South Africa recalls its long walk to freedom 28 years ago

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - Saber Ahmed Jazbhay, a leading South African lawyer, remembers waking up very early on April 27, 1994 to cast his vote in the country’s first multiracial elections.

‘‘I recall standing in a long queue for a period of three hours in the blazing sun waiting to cast my vote,” he told Anadolu Agency by phone from his home in Newlands in Durban in the eastern coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal.

This day was long awaited by Jazbhay and millions of Black South Africans who, for the first time, were able to exercise their right to vote.

Jazbhay recalled that when he approached the polling booth, he broke down and cried because there were so many people he knew but thought they had been killed by the apartheid police.

During apartheid, Blacks lived in townships and shanty towns and were required to produce passes whenever they traveled out of their settlements. Black South Africans were subject to racial oppression and subjugation for many years.

Blacks were also not allowed to mingle with whites. Most of their townships lacked basic services or had substandard service delivery.

“Nineteen ninety-four was the most tense moment of our lives as South Africans because there were attempts by some people who supported apartheid who wanted to derail the elections, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal,” said Jazbhay, who also worked as a field officer for the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.

He said they worked very hard to ensure they had a substantially free and fair election, which they achieved.

The 1994 multiracial parliamentary elections saw a landslide victory by the ANC. The new parliament then elected national liberation hero Nelson Mandela as South Africa's first Black president.

- Historic moment

“I voted in (the capital) Pretoria, quite close to the union building (South Africa’s seat of government) where the election and inauguration of Mandela took place,’’ said Dirk Kotze, a professor in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of South Africa.

“These are events that I think South Africans will never see again. Our people went out in large numbers and voted despite uncertainties,” he told Anadolu Agency, adding that “1994 marked a turning point in South Africa’s history, ushering in one of the best constitutional democracies in the world.”

He said all South Africans despite their political affiliation deserve to commemorate April 27, as it is a historic national day just like July 4th in the United States.

“This day reflects our history -- despite the challenges we face as a country,” he said.

- South Africa remains unequal 28 years later

Twenty-eight years after attaining democracy, South Africa has been described as the most unequal country in the world, with race playing a major role in advancing inequality, according to a report by the World Bank’s global poverty database.

The survey, released last month, said 10% of South Africa’s white population still holds 80.6% of the financial assets in the country.

“In South Africa, the legacy of colonialism and apartheid, rooted in racial and spatial segregation, continues to reinforce inequality of outcomes,” said the report, which assessed inequality in the Southern Africa region.

It said unequal land ownership in South Africa perpetuates historically high levels of income inequality. Most of South Africa’s land is owned by whites, who also control the largest manufacturing and financial institutions.

Most Black South Africans are workers and remain poor, with the exception of a few ruling elite and the privileged middle class.

Political commentator Dr. Mustapha Mheta has appealed to the South African government to ensure that wealth is shared equally among all its citizens.

“The government needs to make sure that there is an equitable distribution of wealth in the country, because as things stand at the moment, the scales are tilted towards the former white colonizers of yesteryear,” he said by phone.

The ruling party says it will take time to reverse the brutal legacy of apartheid, which ran for decades before it ended 28 years ago.

Political parties have been attempting to redress racial disparities in land ownership by supporting the expropriation of land without compensation, but the motion has failed to pass.

“I am happy. I can move freely today without producing a pass in my country of birth. I can go to the same restaurant or bar with whites without discrimination. But political freedom without economic emancipation is not meaningful,” 57-year-old Malume Mondli, a resident of Soweto, told Anadolu Agency.

Mondli said half of the things the ruling ANC government promised them for the past 28 years have not yet been fulfilled.

“I am still waiting for a free house. I am still trapped in a shack,” he said.