Majority Rule, 1980–1994

Abstract

In hindsight, ending white minority rule in Namibia and South Africa may seem inevitable. Yet when the 1980s dawned, apartheid was in full force, South Africa's repressive government was in full control of Namibia, and Nelson Mandela was locked away on Robben Island as the African National Congress (ANC) suffered in exile. The Ronald Reagan administration was heading to the White House, and it seemed unlikely the United States would assume a robust stance of promoting change with "constructive engagement" and top-level opposition to economic sanctions. Yet the struggle in South Africa, the pressure from regional states, the Cold War dynamics of Cuban and Soviet involvement, and the global anti-apartheid movement forced change in Washington and Pretoria. Efforts by Desmond Tutu and other South African voices, organizations including the Free South Africa Movement, and activists across the United States helped promote divestment and the passage of the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act. In March 1990, Namibia became the final African nation to cast off the external rule of an imperial age. Newly released political prisoner Nelson Mandela attended, and four years later his election as president of South Africa finally ended the last vestige of white minority rule in Africa.