and welfare services were to be improved; and 30 percent of the land was
to be redistributed to Blacks. This ambitious program aroused great ex-
pectations that could not possibly be fulfilled. 50 The government also
tried to make the economy grow rapidly. For this purpose, since there
seemed to be no rational alternative in the globalizing post-Cold
War
world, the ANC pursued capitalist policies-even
though it had been im-
bued by its Soviet sponsors with a belief in a command economy, and the
South African Communist party was still an integral part of the ANC. The
government began to open South Africa to the world economy, reducing
trade tariffs and easing currency convertibility for foreign residents and
companies. The international
community was delighted and welcomed
South Africa back into the fold. The government also enhanced its esteem
by dismantling the nuclear weapons that its predecessor had secretly cre-
ated. The United Nations restored the credentials that South Africa lost in
1992: the Security Council and the United States and other countries lifted
their sanctions, South Africa rejoined the British Commonwealth,
which
it had left in 1961, and South African rugby and cricket teams went on in-
ternational tours again.U