MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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OUTRAGE_MEETING HATRED IN SOUTH AFRICA: Black Daily News Reporter is Attacked as He Covers Rally

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer | Friday, April 29, 1994

RUSTENBURG—I was not afraid. I wanted to see them when they attacked me.

“Kaffir, you have to leave; you are not wanted here,” one said.

“Kaffir” is South Africa’s ugliest racial epithet, like its U.S. equivalent, “nigger.”

“Wait a minute, you invited us,” I said.

The first punch landed on my neck. Another kicked me on the left hip. One man grabbed me in a strangle-hold. I wriggled free and stretched out my arms to ward off blows as arms from everywhere grabbed at and punch me and people yelled words at me in Afrikaans.

I just thought, “Wow, what the hell is going on here?”

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April 17, 2009
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OUTRAGE_Not All Press Welcomed, No Matter What the Sign Says

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

By GENE MUSTAIN, Daily News Staff Writer | Friday, April 29, 1994

RUSTENBURG—The first whiff of the hate in store came when we turned off the two-lane blacktop onto a dusty rutted road and a group of Boer commandos by a parked car glared at us.

One of them, a huge pot-bellied man with a bushy mustache and a pistol in his waistband, shouted some insult we couldn’t hear.

“They think black people are the devil,” said Michele Baird, our black interpreter.

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April 16, 2009
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NEW CHALLENGES FOR A NEW NATION: Sharpton Sees Lesson in South Africa Voting

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

By GENE MUSTAIN and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers | Sunday, May 1, 1994

JOHANNESBURG—After a whirlwind, emotional visit, the Rev. Al Sharpton flew home to New York yesterday with stars in his eyes.

“If only I could bring home in a bottle the hope and spirit I saw here, it would change New York politics forever,” said Sharpton, who’s challenging incumbent Daniel Moynihan for the U.S. Senate democratic nomination.

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April 14, 2009
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NEW CHALLENGES FOR A NEW NATION_Mandela Facing a Huge Task

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN and GENE MUSTAIN, Daily News Staff Writers | Sunday, May 1, 1994

JOHANNESBURG—It was a symbolic moment too rich to miss—the eclipse of apartheid and a new day dawning on black aspirations for power.

Under a full moon about two poignant minutes apart, before and after midnight one day last week, a white soldier lowered from the flagpole for the last time South Africa’s old flag and a black soldier raised its new colors.

“The old flag meant a lot to me, but I am prepared to serve under the new flag,” said Cpl. Anton Jooste, the white soldier.

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April 12, 2009
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Snapshots of Nation at its Birth

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

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 how it had to get a handle on its crime problem. Two blocks away, in a spartan Methodist Church, friends were mourning Ruby N’Kosi.

Ten days ago, she was murdered in her home by four young black youths she caught trying to steal her stereo. She was 60 years old, and she and her husband had spent their lives fighting apartheid.

“The minister told us how tragic it was that just as she was about to realize her dreams and hopes and vote for the first time, she had to come across these young thugs,” said a friend, Themba Ntshalintshali. Read More

April 11, 2009
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Mandela, ANC Heading for Solid Win in Election

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

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 a convincing, yet mildly disappointing victory in seven of South Africa’s nine new provinces.
About 23 million ballots were cast in the nation’s first all-race election last week.
With only about 21% of the vote counted, ANC spokesmen were reluctant to claim victory. But they projected that the party would receive 54% to 58% of the vote—about 20% more than former President F.W. de Klerk’s National Party.
The strong showing by the National Party, however, suggests a post-apartheid power structure similar to the Mandela-de Klerk team that led the transition to democracy.
“In spite of the proportional voting system, we are headed for a two-party system,” Sampie Terreblance, referring to the allocation of parliament and cabinet seats according to each party’s vote total.
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April 10, 2009
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BRIGHT NEW DAY IN SOUTH AFRICA: We’re Also Set Free by Vote, Whites Say

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

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.
“This has been my home and life, but I could never bring myself to becoming a citizen until now,” he added, a few hours before 76-year-old Nelson Mandela accepted the responsibility of leading the new South Africa.
The results of the nation’s first all-race election show that the overwhelming majority of whites support the transition to a nonracial democracy and have undergone the same remarkable transformation of spirit as F. W. de Klerk, the leader of the former masters of apartheid, the National Party.
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April 9, 2009
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It’s a New Day for S. African Women

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

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 he drove away.
Thembi, the fiancé, spent this March afternoon battering her, punching her face, kicking her prone, injured body. He then threw her and their eight-month-old daughter out of the home the couple bought when they decided to marry months earlier.
It has been two months since the attack.
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April 6, 2009
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Mandela, ANC Readying for Power

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

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 chosen democratically. The theme of the inauguration concert, with some 3,000 performers, is “Many Cultures, One Nation.”

The weight of history, of course, demands this.

Much of the world is coming to share in the celebration—and, perhaps, taste some of the smoked crocodile and ostrich dishes on the menu.
Delegations representing more than 125 nations, including 40 heads of state, plan to attend. The American contingent is headed by Vice President Al Gore.
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April 5, 2009
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Mandela Sworn in as Freedom Reigns

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

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 and celebrated the nation’s transformation into a beacon of racial reconciliation, Mandela proclaimed: “Let freedom reign.”

The American delegation included U.S. Vice President Al Gore, First Lady Hillary Clinton and Jesse Jackson. Gore said South Africa has sent a powerful message to the world that differences can be set aside for the sake of a nation.

Watched by international visitors including Vice President Gore, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat, and Cuban President Fidel Castro, Mandela spoke in deep, measured tones as he swore allegiance to the new republic and its constitution.

As he said, “So help me God,” shouts of “Viva” rang out from the huge, multi-racial crowd gathered at the foot of the Union Buildings amphitheater.

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April 4, 2009
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