Abstract

Democracy Bleeds in South Africa

Thousands of Mmabatho's black citizens raised their fists in the air, hailing as liberators that old foe, the South African Defense Force, when its soldiers rolled into town to seize control. Now, for the first time in Bophuthatswana, there can be open political activity, the Independent Electoral Commission can commence, belatedly, the work of preparing to vote. It says a lot about the current state of South Africa that all this is happening just weeks before the election, while the campaigns are already in full swing. There is a bizarre paradox in current South African politics. This country is simultaneously fighting an electoral campaign and frantic ally scrabbling to tie up the explosive loose ends of a three-year negotiation process.