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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2014
On 2 june 1999 south africans went to the polls in the country's second democratic election. At issue in the electoral debate were: the government's mixed record of achievement since the first contest in April 1994; the prospect of significant improvement in economic performance and the promised delivery of social goods to the deprived black majority; the personality and capability of Thabo Mbeki, President Mandela's chosen successor; and the impact of victory for the African National Congress (ANC) on the status and role of the parliamentary opposition in the years to come. The first part of this article, therefore, seeks to provide a commentary on events since 1994 to set the 1999 election in context.
Perhaps the most encouraging feature of South Africa's political development has been the survival and consolidation of the democratic process. Critics of the Mandela era tend to take this for granted; but it is no mean achievement especially in view of the violence which disfigured both the multi-party negotiating process and the run-up to the 1994 election and the threat of more to come to destabilize a new and untried regime.
1 Johnston, Alexander, ‘Political Culture and Political Parties in Post-Apartheid South Africa’. Paper presented to a conference – South Africa: From Transition to Transformation – organized by the South African Embassy in Dublin, 5 March 1999.Google Scholar
2 Deegan, Heather, South Africa Reborn – Building a New Democracy, London, UCL Press, 1999, p. 31 Google Scholar.
3 Welsh, David, ‘The State of the Polity’ in Spence, J. E. (ed), After Mandela: The 1999 South African Election, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1999, p. 13.Google Scholar
4 Johnston, op. cit., p. 1.
5 Reuters, Foreign Correspondents’ Association, Cape Town, 11 November 1998.
6 Cape Argus, 11 November 1998. Quoted in Welsh. op. cit., p. 17.
7 Johnston, op. cit.
8 Jesmond Blumenfeld, ‘The Post-Apartheid Economy: Achievements, Problems and Prospects’, Spence. op. cit., p. 41.
9 Ibid., p. 47.
10 See Election Update 99, 12 (14 May 1999). p. 5. This is a valuable source for statistical and other information relating to the election.
11 lbid., 11 (30 April 1999), p. 5.
12 Welsh, op. cit., p. 18.
13 Quoted in Stanley Uys. ‘The ANC and Black Politics: The Buck Stops with Mbeki’, Spence, op.cit., pp. 30–1.
14 Election Update 99, 11 (30 April 1999). p. 5.
15 Election Update 99, 14 (12 June 1999), p. 30.
16 Ibid.
17 Victor Mallet, ‘Liberal Becomes a Dirty Word in the New South Africa’, Financial Times. 24 August 1999.
18 See e.g. Firoz Cachalia, Business Day, 31 May 1999.
19 The Economist, 29 May-4 June 1999.
20 Welsh, op.cit., pp. 18–19.
21 Ibid., p. 18.
22 His first major test came with large-scale industrial action by public sector workers demanding a pay-rise. At the time of writing this dispute had not been settled.