Evidence
for human and humanoid occupation of South Africa extends back two
million years. Stone Age artefacts date from 40,000 years ago, from
which time there appears to have been a continuous human culture.
This culture has been identified as being related to that of the Khoisan
peoples and it lasted until the arrival of the Europeans and the Bantus,
who largely absorbed them.
The Bantu population of the region arrived as a result of the great
southernward migrations of Bantu peoples across central and southern
Africa which occurred during the early and middle parts of this millennium.
This largely displaced the Bushmen (whose aboriginal culture still
surviving in the Kalahari is rivalled only in Australia) and the Khoiknoi
('Hottentots').
The Portuguese navigator Bartholomeo Dias 'discovered' the Cape of
Good Hope in 1488. In 1652 Dutch settlers, under Commander Jan van
Riebeeck, arrived to start a victualling station for the Dutch East
India Company. Numbers were swelled by French Huguenots in 1688 and
again in 1820 by British settlers, after the British occupation of
the Cape.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, British and Boer settlers fought
a series of wars with the local tribes. Control of the Cape region
was also a matter of dispute – between the Dutch and the British.
The latter finally gained control in 1806 and, dissatisfied with their
new rulers, the Boer pioneers, or Voortrekkers, moved northwards to
establish the independent republics of the Orange Free State and the
Transvaal, bringing them into contact (and sometimes conflict) with
the indigenous Africans, in particular, members of the Sotho and Nguni
groups.
In 1869, diamonds (and later gold) were discovered in the Transvaal,
attracting huge numbers of fortune hunters, many of them British.
President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal, fearing British domination,
invoked strict franchise requirements. Britain's attempts at intervention
resulted in the Anglo-Boer War, and the British victory in 1902 eventually
resulted in the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910.
In 1948 the National Party came to power and cemented the policy of
apartheid: officially the separate development of all racial groups,
but effectively the creation of semi-autonomous 'homelands' for non-whites
and the preservation of white supremacy elsewhere. Four 'homelands'
(Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) were created comprising
13% of all land in the country. Though officially styled 'independent',
the 'homelands' were not recognised internationally and were entirely
dependent politically and economically on South Africa.
The principal black opposition movement was the African National Congress
(ANC). The bulk of the ANC's organisation and resources, including
its military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe, ('Spear of the Nation') worked
in exile elsewhere in southern Africa until very recently. The most
important black political force outside the ANC has been Chief Buthelezi's
Inkatha movement, with a power base in the Zulu areas in the southeast
of the country. Successive governments dealt with black opposition
with simple and brutal repression. Although, in public at least, the
international community reacted strongly against apartheid and maintained
economic sanctions against South Africa, there was simultaneously
extensive and largely clandestine support from the West for the South
African government and its economy.
The problems for the South Africans started in the mid to late 1980s.
There was growing opposition to the Government among whites from two
distinct quarters: right-wing Afrikaners such as the Conservative
Party and the quasi-paramilitary AWB (Afrikaner Resistance Movement);
and, more crucially for the Government, from the business community.
However, the continuing presence of State President P W Botha – 'The
Crocodile' to South African columnists and a staunch advocate of apartheid
– seemed to preclude any significant shift in government attitudes.
Then in February 1989, ill health suddenly forced him from office
and the Education Minister, F W de Klerk, replaced him.
Despite a reputation as a hard-liner, de Klerk was more flexible and imaginative. His accession coincided with massive agitation from the dispossessed black majority in South Africa as well as economic pressure which proved to be the decisive factor in forcing changes upon the regime. The economy had been in near crisis for some time and South Africa's foreign creditors multi-national banks, for the most part refused to reschedule overdue loan repayments without a major change in domestic policies. It was made quite clear to Pretoria that the banks had the full backing of all major Western governments in taking this line. The South Africans, rapidly running out of money, had little choice and promptly set about considering a series of conciliatory measures. Among these were the peace settlement in Namibia, and the release of seven leading members of the African National Congress.
On February 2, 1990, de Klerk announced: the 'un-banning' of the ANC, the South African Communist Party and 30 other anti-apartheid groups; the relaxation of the state of emergency; and the unconditional release of Nelson Mandela. Mandela and his ANC colleagues quickly started negotiating a final political settlement with the white government. The ANC is not a unitary movement, but a coalition of numerous diverse interests: Mandela describes it as 'an African parliament'. More significant was the deep schism which emerged between the ANC and Inkatha, which frequently exploded into violence (several thousand died) and was exploited and partially provoked by the white government in the latter stages of its rule, to try to discredit the ANC.
Talks between the ANC and the Government went ahead nonetheless and led, at the end of November 1991, to a Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) signed by all the main interested parties and setting down basic parameters for political transition. CODESA provided the forum which defined the country's new constitutional structure. De Klerk called a snap referendum for March 1992 to secure white endorsement for the constitutional changes. The outcome was a larger than expected majority in favour of the reform process, effectively neutralising all but the violent fringe of the white right. The AWB was finished off following a bizarre attempt to intervene in the chaotic politics of the 'homeland' of Bophuthatswana which left several right-wingers dead and the remainder humiliatingly escorted out by the South African army. It was the apparently irreconcilable feud between the ANC and Inkatha that dominated the political situation during 1993. Inkatha's leader, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, pulled out of the constitutional talks in July 1993, and Inkatha's non-appearance seemed at one stage to threaten the entire process. It was only in April 1994, at the very last stages of the negotiations, after concessions on a federal structure giving extensive powers to provincial governments, that Inkatha was persuaded to take part in the National Assembly and regional elections proposed by CODESA. These went ahead at the end of that month.
The ANC won 63% of the poll, the National Party 20% and Inkatha 11%. The ANC thus narrowly failed to achieve the two-thirds majority allowing it to effect its own constitutional changes. Nelson Mandela became the country's President with Thabo Mbeki (ANC) and De Klerk as Deputy Presidents. The priorities for the new government were essentially simple: to provide decent standards of housing, education, health and other basic services for the great majority of the population whose needs were ignored under apartheid. Given the huge inequalities in the economy and at every level of society, the new government faced a monumental task. The practical necessity of not alienating domestic industrialists and international financiers means that the government has not been able to move as quickly as it might like.
The ANC-led government has also inevitably experienced some difficulty in adjusting from running a liberation movement to running a government. The South African economy is performing moderately (see Trading Brief) and improvement is essential for the government to meet its ambitious Reconstruction and Development programme. The domestic scene continues to be marred by violence in Kwazulu-Natal. Abroad, South African diplomacy can be conducted more confidently after years of defensiveness and isolation but there are serious problems to be faced, not least the desperate situation in central Africa and the worsening crisis in Nigeria.
Under the 1994 interim constitution, legislative power rests with the 400-strong National Assembly which is elected by a system of proportional representation, and a 90-member Senate. Each of the country's nine provinces also has a legislature which elects representatives to the Senate. The Assembly elects an executive president who governs in conjunction with a Government of National Unity on which each party with more than 20 seats is allocated a portfolio. The National Assembly and Senate jointly comprise a Constitutional Assembly whose task is to draft and adopt a permanent constitution for the nation.