although the country had reaching an important milestone with the unbanning of the liberation movements by president f. w. de klerk during the opening of parliament in february 1990, the situation became if anything more dangerous and chaotic as various forces, freed after years of repression, battled for ascendancy. with civil war threatening on several occasions, the peaceful election of 1994, which heralded an anc government under nelson mandela, was widely seen as something of a miracle.