Role of Democracy in Changing South Africa - Report Example

Paper Role of Democracy in Changing South Africa Introduction The changes in South Africa were simple to bring butit is not at all necessary that a simple action can be an easy one as well. The changes took place due to undying love of Nelson Mandela and De-Klerk for democracy (Vigne, 266). Additionally and surprisingly, the black leaders did not seek revenge from those who hurt, beat, imprisoned and even raped their families in order to make the fact clear that who was the boss. Mandela came out of his prolonged imprisonment and was anticipated to avenge his and his race’s suffering that prevailed for more than three decades but what he did was not only unexpected but it was an honorable thing to do. Mandela and his team uprooted hatred in blacks and whites with the help of considering each individual as South African and no one else (Montiell, 98). The whites were feeling insecure when Mandela became President of the country. The whites were of the view that Mandela will take their financial power away by allocating taxes and the flow of money will soon turn in the favor of blacks. Nevertheless, in the eyes of the new leader, there was no black and white South Africa and his vision to unify the country worked miracles. The President requested everyone on his team to wear a smile while, treating the people and he gave the message of softness and politeness to the public. The President decided to reinstate the emblem of Springbok when sports committee of the country decided to take the team apart. The President viewed the World Cup of Rugby of 1995 as an opportunity to unite the people of the country and the victory of Springbok in the tournament went a long way in terms of promoting harmony in the nation. For the first time ever, the South African rugby team got support from their people who were known to motivate the opponent due to hate of whites in the past. Nelson Mandela and F. W. De-Klerk promoted peace and respect The President’s leadership helped the public in viewing the importance of each other and they started respecting everyone and with the passage of time, the respect converted into love and affection. The long ban on cross cultural marriages, relocation and imprisonment of the black leaders caused the plant of hate to become more powerful and Mandela uprooted the tradition of hate and introduced a new culture of love and respect. The inaction and unwillingness to take and seek revenge was the most powerful attribute of Mandela’s government that assisted it in the difficult task of winning the hearts and minds of the whites. The President openly argued and established his desire for giving the message of peace to their South African population that had enjoyed control over the nation for decades. His point of view was simple that he cannot rebuild the war hit South Africa without the help of whites because they control the economy and without financial resources, the dream of a prosperous South Africa will remain a dream even after all the effort. Mandela was more important than De-Klerk because the formerly mentioned individual gave the vision of equality and brotherhood to the country whereas, the campaign would not have met the success without the contribution of De-Klerk who despite his mild disagreements with the President did not lose faith in the moment and therefore, implemented the plans of Mandela with proficiency (Vigne, 271). The efforts of both gentlemen were supportive and complimentary to each other and because of this reason; the historical role of the President becomes controversial and blurred without the acknowledgement of De-Klerk’s works. The expectation of violence soon circumvented after Mandela adopted policies that did not seek revenge and on the contrary, he promoted and supported peace in the two enemy factions of the past (Montiell, 99). The role of De-Klerk is vital because he is the one who decided to end the apartheid way of life and introduced the idea and notion of multicultural democracy in the country. No doubt, the President Mandela built the Republic of South Africa on the very basis provided by De-Klerk. The friendship between Mandela and De-Klerk is famous and he served as a Deputy President in the era of Nelson and therefore, supported democracy until his retirement from politics in 1997. Freedom Charter and presence of little violence in the change moment The African National Congress passed the Freedom Charter that is the name of the document that provided every citizen of the country with equal rights and privileges (Peet, 56). The Charter was considered as a dead document by the whites with no practical value attached to it but continuing friendly policies of the government help build confidence in the majority of the population about their equal status as the citizens of the new and transformed South Africa (Vigne, 265). The Charter became alive due to the efforts of Mandela and his government. Attitude of Forgiveness The attitude of forgiveness was identified as the source of attaining soul’s freedom by the President. He often said “I am the captain of my soul”. The statement verified his forgiving attitude and behavior because he considered it as the means of liberating the soul and therefore, he did forgive everyone in order to lift the burden from his inner self (Montiell, 96). The behavior of retribution usually leads to the vicious cycle of power politics in which, the empowered group makes the less strengthened ones to suffer and once the power shifts then, the suppressed of the past return the favor to the past’s oppressors. In this way, the violence prevails in the society and by forgiving the enemies; the President broke the chain of violence and gave the message of peace instead. Story of District six The facility was established in the year of 1867 by the name of Sixth Municipal District of Cape Town and with the passage of time, it got shortened to District six only. In the period of apartheid, over 60,000 people lived in the district were mostly Blacks and Asians. All of the residents were removed from their homes with force and they were left in the district for living and dying miserably. The facility was located south to Sir Lowry Road and east to Tennant road. In the beginning of the 20th century quite significant number of people became residents of the district. The district became home for almost 1/10th of total population of the city. The imprisonment was based on racists’ hate and their unwillingness to living with other races except their own. The governmental offices presented the following reasons for supporting the forced removals. Firstly, they believed that cross-cultural interactions and social