e National Party could no longer expect to play a dominant role in the new scheme of things. Inevitably, blacks would dominate all levels of government.In October 1989 President de Klerk permitted anti-apartheid demonstrations. This was followed in 1990 by the abolition of the Separate Amenities Act, the South African government also promised a new constitution. In the same year Nelson Mandela, a leading figure in the ANC, was released from prison after 26 years and was later elected president of the ANC, which was only declared legal in South Africa in 1990. In 1991 the remaining major discriminating laws embodied in apartheid were repealed, including the Population Registration Act of 1950, which had made it obligatory for every citizen to be classified into one of nine racial groups. As a consequence of these moves, the majority of international trade sanctions were abolished by 1993 and, in February of the same year, Mandela and de Klerk agreed to the formation of a government of national unity, after free nonracial elections. The elections were held in April 1994, with the ANC winning 62% of the vote and Mandela becoming president. South Africa could probably be classified as a democracy from 1910 through 1994, however, when the elections were held in 1994 South Africa became a true democracy. The whites of South Africa could maybe be called an authoritarian group, but among them there was a democratic government, it was the other 86% of the population that was without a role in the government of their country. ...
