It is 30 years since the citizens of South Africa defied doom-mongers with a largely peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy. This was a remarkable moment in history, given the brutality of the white supremacist system that scarred the country for almost half a century, demonstrating how forgiveness, hope and humanity can prevail over fear, hatred and horror.
It showed the importance of strong leadership in a land blessed at the time with some remarkable and pragmatic characters such as Nelson Mandela, FW de Klerk and Desmond Tutu.
Among those people who played key roles in creating the rainbow nation was Cyril Ramaphosa, the former union boss who led negotiations for the African National Congress and then oversaw the drawing up of a highly progressive constitution. This is, bear in mind, an African nation that legalised same-sex marriage before any Scandinavian country, let alone Britain.
Since then, this slick operator has made a fortune in business, and served as president for the past six years. His tenure has been disappointing, strutting on the international stage yet failing to fix domestic concerns.
Yet after a dismal election result that saw his party deservedly lose its majority for the first time since that dawn of multi-racial voting, he has once again ensured that South Africa remains a democratic role model.
Today the mood is one of uncertainty amid deep-rooted problems, rather than the joy and optimism seen in 1994 with the transformational election that took Mandela to the presidency. The ANC, although still the largest party with 40 per cent of the vote, saw its support collapse last month in a country plagued by corruption, crime, chronic inequality, crumbling infrastructure, economic stagnation, lack of jobs and power cuts.
Yet far from contesting the result – let alone rigging the election like some of the continent’s liberation movements – the party readily accepted the will of the people, despite one former leader having said in the past that they would rule “until Jesus comes back”.
Ramaphosa declared that the vote showed “that our democracy is strong, that it is robust and that it endures” – then set about forming a coalition saying their people had “decided we have to work together.”
Many ANC figures favoured deals with two divisive splinter organisations: the hard-left Economic Freedom Fighters, headed by Julius Malema, the demagogic former boss of its youth league; and uMkhonto weSizwe, led by the former president Jacob Zuma whose rapacious regime pillaged the state.
Instead, he is establishing a government of national unity that includes Democratic Alliance – the main opposition party often perceived as a “white party” but with a strong record in provincial administration – and the moderate Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party.
This transition after three decades of single-party rule to multi-party government may be less dramatic than the end of white rule, yet it is still significant and deserving of applause.
Just look at the nightmare still engulfing next-door Zimbabwe. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula rightly called the coalition deal a “remarkable step” while denying that working with such rivals betrayed their cause.
“We went into government with people who took us to jail,” he said, recalling their first government of national unity when teaming up with the party of apartheid. “Did we die? We didn’t. Did we survive that moment? We did.”
There remains much to sort, from doling out cabinet posts through to agreeing key policies. And Ramaphosa has rebuffed dangerous rivals who will seize on mistakes and seek to destabilise his fragile coalition as it tries to fix profound problems and soothe discontent.
Zuma is already claiming, without evidence, that the election three weeks ago was dodgy – thus echoing corrosive false claims made by another former president who has so despoiled the world’s most influential democracy.
Yet as Donald Trump and his Republican lackeys subvert their democratic system, South Africa offers a fresh symbol of flickering hope in this fateful year when almost half the planet’s population go to the polls in 80 countries – including the UK, of course.
Some ballots are hollow stunts in rigidly controlled dictatorships such as Russia and Rwanda, the result never in doubt. But disgruntled citizens have clipped the wings of populist leaders in Hungary, India and Turkey. Senegal shook off a constitutional crisis to prove the resilience of its democracy in a turbulent region of Africa.
And this pivotal year began with a tussle in Taiwan that sent out a signal on the value of freedom, when voters picked a president that the threatening bullies in Beijing branded a dangerous “troublemaker” for daring to support independence.
Any strengthening of democracy, however small, feels significant at this time when dictatorships led by China and Russia are on a rampage to undermine precious ideals of freedom and electoral accountability.
Sadly, this assault on liberal values by a real axis of evil is aided by self-serving populists who chip away at democratic institutions, free expression and judicial independence; it is no coincidence that Nigel Farage cuddles up to Trump, professes admiration for Vladimir Putin as a political operator, and echoes Kremlin propaganda despite its horrifying atrocities in Ukraine.
Meanwhile the far right is on the march again in much of Europe – as seen in this month’s European elections – while social media still pumps out its poisonous sewage of disinformation and conspiracy theories.
The ANC, which once enjoyed support from more than two thirds of voters, suffered a historic and humbling setback last month in a country confronting many intense problems. Yet Ramaphosa responded with dignity and sense, his stance in defeat reflecting the strength of the rainbow nation’s democratic institutions that he helped forge from the darkness of apartheid.
After his re-election as President last Friday, he hailed “a new birth, a new era for our country” as it sails into uncharted waters of coalition government. We must hope it does not rapidly hit rocks – but regardless, South Africa has once again offered the free world a valuable lesson in democracy and respect.