connections led to disagreements. Secondly, they identified the establishment as a mechanism for separating the races and it has nothing to do with rehabilitation of the citizens. The administrators often said that the facility is more like a prison that is keeping away the bad guys from the good ones. By the year of 1994 and with the fall of apartheid, the District six’s nature changed and the residents were free to enter other areas of the city. Additionally, the new government showed its willingness to help the citizens rebuild their homes in the facility. The Case of Helen Suzman Helen is the only person who stood up for the rights of other races in the general elections of 1961. The era was recorded as one of the most powerful times in the history of apartheid. The hero became part of the parliament in 1953 and her solitary battle for the civil rights of colored people continued for 13 years. After more than a decade a few colleagues from Progressive Federal party joined hands with her in the cause. By the year of 1989, she stepped down from her long held post of MP but the change she dreamt about for years was finally taking place because F. W, De-Klerk already freed the liberation moments from bans and he was also opening gates of the cities for colored people and other misfit races (Uys, 1). The Case of Steve Biko Steve was a student leader who had been known to be a founder of Black Consciousness Movement. The movement focused on spreading awareness about the misdeeds of the apartheid government in the population of the cities (Howarth, 53). The decade from 1960 to 1970 has witnessed the impact of Biko on South African politics but he died in police custody and therefore, considered a fallen hero in the pages of history Land Restitution and Neville Hendricks The role of Neville Hendricks remained significant in the process of liberating the lands that were illegally detained by the whites (Napaii, 263). Moreover, the campaign was designed through the same principles that were followed by Mandela. The land restitution moment provided arguments and logic supporting the land rights of colored people to those who were occupying the real estate. However, very few of the settlers were moved or relocated while; the occupiers had to pay the price of the lands in order to legitimize their ownerships. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Amy Beale and Ubuntu The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was developed in order to manage the residual conflicts in whites and blacks. The objective of the commission was to reach a compromise that will benefit both of the involved parties (Gibson, 143). The contribution of Amy Beale was identified and treated as the most influential one in this regard because the person translated the overall rules of the campaign on the need to resolve troubling matters and her ability to seek out the truth remained decisive in mitigating the fights. She nonetheless, resorted on procedural justice in order to free the process from any influence by the notion of racism. The ubuntu is a conceptual framework that is used for application of human compassion, love and virtues in the society. The Presidential reign of Mandela applied the concept of ubuntu by forgiving the enemies and oppressors in order to give human values an opportunity to become prevalent in the society. Quality of Life in South Africa Today The quality of life for the masses is growing constantly for the beginning days of Mandela’s rule. The current quality of life index of South Africa is 112.18 which is an above average score (Møller, 30). The unemployment rate of the country is believed to be 25.2% and therefore, it is the figure government should worry about. The country is marching towards industrialization and because of this reason; the agriculture’s contribution to the GDP is around 10%. The shrinkage of agriculture is causing the quality of life for farmers to drop. The next generation is abandoning the field of agriculture in order to find employment in developed parts of the country such as Cape Town and Johannesburg. Future of South Africa and Conclusive Remarks The education rate of the economy is 93.2%. The only problematic area of the country goes by the name of income disparity which is tilted in the favor of whites who are controlling the economic affairs of the country with notable power in their hands. There is no defecto segregation in the country because all of the people have the right to education, health and cross cultural marriages are also considered normative in the culture. The health standards of the society are better and still bettering with the passage of time. The economic indicators reported by World Bank points out to the fact that the ANC’s current government is succeeding whereas, it requires to manage the problem of unequal distribution of wealth in the economy by taxing the rich and using the revenues to provide relief to the less fortunate. The programs visited by this paper are converted into concrete realities because they are fundamentally based on the philosophy of Nelson Mandela that promoted humanistic values in the featured society. Finally, the free born will see a different South Africa which is free from racism and segregation and therefore, the force of democracy transformed the country into a better place to live whereas, the doubts of the whites are made baseless due to positive behavior of the governing party. Works Cited Gibson, James. "Overcoming apartheid: can truth reconcile a divided nation?" Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies 31,2 (2004): 129-155 Online . Howarth, David. "Complexities of identity/difference: Black Consciousness ideology in South Africa." Journal of Political Ideologies 2,1 (1997): 51-78 Online. Møller, Valerie. "Quality of Life in South Africa: Post-Apartheid Trends." Social Indicators Research 43,1 (1998): 27-68 Online. Montiell, Cristina. "Constructive and Destructive Post-Conflict Forgiveness." Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 12,1 (2000): 95-101 Online. Napaii, Hleziphi. "A Select Bibliography of South African History: Articles, Review Articles, Books, Theses and Obituaries 2004." South African Historical Journal 56,1 (2006): 259-331 Online. Peet, Richard. "Ideology, Discourse, and the Geography of Hegemony: From Socialist to Neoliberal Development in Postapartheid South Africa." Antipode 34, 1 (2002): 54-84 Online. Uys, Stanley. "Helen Suzman Campaigner who single-handedly carried the anti-racism banner in South Africas apartheid parliament." the Guardian 1 Jan 2009 Online. Vigne, Randolph. "The autobiography of struggle." Journal of Contemporary African Studies 14, 2 (1996): 265-276 Online. Read More