The ANC won 62.5% of the vote and Mandela became President. This was the end of Apartheid.
This is an important reason, because if De Klerk was not made President, Apartheid may not have collapsed. De Klerk’s vision was to move the National Party in a different direction and to loosen Apartheid laws. De Klerk’s new direction may have been linked to the loss of support of the National Party in the late 1980s. Botha and the Nationalists lost a lot of votes in the 1987 election. The Conservative Party became one of the main opposition and this caused a worry for the Nationalists as they had not comfortably won the elections. The Afrikaner Resistance Movement (ANB) also grew in support. They were very extreme and similar to the Nazis. With the growth in opposition, Apartheid was becoming weaker.
International opposition was a long term cause for the collapse of Apartheid. The international community first took notice of Apartheid after the Sharpeville massacre. On the 21st March 1960 in Sharpeville, near Johannesburg, police killed 69 protestors. The protest was about their anti–pass laws campaign. Police arrived and after a while there was a small fight between a police officer and protestors and the police officer fell. The police then shot into the crowd killing and injuring many. The consequences of this were banning the ANC and the PAC with many leaders being arrested, including Mandela after he was captured while on the run. Many international countries took notice and condemned South Africa for the shootings. South Africa also left the Commonwealth. Soon after, the United Nations condemned South Africa’s segregation. Throughout they world there were protests, boycotts and sanctions. South Africa no longer played sports, such as cricket, internationally as no one would play them. The general public of many countries boycotted South African goods and food. In 1962 the UN recommended economic sanctions against South Africa. This meant that foreign countries did not let South Africa receive any imports or they would not take any exports from them. Another criticism was the death of Steve Biko, a leader of Black Consciousness. In 1973 Biko was banned as many young blacks caught onto Black Consciousness and it was becoming a threat to the white government. He was detained without a trial in 1976 for a few months and then again in 1977. He was beaten so badly by the police that he went into a coma and they drove him to a hospital 1,000 km away before he died. Many thought he had been driven to a hospital too far away and he should not have been beaten up in the first place. This drove a further wedge between South Africa and the rest of the World.
Another long term for the collapse of Apartheid was the loss of the friendly buffer states. Despite there being worldwide condemnation of South Africa’s apartheid laws, surrounding countries supported South Africa. South-West Africa, Rhodesia, Angola and Mozambique were all buffer states. Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana and Malawi were all economically dependent on South Africa, so they did not condemn them. These states did not support the sanctions and helped goods get through to South Africa. This meant that South Africa did not suffer many economic losses. But in 1974 in Portugal, a revolution led directly to independence for the Portuguese African colonies. Mozambique gained a black government and by 1975 it became independent. In Rhodesia, guerrilla war wore down the white Rhodesians. In 1980, the ZANU Party came to power, led by Robert Mugabe. This effectively meant the end of the white government. In Angola, there was a civil war. There were three Black Nationalist movements called UNITA, MPLA and FNLA. South Africa supported UNITA, who remained in the south while is the north, the MPLA defeated the FNLA.
These changes affected South Africa greatly. In these countries the banned organisations could set up bases to attack South Africa. The ANC set up guerrilla bases in Angola and Mozambique, near Pretoria and Johannesburg where they could mount raids. SWAPO used southern Angola to prepare its forces to liberate Namibia. South Africa needed the support of these countries if they wanted to stay strong. They decided to keep peace with all of the countries, whatever their race, they improved the SADF (South African Defence Force) and it raided across the border frequently. They also tried to weaken their neighbours by giving secret support to their rivals and encouraging civil war.
In Soweto in 1976 riots began which had a profound effect on South Africa and led to other causes of the collapse of Apartheid. 15,000 pupils ran out of school to protest against a new government ruling that half their lessons should be taught in Afrikaans. But no one in the world spoke this, so it was much easier to be taught in English. They thought this was just segregation becoming worse. Other reasons for rioting were the rising levels of unemployment and a recent act that had abolished the urban local authorities and replaced them with local boards. They riots became larger but they were blocked off by police. When the marchers refused to disperse, despite warning shots and tear gas, police shot into the crowd killing two and injuring many. Soweto was a trigger for other towns erupting. Demonstrations, riots and violence carried on for many months all around South Africa. Over 6,000 people were arrested and 14,000 students went into exile. Many schools and shops were destroyed. Over 700 black people died. Black resistance had always been strong and the Soweto riots turned South Africa into an emergency state. Black resistance grew in the 1970s and 1980s and many areas became ungovernable. The president P.W. Botha had a “total strategy” but it was “too little too late” for many. This was the government trying to win support from the blacks but failed. The government were weakening.
At the same time, loss of investment in South Africa was further weakening the Apartheid government. This was another form of international opposition. People and companies moved out of South Africa. South Africa had a strong economy and it grew quickly. In the 1980s the economy slowed down because of trade boycotts, threats of international boycotts and serious political and social unrest as well as loss in investment. South Africa suffered a financial crisis in 1985. There was a fall in the stock market and it had to be closed for 4 days. There was a loss of business confidence which was very damaging to the economy. This was all a result of the township riots. This was another short term cause for the collapse of apartheid.
The ANC had been around for all of the Nationalists power and had been one of the main reasons for the collapse of Apartheid. Despite the ANC being banned since the Sharpeville shootings in 1969, the ANC had remained strong in other countries and in hiding. Many of its main leaders such as Sisulu were imprisoned, so the ANC had been fairly quiet for many years. The ANC defeated the Nationalist Party in 1994 and they were an integral part of the end of Apartheid. If De Klerk had not legalised the ANC, Apartheid may have still been around today. They were a form of black opposition. Oliver Tambo, a leader of the ANC was in exile and was foreign support for them. Between 1977 and 1989 black resistance groups grew. The ANC adopted the Freedom Charter which was a multi-racial, one adult one-vote democracy. This helped them gain influence in the townships. Members returned from exile to help secretly organise resistance and guerrilla attacks. When De Klerk legalised the ANC in 1989, many came out of hiding and prison, and they grew larger over the next 5 years until there were elected in power in 1994. The ANC were a major part of the black resistance and were a long term cause for the disintegration of Apartheid.
Internal resistance and black opposition were the main causes for the collapse of Apartheid. Throughout the Nationalists reign there had always been the threat of resistance thus making them long term causes. As previously discussed, the Soweto riots, Sharpeville and the ANC were important. Other black resistance groups that were against Apartheid were the MK, Black Consciousness (AZAPO), Inkatha and Buthelezi. They all had violent protests which the government were unable to control as there were so many all over South Africa. In July 1985 the government declared a partial state of emergency which was extended in June 1986 so that the country was under martial law. This showed the government were getting weaker as they could not keep violence under control.
Although international opposition to apartheid was very important to its collapse, the internal resistance and opposition were the most important. There had always been opposition within South Africa but it gradually became stronger over the years. The government found it hard to suppress opposition despite bans. Although all the causes analysed in this essay were important in the collapse of Apartheid, the internal resistance to Apartheid was too strong for the government to keep running the country the way they were. South Africa was very close to a civil war in the early 1990s. The opposition of other countries was certainly one of the more important reasons for the collapse, but it was not affecting South Africa as badly as internal opposition.
