyond KwaZulu and Natal into other regions. In July 1990, it became the non-racial Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

Inkatha and the ANC disagreed over both methods and political power. Buthelezi broke openly with the ANC in 1979, opposing sanctions and armed struggle because he argued that they damaged prospects for peaceful change. Inkatha also favoured regional autonomy and power-sharing, whereas the ANC sought majority rule in a united democratic state. Competition over who represented Black South Africans turned these differences into a bitter rivalry.

‘Civil war’ within Black communities

In the 1980s, attempts by Buthelezi to suppress student and community opposition brought Inkatha into conflict with the United Democratic Front (UDF) and its affiliates. The UDF was a broad anti-apartheid coalition aligned with the ANC. Violence became especially severe in Natal and later in townships around Johannesburg.

The term ‘civil war’ captures the intensity of fighting within communities; it does not mean that South Africa experienced a full-scale nationwide civil war. Thousands died in political violence between 1990 and 1994, particularly in clashes involving ANC and Inkatha supporters. Ordinary residents, not just political activists, suffered. Attacks on homes and commuters made everyday life dangerous, while destroyed housing left families without shelter. In Thokoza on 13 September 1991, for example, six people were killed and 400 shacks were destroyed.

Violence also deepened mistrust of the government. The ANC alleged that a ‘third force’ within the security establishment was encouraging attacks to weaken it. Covert security-force funding of Inkatha rallies became public in 1991, giving substance to concerns about state interference. However, this should not be turned into a claim that every attack had the same cause or organisers.

Political violence therefore had two connected effects: it devastated Black communities and threatened to make a negotiated settlement impossible. The National Peace Accord, signed in September 1991 by organisations including the ANC and IFP, was an attempt to contain it, but attacks continued.

De Klerk’s breakthrough and Mandela’s release

On 2 February 1990, de Klerk announced the unbanning of the ANC, Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and South African Communist Party (SACP), alongside other organisations. They could now organise legally, and exiles could return. This made open negotiations possible: the government could no longer treat its principal negotiating partners simply as illegal organisations.

On 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released after 27 years in prison. Mandela had already pursued exploratory contacts with the government while imprisoned, so negotiations did not begin with de Klerk alone. His authority within the liberation movement made him a crucial partner in seeking an agreement.

The Groote Schuur agreement in May 1990 and Pretoria agreement in August helped establish conditions for talks, addressing issues such as political prisoners and returning exiles. In August, the ANC suspended its armed struggle. This was a significant concession, showing that negotiation could replace armed conflict. In 1991, the government also moved to dismantle key apartheid laws, including the Group Areas Act and Population Registration Act.

Why negotiations broke down

The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) first met in December 1991. It brought together multiple parties to negotiate a new constitutional order, rather than leaving the future entirely to the ANC and government.

Agreement on democracy did not mean agreement on its rules. The government wanted strong minority protections and power-sharing; the ANC wanted clear majority rule. Disputes over the majorities required to approve a constitution could determine whether minorities retained an effective veto. The IFP was also concerned about a powerful central government. CODESA II reached deadlock in May 1992.

Violence made compromise even harder. At Boipatong on 17 June 1992, about 45 residents were killed. The ANC suspended negotiations, blaming the government for failing to stop violence and alleging security-force involvement. At Bisho on 7 September, Ciskei soldiers fired on ANC marchers, killing about 28 people. These events showed that political change had not removed the dangers posed by existing security and homeland structures.

The leaders and compromises that rescued the settlement

Mandela and de Klerk signed the Record of Understanding on 26 September 1992. Agreements concerning prisoners, hostels and the carrying of weapons helped restore momentum. Multiparty negotiations resumed through a new forum in 1993.

Cyril Ramaphosa, a leading ANC negotiator, and Roelf Meyer, representing the government, developed a crucial working relationship. Their negotiating channel helped the two main parties resolve disagreements and turn broad political aims into workable agreements. Mandela and de Klerk provided leadership, but Ramaphosa’s detailed bargaining was also essential.

Another crisis came when SACP leader Chris Hani was assassinated on 10 April 1993. His death threatened to provoke wider conflict. Mandela’s televised appeal for calm helped contain the danger, while the crisis increased pressure to settle an election date.

Compromise reassured groups afraid of losing power. Joe Slovo proposed temporary ‘sunset clauses’, including power-sharing and job security for existing civil servants. These reduced the incentive for opponents to sabotage the transition. An interim constitution was agreed in November 1993, providing the framework for democratic elections.

The leaders’ achievements therefore need to be assessed together. De Klerk opened the legal route away from apartheid; Mandela helped sustain support for negotiation through repeated crises; Ramaphosa helped negotiate the practical settlement. Their decisions mattered because they responded to pressures that neither side could simply defeat.

The first free elections in 1994

Voting took place over several days in April 1994, with 27 April as the main polling day. For the first time, South Africans of all races could vote together in a national election under universal adult suffrage. Long queues reflected the importance of a right previously denied to most citizens.

The IFP agreed to participate only days before polling. Its late entry reduced the danger of a boycott and further violence in KwaZulu-Natal.

The ANC won about 62.6% of the vote, the National Party about 20.4%, and the IFP about 10.5%. The ANC therefore had a clear majority, but it did not govern alone. A Government of National Unity brought all three parties into the cabinet, carrying negotiated power-sharing into the new state.

Mandela was inaugurated as President on 10 May 1994, with Thabo Mbeki and de Klerk as deputy presidents. The election ended white minority political rule and gave the new government democratic legitimacy. It was the outcome of difficult negotiations and compromises, not evidence that the transition had been peaceful throughout.