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PART D

IN THE AFTERMATH OF DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS - May 1994 - December 1996

Introduction

The South African elections of April 1994 have been widely hailed as a 'political miracle' and the subsequent installation of South Africa's first democratically elected government referred to as the result of a 'negotiated revolution'.

As predicted, there ensued a dramatic cooling of the political temperature manifested in a rapid and marked decline in the political death-toll in the months that followed. Also, as expected, no major force with any significant muscle emerged to challenge the validity of the election results or to pose a threat to their acceptance. On the contrary, a realignment of the political landscape, imagined or actual, has taken place with the departure or evaporation of some previous aspirant stakeholders in political power; and with the re-positioning of others anxious to retain whatever power possible from their apartheid inheritance.

Part D of this book examines the residual destabilisation activity continuing beyond the transfer of power to' a democratically elected majority government in an attempt to assess from where such activity emanates and whether it poses any threat to our fledgling democracy.


Calender of major events after elections

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