Second Chance for the ANC: The 1999 South African General Election

Abstract

On 2 june 1999 south africans went to the polls in the country's second democratic election. At issue in the electoral debate were: the government's mixed record of achievement since the first contest in April 1994; the prospect of significant improvement in economic performance and the promised delivery of social goods to the deprived black majority; the personality and capability of Thabo Mbeki, President Mandela's chosen successor; and the impact of victory for the African National Congress (ANC) on the status and role of the parliamentary opposition in the years to come. The first part of this article, therefore, seeks to provide a commentary on events since 1994 to set the 1999 election in context.Perhaps the most encouraging feature of South Africa's political development has been the survival and consolidation of the democratic process. Critics of the Mandela era tend to take this for granted; but it is no mean achievement especially in view of the violence which disfigured both the multi-party negotiating process and the run-up to the 1994 election and the threat of more to come to destabilize a new and untried regime.