In 1992 white people in South Africa took part in a referendum.
The question was whether they were happy with the negotiations President F.W de Klerk and his government had entered into with the ANC, in order to negotiate a peaceful transition of power and a new constitution.
The overwhelming majority of whites voted 'YES', almost 70%.
If there was a 'NO' vote, F.W de Klerk stated he would resign as President and negotiations would end.
Even though Apartheid ended in 1991, this would mean that white-majority rule would continue.
The majority of whites voluntarily voted against this option.
"This is the true birthday of a new South Africa…today we have closed the book on Apartheid," FW de Klerk, 18 March 1992.
But strangely enough this little detail seems to be omitted when mentioning the ending of Apartheid.
Since this was the pivotal moment which ended it.
F.W de Klerk has stated in his autobiography that Apartheid still had every means of continuing.
According to him, the township riots and ANC terrorism had not been a factor in his decision, nor had international sanctions.
His reasoning for deciding to hand over power was that the Soviet Union had collapsed and as a result the ANC and Communist Party would no longer have the financial and military support to create a Socialist or Communist regime.
He has since said in an interview that if he had not made the initiative to negotiate, then the system would probably still be in place today.
The reason the 1992 referendum is somehow never mentioned is because it doesn't fit into the story and myth the international community and the ANC supporters had quite hoped for.
A voluntarily handing-over of power gives little credit to local resistance and is not as dramatic a story to cover in popular media and repeat in history lessons.
Instead, the chosen tale is one where an army of liberation fighters waged a war against the government, bringing it to it's knees and forcing it to 'surrender'.
For the international media, the story of having South African whites being responsible for ending Apartheid is simply not acceptable and wasn't supposed to be part of the script.
But today, the ANC cannot even admit to having waged a 'war' against the government, instead they have to settle with the word 'struggle'.
The myth of how Apartheid ended goes perfectly with the Myth of the Rainbow nation.
Today, it does not exist, but it keeps the conscience of the international media and the world at peace.
South Africa is now a violent country divided by race and racial paranoia and where hate speech is openly preached by the government against whites.
For them to admit that they have supported a transition to a lawless and corrupt racist society, which now stands as the murder and rape capital of the world would be to admit they were wrong.
White people are now rated by Genocide Watch as being listed a 6 out of 8 on the Genocide scale.
But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.
The world got what they wanted.
The brief images of Mandela wearing the green Springbok jersey in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, surrounded by a stadium of all races genuinely cheering him on and optimistic about a new future.
A future that could have been.
The question was whether they were happy with the negotiations President F.W de Klerk and his government had entered into with the ANC, in order to negotiate a peaceful transition of power and a new constitution.
The overwhelming majority of whites voted 'YES', almost 70%.
If there was a 'NO' vote, F.W de Klerk stated he would resign as President and negotiations would end.
Even though Apartheid ended in 1991, this would mean that white-majority rule would continue.
The majority of whites voluntarily voted against this option.
"This is the true birthday of a new South Africa…today we have closed the book on Apartheid," FW de Klerk, 18 March 1992.
But strangely enough this little detail seems to be omitted when mentioning the ending of Apartheid.
Since this was the pivotal moment which ended it.
F.W de Klerk has stated in his autobiography that Apartheid still had every means of continuing.
According to him, the township riots and ANC terrorism had not been a factor in his decision, nor had international sanctions.
His reasoning for deciding to hand over power was that the Soviet Union had collapsed and as a result the ANC and Communist Party would no longer have the financial and military support to create a Socialist or Communist regime.
He has since said in an interview that if he had not made the initiative to negotiate, then the system would probably still be in place today.
The reason the 1992 referendum is somehow never mentioned is because it doesn't fit into the story and myth the international community and the ANC supporters had quite hoped for.
A voluntarily handing-over of power gives little credit to local resistance and is not as dramatic a story to cover in popular media and repeat in history lessons.
Instead, the chosen tale is one where an army of liberation fighters waged a war against the government, bringing it to it's knees and forcing it to 'surrender'.
For the international media, the story of having South African whites being responsible for ending Apartheid is simply not acceptable and wasn't supposed to be part of the script.
But today, the ANC cannot even admit to having waged a 'war' against the government, instead they have to settle with the word 'struggle'.
The myth of how Apartheid ended goes perfectly with the Myth of the Rainbow nation.
Today, it does not exist, but it keeps the conscience of the international media and the world at peace.
South Africa is now a violent country divided by race and racial paranoia and where hate speech is openly preached by the government against whites.
For them to admit that they have supported a transition to a lawless and corrupt racist society, which now stands as the murder and rape capital of the world would be to admit they were wrong.
White people are now rated by Genocide Watch as being listed a 6 out of 8 on the Genocide scale.
But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter.
The world got what they wanted.
The brief images of Mandela wearing the green Springbok jersey in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, surrounded by a stadium of all races genuinely cheering him on and optimistic about a new future.
A future that could have been.
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