A new dawn in Africa

If one were to summarize what last week's historic election in South Africa means, one sentence would be sufficient: It heralds a new dawn for Africa. Yes, a few irregularities did occur during the polling, as was admitted by all parties involved, but overall -- for a country which never has had a free election before -- what has happened is really beyond all expectations.

The holding of the election itself is truly a victory for each and every one of the people of South Africa and a decided victory for common sense.

Hence, it is understandable enough that the world sighed with relief when the last ballot was cast on Friday. For, in the past, too much blood was shed, too many lives lost, too much property destroyed and too much energy and too many resources spent on conflict and oppression. All for nothing more than to bring South Africa onto the path of democracy. In short, after the disgusting apartheid policy was officially dismantled a few years back, what the world wants to see in the wake of this election is a reborn South Africa, one which is capable of leaving its dark and murky past behind and stepping across the threshold of pain into new possibilities and a brighter future.

Yet, one should be realistic enough not to expect that all things will run smoothly and everything will be rosy after the successful election. The country just has too many problems, to name a few: tribalism, poverty, racialism, violence, unemployment.

Thus, one can expect that in the days to come more killings may occur, more property may be lost and more tears will be shed. And the struggle for domination will surely continue for some time to come between blacks and whites, between blacks and blacks, between blacks and colored, as well as between tribes, parties and organizations.

It is obvious that the future of South Africa will mostly depend on whether the new government of (almost certain, president) Nelson Mandela can carve out a policy which will find a balance between the hopes of the black populace -- after all, the majority of them will feel themselves victors and thus have great expectations -- and the fears of the once dominant white populace.

One should also not forget that the disenchanted white rightists (such as the neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement) will have no place to go. Their families have lived in South Africa for more than a hundred years and they cannot just scramble out. They will remain to pose a problem for the new government of South Africa.

But we are optimistic that real democracy will survive and take root in South Africa.

Yes, we share the view of Alan Paton, the noted South African writer and author of Cry My Beloved Country, who once said that "one has to be optimistic because to be pessimistic about South Africa does not bear thinking about."

Hence, we gladly welcome Nelson Mandela's statement last week that the first priority of his new presidency will be reconciliation and consensus. We do hope that Mandela's policy of "let bygones be bygones" and his pledge not to open (old and new) wounds will bring a spirit of mutual confidence in his new government of national unity.

And at this great moment, we cannot help but recall his statement before his trial in 1964: "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have carried the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunity. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die".

We believe President Mandela will truly try his best to carry out this promise.