CHAPTER
8
ThePoliticalTransition,
1989-1994
Between 1989 and 1994, South Africans surprised the
world. Although the country was wracked by unprecedented
violence and teetered on the brink of civilwar, black and white
politicians put an end to more than three hundred years
of white domination and fashioned a nonracial constitution,
which effectively transferred political power from the white
minority to the black majority. May 10, 1994, the day the pres-
idency of South Africa passed from an Afrikaner who led the
party of white supremacy to the leader of an African national-
ist movement, was the culmination of one of the finest achieve-
ments of the twentieth century.1
The Background to Negotiations
In the mid- and late 1980S,while the government was trying
to establish control of the African townships under a state of
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