BY T.J. FIGUEROA
PRETORIA, South Africa - With the support of working people
in city and countryside, the African National Congress scored
a big victory in South Africa's second democratic, nonracial
election June 2, winning 66.35 percent of the vote, or 266 of
the 400 seats in the National Assembly.
"The people have unequivocally said the ANC leads!," African National Congress president Thabo Mbeki told a celebration on June 3. "In their millions and without hesitation, the people of South Africa have renewed the mandate of the ANC to govern our country. The poorest of the poor have said they trust the ANC to help them out of their conditions of misery.... Our people, both black and white, have mandated us to remain firm in the pursuit of our vision of a nonracial society and the important goal of national reconciliation."
Working people were determined to put their stamp on the outcome of the election and prevent any erosion of the democratic gains they won in struggle against the racist system of apartheid. In interviews, person after person pointed to these newly won rights, as well as efforts by the ANC government to provide water, electricity, telephones, and housing to the black majority. They also said that a crucial issue was creating employment in a country where the official rate of joblessness hovers around 35 percent.
`We have a right to move'
"We have a right to move. There is no question of passes. There are no obstacles. We are free," said Reuben Thabusa, one of the 85,000 people who turned out for a May 30 ANC rally in Soweto. Many workers and peasants, particularly older generations who bore the brunt of apartheid, expressed similar sentiments. The hated pass system for decades dictated where blacks could live, work, and even walk.
"I'm very happy to be voting because this is only my second vote," said Windy Tlaka, 62, at a voting station in Mamelodi township outside Pretoria. "The new government is going to help me with getting a pension fund. They are doing a good job. I can enter places I could not enter before. There are no more passes and younger people are staying in town."
Lawrence Mphasga also voted in Mamelodi. "Many things have changed since 1994," he said. "There are new roads and houses. There are parties saying that nothing has changed in the past five years, but it's not true. You can't change things in five years that were done over hundreds of years."
Pamela Sambo, 20, said she voted for the ANC. But, "there has been no change over the past five years - it's all the same."
Thabo Kola, 20, studies computer programming at Intel College in Pretoria. "There is still a lot of work to be done," he emphasized. "But these changes will take time. A few years ago some white students were calling me `kaffir,' " a racist epithet. "Now many of them are nice," Kola continued. "A white friend slept at my house in Mamelodi. Those whites in my generation haven't had a chance to be like their fathers - they don't brutalize black people. We can and we will build this country together because we are like each other. The only difference is color."
Opposition parties
Nearly 16 million people voted - an 89 percent turnout.
Many people began lining up from 4:00 a.m. in the winter cold
at polling stations that did not open until 7:00 am. Some
waited for up to eight hours to make sure they could vote, in
lines that extended for nearly one mile. Some stations, where
thousands of people were still lined up at the official 9:00
p.m. closing time, stayed open until 3:00 a.m.
A dozen other parties will hold seats in the National Assembly: the African Christian Democratic Party (6), Afrikaner Unity Movement (1), Azapo (1), Democratic Party (38), Freedom Alliance (2), Freedom Front (3), Inkatha Freedom Party (34), Minority Front (1), New National Party (28), Pan Africanist Congress (3), United Christian Democratic Party (3), and United Democratic Movement (14).
The ANC won large absolute majorities in seven of South Africa's nine provinces. In the Western Cape province, until now run by the New National Party (NNP), the ANC was the biggest single recipient of votes at 42.7 percent, with the NNP second at 34.2 percent. In KwaZulu-Natal the ANC won 32 seats in the provincial parliament to Inkatha's 34 seats. In both of these provinces the ANC has begun discussions with other parties about forming coalition governments.
At a national level, the ANC is likely to invite Inkatha leaders to take positions in the new cabinet.
Support for the New National Party, which without the "new" label ran the apartheid regime for decades, plummeted to 6.9 percent from more than 20 percent in 1994. Much of its middle- class support went to the Democratic Party, which has staked out a position as the foremost defender of class privilege accorded to whites. It will be the biggest opposition party in parliament, having polled just under 10 percent.
Support for parties that claimed to speak on behalf of Afrikaners - descendents of the Dutch colonists - also declined. The Freedom Front and Afrikaner Unity Movement will have a combined total of only four seats in the National Assembly.
A larger number of working people formerly classified as "colored" voted for the ANC than before in both the Western and Northern Cape provinces.
Thabo Mbeki is to be inaugurated president on June 16 in Pretoria.