By Kim Saulse
02 February 2010
Today marks the 20th year of political freedom for South Africans. It was on 2 February 1990 when former President FW de Klerk announced the unbanning of all political parties, NGO’s and media.
As millions of South Africans embraced the newfound freedom, the announcement revolutionized the country’s political landscape.
Nelson Mandela, the beloved “father of the nation”, as he is affectionately known, was later released from the Victor Verster Prison on the 11th of the same month.
Mandela had been imprisoned for 27 years, serving the longest of the terms at Robben Island, Victor Verster and also Pollsmoor Prison in 1982.
A series of negotiations between 1990 and 1993 by the National Party, the African National Congress and other political parties led to the eventual end of the oppressive apartheid regime.
The negotiations proved successful, resulting in the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 since the apartheid system was enforced in 1948.
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