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In the South African situation the conflict was ofan intergroup nature between
African and White (Caucasian) groups as well as between different political groupings
both between blacks e.g. the ANC and the IFP, as well as between the National Party
and the right-wing groupings e.g. the AWB, HNP, CP, etc. The ANC had at first opted
for the armed struggle, but in the mid-eighties decided to negotiate with the government
of the day for a negotiated handing over of power in order to recognise the political
rights ofall South Africans. Mr Nelson Mandela started negotiations while in his prison
cell while certain concerned White South Africans, including White business people
talked to the ANC abroad and then pressured the government to talk to the ANC. This
has been hailed as one of the three such phenomena in three different continents, the
others being Chile in South America and Poland in Europe, which characterised the end
ofthe twentieth century.
The South African and Polish processes towards democratisation were
characterised by the following:
> The inherent ideological limits on unilateral state reform
> The erosion ofthe dominant ideology, coupled with mass mobilisation by the
opposition (the government realised that it could not continue governing and
the opposition also realised that it was not to its advantage to remain in
opposition: both positions were not tenable)
> The existence of powerful religious discourses offering the VISIOn of a
peaceful alternative (this did not feature prominently in the South African
situation because both sides, especially the government believed that God was
on their side)
> The adoption ofan internationally sanctioned path to democratisation, and
> The creation of a "contractually limited but democratically selected"
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