NELSON MANDELA LAYING DOWN THE LAW DURING NEGOTIATIONS AT CODESA IN 1991 FOR A SPEEDY END TO WHITE MINORITY RULE

BY SUBRY GOVENDER

(NELSON MANDELA GREETING APARTHEID PRESIDENT F W DE KLERK DURING THE CODESA NEGOTIATIONS IN 1991) The creation of our non-racial and democratic South Africa has not been an easy one. After Nelson Mandela was released on February 11 1990, the ANC and the former ruling National Party, together with other parties, in 1991 created the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (or Codesa) where the establishment of the new South Africa was discussed. But at the same time third force elements unleashed a wave of violence to destabilise the ANC. On the commemoration of Mandela’s 100th birth anniversary, SUBRY GOVENDER, recalls how Nelson Mandela laid down the law for a speedy end to white minority rule.