Which factors contributed to the pressure to end apartheid?

South Africa – Ending Apartheid, 1984-94

In this course, Dr Matt Graham (University of Dundee) explores the collapse of the apartheid regime. In the first lecture, we think about the pressures which contributed to the end of apartheid. In the second lecture, we think about the nature of the negotiations towards the end of apartheid. In the third lecture, we think about the breaking down and resuming of negotiations during this period of political unrest. Next, we think about some of the key political compromises made to achieve the end of apartheid. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about how South Africa came to achieve its 1994 election results.

Which factors contributed to the pressure to end apartheid?

In this lecture, we think about the pressures which contributed to the end of apartheid, focusing in particular on: (i) the four key points of negotiation in discussions of ending apartheid being the conceptualisation of a new constitution, the achievement of democratic elections, the decision on South Africa’s political and economic future, and tackling the historic electoral dominance of specific parties and demographics; (ii) the increasing political violence throughout the period of negotiations; (iii) the limits in scope of the view that South Africa’s transition to democracy was a miracle; (iv) a key contributor to the end of apartheid being the increased, ungovernable anti-apartheid unrest; (v) White dissatisfaction with the system, the negative effect of international economic sanctions, and trade union strikes as further contributing factors to the end of apartheid; (vi) a result of these increasing pressures being a divide over apartheid within the National Party; (vii) the introduction of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in 1986 passed by the US Congress, which imposed further sanctions against South Africa; (viii) the role of the Global Anti-Apartheid Movement through sanctions against South Africa; (ix) the ‘thawing’ of the Cold War throughout the 1980s as another contributor to the end of apartheid; (x) Namibia’s independence as a key demonstrator that apartheid was no longer to be supported in the name of the Cold War.