A historian counters the popular view that the 1989 collapse of the Berlin Wall set in motion talks to end apartheid. The process was unstoppable by then.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on PW Botha
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Archbishop Desmond Tutu didn’t stop his fight for human rights once apartheid came to a formal end in 1994. He continued to speak critically against politicians who abused their power.
FW de Klerk as National Party conservative was paradoxically the right leader at the right time to relinquish white minority rule.
A lie about children’s paternity back in 1700 means tens of thousands of South Africans today are using the wrong surname.
Kaunda will be remembered as a giant of 20th century African nationalism – a leader who gave refuge to revolutionary movements, a relatively benign autocrat and an international diplomat.
The book shows that the claim made by some analysts that it was the fall of communism that prompted moves towards negotiations to end apartheid is off the mark.
In his new capacity as President of South Africa, FW de Klerk directly experienced for the first time how the international community had abandoned its support for minority white rule.
The sympathetic take on Pik Botha as a man of peace and a frustrated democrat is a travesty.
South Africans have a right to know why the lapses at Sunday Times occurred and why those that spoke up against them were silenced.
Pik Botha defended apartheid and South Africa’s occupation of Namibia, but in the end helped end both.
Cyril Ramaphosa is no Messiah, and when the post-Zuma champagne corks stop popping, South Africans need to assess him as a mere mortal.
Rock music against military conscription during 1980s South Africa resonated with wider fault lines in Afrikaner society - this as the apartheid regime’s grip on power started to slip.
South Africa’s current economic situation is reminiscent of events in 1985 when the economy nearly collapsed. This article, first published last year, looks at the similarities.
Top contributors
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Lecturer, Culture and Media department, Birkbeck, University of London
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Visiting Professor at the Business School, University of the Witwatersrand
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Professor and Chair, Department of Journalism, Stellenbosch University
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Professor in Political Science, University of South Africa
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Emeritus Professor, School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal
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Associate Professor, Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy (CANRAD), Nelson Mandela University
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Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town
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Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester
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Professor of Urban Governance, University of the Witwatersrand
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Lecturer of History, Stellenbosch University
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Professor in Genetics, University of Pretoria
