Freedom Day

  Michael – Alternate Thursdays

Today is Freedom Day in South Africa, at least as significant
here as July 4 is in the US. It commemorates the first election in South Africa
where everyone was allowed to vote—irrespective of race. In fact, it was
irrespective of nationality. Anyone currently living in the country was allowed
to have their say. One received a short-term indelible ink mark on one’s thumb
to prevent voting twice and that was it. Was there fraud? Probably a little but not
enough to make any difference to the outcome, which was a resounding victory
for the African National Congress led by the incredible Nelson Mandela. The day
was declared as a national holiday then, and has remained one ever since. That
was just as well because the lines were long and in the end the election
extended over two days. It was vital that everyone would have the chance—for
the first time ever—to have his or her voice heard. The logistics didn’t
matter. It was the process itself that was vitally important. Perhaps even
countries with longer and more established democratic traditions could learn
something from that.

Even before, I usually voted in elections. If there was a
Progressive Party candidate under the leadership of the redoubtable Helen
Suzman, I would vote for her/him and even help to canvass. But even with a party
that reached out towards black people and condemned the evils of apartheid, one
knew that it was a sham. The party was trying to represent black people but
they themselves had no representation. On April 27, 1994, there was no such
reservation. At last everyone had a say, even if it took a whole day or longer
to reach the front of the line. The mood was exuberant. People chatted, shared
food, and no one seemed to find it weird that black and white and Indian and
mixed race people shared the line and the process—something unthinkable a
couple of years before. In fact as apartheid collapsed around us, it was
revealed for what it was: a system to suppress black people. Everything else was
just smoke and mirrors.  It’s hard to explain the feelings I had that day, but
they included relief and excitement about a future that had seemed out of reach
for so long as South Africa trod the road followed so disastrously by
Rhodesia. Somehow, we’d avoided all that. I had no doubt that both Nelson
Mandela and FW De Klerk deserved their Nobel prizes when they received them. Certainly not as equals,
but if PW Botha had held onto the leadership, the outcome would have been
appallngly different.

The previously ruling National Party emerged from the
election with little support and as politics realigned, it disappeared as its
members were absorbed into other right wing or center parties or retired from
politics altogether.

After several hours in the line, I went home and watched as
the results came in. The rest is history.

We now look back to that day 29 years ago with mixed
feelings. Almost ten years ago, I wrote about the upcoming twentieth
anniversary of those elections—Freedom Day 2014—and a report from Goldman Sachs
on Twenty Years of Freedom. Perhaps they will produce one for thirty years
also, but I suspect not. (You can read that blog HERE .) The report showed gaps
and problems, but the drift was upbeat. There was excitement for the future.

The last ten years haven’t been good, and the list of bad
things would be longer and more negative, while the good things would be less
impressive. Fortunately, we have Annamaria to encourage us to look at the positive
side. Today, that’s what I intend to do.