25 years after the end of apartheid, South Africa returns to the polls in the midst of the economic crisis

On April 27, 1994, it was not just a day of election. That day, a new South Africa was born in every sense of the word. Millions of voters, regardless of their ethnic group, rallied with patience and good humor, even after several hours of long queues, in many cases, people who had recently attacked.

Despite a last attempt to sabotage the electoral act perpetrated by white supremacists who, seeking to sow fear to avoid the vote, have killed 21 and more than 200 wounded, the elections were held normally for three days. Violence could not, with the national will, turn the page towards one of its most opproborous periods. The elimination of apartheid marked the end of one of the longest political struggles in contemporary history.

An badogy can be made in the fall of apartheid, after half a century, with the spirit during the celebration at the Brandenburg Gate in November 1989, during the fall of the Berlin Wall. However, the spirit that prevailed in South Africa in 1994 was not so exhilarating, but rather calm and thoughtful. An oppressive system collapsed that dehumanized the black majority and brutalized the oppressive white minority. In a way, each person was a victim of the racial segregation system, since it dehumanized society as a whole. Then, the vote could be seen as a reaffirmation of humanity, a true act of liberation and the announcement that the African country was entering a new era.

Few seniors said they could die after voting for the first time. The results, despite the difficulty of any electoral start, were not surprising. The African National Congress (ANC) won 62.5% of the national vote, out of nearly 20 million voters, in seven provinces out of nine, a very satisfactory result, but insufficient to grant the parliamentary majority. in fact, in the National Assembly, the ANC would occupy 252 of the 400 existing seats.

A government has been proposed that overcomes the racial differences of the past with Nelson Mandela at the helm and seconded by two vice-presidentsThabo Mbeki, his successor after 1999, and Frederik de Klerk, last president of the racist regime and, like Mandela, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for his efforts to dismantle this system since 1990, successfully but not without difficulties and with the ghost still threatening a civil war.

The most striking aspect of recent years has been the release of Nelson Mandela, in February 1990, after 27 years of imprisonment for his rebellion against the racist regime, which made him a nationally renowned creditor and World.

The cabinet was inaugurated on the day of the presidential inauguration on May 10, 1994, during a day of celebration also combining the solemnity of the official ceremony. However, faced with many fears, reconciliation was the leitmotif of a democratic government and not the spirit of revenge.. The bargaining culture has triumphed despite the very visible differences between what Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, the "Rainbow Nation", defines as a "rainbow power" African power today faces many challenges as part of the legacy of the finite regime. a quarter century

The ANC, the party that, on May 8, defines its future in elections, is charged with overcoming the great socio-economic gap, the burden of apartheid and improving its image vis-à-vis the previous scandals. One of them cost the resignation of Jacob Zuma at the beginning of last year. The ruling party asked him after he was accused of more than 700 counts of indictment. A notorious charge was the embezzlement of public funds to reform his home.

Currently in recession and with an unemployment rate of 27.5%, South Africa stands in second place in terms of social inequality, which is largely explained by the disparity income between whites and blacks., with a labor market that still discriminates the wages of both ethnic groups. A large part of the black population is in a hurry the cantons, where the living conditions are terrible and where their existence reminds, to a certain extent, the old ghettos: the Bantustans of the past who claimed racial segregation, confinement territories for the black majority on only 13% of the surface of the South Africa and from the beginning of deprivation of citizenship.

Two big promises of the ANC at the time of the election are expected to overcome the recession and endemic corruption, in the hands of the former vice president and successor of Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa. The fight against corruption is the main focus of the campaign in a tense economy. In this respect, xenophobia is often the easy way to solve problems and epidemics of this type are recurrent. Two excellent examples occurred in 2008 and 2015. The one from 11 years ago showed a toll of 62 deaths.

Meanwhile, there is a growing protest movement paid off by successive crises such as Marikana's shocking mining crackdown in 2012 and his 34 deaths, plus a college protest for the high cost of tuition, between other points. South Africa faces the challenges of each emerging country and is a good gateway for African businesses. But the optimism of 1994 was far behind and therefore, the ANC must offer something in exchange for satiety compared to a democratic model that counts 25 years of hegemony.

The author is an Africanist historian specializing in afrodescendencia. Researcher and teacher at the University of Buenos Aires and Tres de Febrero National.