Category: South Africa: The Freedom Vote

  • Snapshots of Nation at its Birth

    By GENE MUSTAIN and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers | Sunday, May 1, 1994 JOHANNESBURG—Not every little story got told in the telling of the story of South Africa’s epic election this past month. But not every little story got told. In the plush Carlton Hotel, President-to-be Nelson Mandela was telling the nation…

  • Mandela, ANC Heading for Solid Win in Election

    By GENE MUSTAIN and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers | Monday, May 2, 1994 JOHANNESBURG—Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress was headed for victory yesterday with a 54.7% share of the vote so far in South Africa’s national election. Despite slow and chaotic vote counting, the ANC and its president, Mandela, appeared headed for…

  • BRIGHT NEW DAY IN SOUTH AFRICA: We’re Also Set Free by Vote, Whites Say

    By GENE MUSTAIN and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers | Tuesday, May 3, 1994 JOHANNESBURG—After thinking about it for three decades, 74-year-old Arthur Holland decided to become a South African citizen yesterday. “My conscience won’t bother me anymore,” said the semi-retired white businessman, who came here with the British army and never left.…

  • FREE AT LAST_Jubilant Mandela Recalls King

    By GENE MUSTAIN and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers | Tuesday, May 3, 1994 JOHANNESBURG—Invoking the epic cry of another great liberation struggle, Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress proclaimed South Africa “Free at last.” With only about half the ballots counted and the conclusion foregone, they claimed victory in the nation’s…

  • INCREDIBLE ROAD TAKES HIM HOME: Mandela Has Only Begun to be Great

    By GENE MUSTAIN and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers | Tuesday, May 3, 1994 JOHANNESBURG—This day was never supposed to come. Nelson Mandela was never supposed to return from life imprisonment to divert South Africa from the ruinous path apartheid has laid for its peoples. And blacks in this country were never supposed…

  • It’s a New Day for S. African Women

    By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer | Sunday, May 8, 1994 JOHANNESBURG—Zodwa Tshabalala, her left leg shattered at the knee, crawled through an open gate as neighbors who heard her screaming clustered around her. “I’ll kill you if you are not gone by the time I come back,” her fiancé told her before…

  • Mandela, ANC Readying for Power

    By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer | Sunday, May 8, 1994 JOHANNESBURG—South Africa’s new national assembly sits for the first time tomorrow, and the African National Congress, which holds 252 of the chamber’s 400 seats, will select Nelson Mandela, as president. On Tuesday, he will be sworn in as the nation’s first president…

  • Mandela Sworn in as Freedom Reigns

    By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer | Wednesday, May 11, 1994 PRETORIA—Climaxing his journey from political prisoner to nation builder, Nelson Mandela assumed the office of president of South Africa yesterday vowing that “never again” would racial exploitation be tolerated. In a joyous ceremony that marked the end of the country’s pariah status…

  • A sour tale of home sweet homeland By MICHAEL O. ALLEN

    My recent journey to South Africa to witness its epic sprint to democracy plunged me, like a pebble flung into a stream, deep into memories of my childhood in Africa. Beside unleashing bred-in-bone memories, my sojourn forced me to examine thoughts I had long held, especially about myself. By the time I left South Africa,…