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Following his release, Nelson Mandela was reinstated as leader of the ANC. In 1991, the ANC held a national election which confirmed Nelson Mandela as President and his friend, Oliver Tambo, as Chairperson. Mandela had a mandate to negotiate with the South African government on behalf of the black people of South Africa. Negotiations were strained. At one point he furiously refers to De Klerk as the head of \"an illegitimate, discredited, minority regime\".\n

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In June 1992, another massacre occurred. There had been a history of tension between different black groups, segregated and pitted against each other under Apartheid. In the week before the massacre, three Zulu-speaking migrant workers living in a local hostel were attacked and killed by ANC members. During the week, the level of fury of the migrant workers had risen to fever pitch. On the day of the massacre, around 300 of the workers swarmed into the nearby Boipatong township and took revenge, killing over fifty people, most of whom were women and children. The South African government seemed almost to take pleasure in the massacre and started to use it for political purposes. Nelson Mandela concluded that the government had been complicit in the massacre and withdrew from negotiations.\n

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But in September 1992, another massacre took place. A relatively small section of land had been parcelled out under Apartheid by the whites to ten racially \"pure\" groups. One of these homelands (bantustans) was Ciski, allocated to the Xhosa people. On 3 September, the ANC demanded that the government of Ciski be replaced with a democratically elected government. The South African government said it could not interfere in what it saw as a sovereign power. So the ANC took its 80,000 protesters directly to Ciski. The Ciski government tried to prevent the protesters from entering the capital, Bisho. One of the leaders of the ANC protest led a group to break through the Ciski government's Defence Force who promptly opened fire, killing 28 unarmed marchers and injuring 200 more.\n

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This second massacre persuaded both Nelson Mandela and F W De Klerk that there was no alternative to negotiations, which resumed later that month.\n

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In April 1993, Chris Hani, a senior ANC leader, was assassinated. There were renewed fears that the country would erupt in violence. Mandela addressed the nation appealing for calm, in a speech regarded as 'presidential' even though he was not yet president of the country at that time:\n \"Tonight I am reaching out to every single South African, black and white, from the very depths of my being. A white man, full of prejudice and hate, came to our country and committed a deed so foul that our whole nation now teeters on the brink of disaster. A white woman, of Afrikaner origin, risked her life so that we may know, and bring to justice, this assassin. The cold-blooded murder of Chris Hani has sent shock waves throughout the country and the world. ...Now is the time for all South Africans to stand together against those who, from any quarter, wish to destroy what Chris Hani gave his life for \u2013 the freedom of all of us.\"\n

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The negotiators were galvanised into action. In 1993, their heroic efforts at negotiation were recognised in the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. And most significantly, they finally agreed a peaceful transfer to democratic elections - to be held on 27 April 1994.\n

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In 1990, Mandela was released from prison. The white-only government of F W de Klerk feared the end of Apartheid was close. They feared the consequences. They looked for someone who was respected by the Black population but with whom they could negotiate in good faith. They found Nelson Mandela.\n

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During a rocky, stressful three year period, Mandela and F W de Klerk negotiated the introduction of democracy. In 1994, the first fully democratic election was held. Mandela managed to hold back the fury of the Black population towards the white rulers and achieved his dream, with the support and admiration of not only the black population, but also the white population and that of much of the rest of the world.\n

", "sources": "", "Feedback": "", "title": "The Ending of Apartheid (1990 - 1994)"}