SA Freedom Chat

LB SA HISTORIAN 📚 1992 South African South apartheid referendum .(photo) a Conservative Party supporter with a banner written "Nee vir Mandela en sy Klerk" / "No to Mandela and his de Klerk." A referendum on ending apartheid was held in South Africa on 17 March 1992. The referendum was limited to white South African voters,who were asked whether or not they supported the negotiated reforms begun by State President F. W. de Klerk two years earlier, in which he proposed to end the apartheid system that had been implemented since 1948. The result of the election was a landslide victory for the "yes" side, which ultimately resulted in apartheid being lifted. This was the last occasion in which only the white electorate took part. Universal suffrage was introduced two years later for the country's first non-racial elections. The National Party and Democratic Party campaigned for a "Yes" vote, while the conservative right wing led by the Conservative Party campaigned for a "No" vote. Much of de Klerk's efforts in 1992 were directed toward appeasing and weakening his right-wing opponents, the conservative defenders of apartheid who had broken away from the National Party during the 1980s. De Klerk attempted to show white South Africans that the government was not giving up power to the ANC, but negotiating on the basis of "power sharing". It warned the white voters that a "No" vote would mean continuation of international sanctions, the danger of civil war and worsening chaos in South Africa. #history #memories #storytelling