ANC Marks 30 Years Since Unbanning, As SACP’s Mapaila Laments Erosion Of Non-Racialism Within Alliance

Riyaz Patel

The African National Congress (ANC) has marked 30 years since its unbanning as a liberation movement by former president FW de Klerk on 2 February 1990.

In an address to parliament, de Klerk unbanned the exiled liberation movements, notably the ANC, Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) and South African Communist Party (SACP).

All had been embroiled in a decades-long fight against apartheid and white minority rule.

De Klerk also announced a moratorium on the death penalty, the end of the state of emergency – which had been in place for five years – and the release of political prisoners.

The speech set off a series of dramatic, and, until that point, unforeseen events. Nine days later Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years.

Within three months, the first bilateral talks between the ANC and the de Klerk government tool place.