Episode 7: Free at Last, 1979-1990
The final episode in this series discusses the release of Mandela and the 1990s context of reconciliation during the transition to full democracy and highlights the formation and role of the United Democratic Front.
Objectives: Understand the role of both violence and reconciliation during the end of apartheid, assess the differences between political freedom and economic/social freedom
Themes: South Africa, Worldwide Anti-Apartheid Movement (WAAM), Nelson Mandela, 1994 transition
Movie: 52 minutes, with additional footage containing extended interviews
Discussion Questions and Activities
Discuss how politicians and activists prepared for the end of apartheid and 1994 democratic transition
Inke van Kessel’s “Beyond our Wildest Dreams”: The United Democratic Front and the Transformation of South Africa (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2000) describes the creation of UDF, an organization comprised of various liberation movements and committed to a peaceful transition. Based upon the book and this video’s interviews with UDF leaders, ask students why such an organization was necessary. Why did Mandela and other leaders need to be prepared for release from prison? What risks would a dramatic transition involve? What problems did the gradual transition bring about?
Understand the tenants of a negotiated transition
Like most stalemate-ending agreements, the ones that laid the groundwork for South Africa’s transition involved negotiation and compromise. Allister Sparks describes this briefly and well in Tomorrow is Another Country: The Inside Story of South Africa’s Road to Change (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). What compromises did both the government and the liberation movements have to make? What gains did each of them obtain? How did individual personalities factor in to events such as the secret meetings between official leaders? Sparks’s Beyond the Miracle: Inside the New South Africa (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009) analyzes how some of these compromises have played out during the past decade and a half.
Consider the violence associated with political transition
Since ending a stalemate involves compromise, it also often involves violence. Not everyone is happy with the outcome they receive. South Africa went through an extremely violent period between the 1990 release of Mandela and unbanning of political organizations, which began the transition, and 1994, when democratic elections took place. What does the video say caused some of this violence? Who was angry and causing violence? Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva worked as journalists during this time period. They describe the violence in The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War (New York: Basic Books, 2011). This is also covered in a short documentary and dramatized in a film named after the book (note: contains graphic violence). After reading the book or watching the film, ask students who individuals on all sides coped with this violence. How did people experience personal violence? How were high levels of televised violence traumatic for both South Africans and international audiences? How have other societies experienced violence during transition, and how have they dealt with it?
Assess the role of Nelson Mandela in the freedom struggle
This movie again emphasizes the role of Nelson Mandela. The lesson plan for Episode One asked students to consider the careful construction of Mandela’s iconic image. After viewing this episode, ask students again how the narrative of a single figure can be used in a social movement. How does this benefit the movement, and how might it damage it? How did Mandela emerge as a reconciliatory figure? How did his role in the transition help legitimize South Africa’s post-1994 government? Ask students to read Mandela’s speech upon release from prison. What ideals and goals did Mandela commit himself to? How were these realized or not realized after 1994?
Episode 1 • Episode 2 • Episode 3 • Episode 4 • Episode 5 • Episode 6 • Episode 7
