Referendum in South Africa 1992

In the referendum in South Africa on March 17, 1992, the voters had to decide whether President Frederik Willem de Klerk should continue his policy of abolishing the system of racial segregation ( apartheid ) in South Africa. Only whites were entitled to vote. As a result, a clear majority of almost 69 percent of the voters spoke out in favor of supporting de Klerk's policy.

prehistory

The parliamentary elections in South Africa in 1989 had been won by the National Party under FW de Klerk. Before the election, de Klerk had announced that he would continue to negotiate the process towards the abolition of apartheid. After the election, de Klerk announced that the most prominent political prisoner of the apartheid regime, Nelson Mandela , would be released unconditionally, which happened on February 11, 1990. The death penalty was suspended and South West Africa, which was under South African rule against international law, became an independent state on March 21, 1990 under the name Namibia . In May 1990 the de Klerk government entered into official negotiations with the previously banned African National Congress (ANC), the ANC declared a ceasefire and the government lifted the state of emergency . However, de Klerk's policy did not meet with unanimous approval from the previously privileged white population. At the end of 1991 and beginning of 1992, the National Party was defeated by the oppositional Konserwatiewe Party in several by-elections . De Klerk's political opponents have argued that the National Party has apparently lost its mandate to negotiate with the ANC. As a result, the President announced a referendum on his policy. The question to be decided was:

"Ondersteun u die voortsetting van die herrormingsproses wat die State President op 2 February 1990 begin het en wat op 'n nuwe grondwet deur onderhandeling gemik is?"

"Do you support continuation of the reform process which the State President began on February 2, 1990 and which is aimed at a new Constitution through negotiation?"

"Do you support the continuation of the reform process that the President began on February 2, 1990 and which aims to create a new constitution through negotiations?"

- Question of the referendum

Results by region

A stamp in a South African passport about participation in the referendum

Nationwide, there was an overwhelming 'yes' vote in almost all regions. Only in the rural district of Pietersburg in the northern Transvaal did the 'no' votes predominate with 57 percent. The turnout was 85.1 percent. Thus, a majority of those eligible to vote (i.e. including non-voters) had voted 'yes'.

Referendum results by region

province	area	Yes		No
		be right	%	be right	%	Valid votes
Cape Province	Beaufort West	18,941	61.62	11,798	38.38	30,739
Cape Province	Cape Town	355,527	84.88	63,325	15.12	418,852
Cape Province	East London	66,675	78.28	18,498	21.72	85.173
Cape Province	George	40,075	65.39	21,211	34.61	61,286
Cape Province	Kimberley	33.504	54.48	27,993	45.52	61,497
Cape Province	Port Elizabeth	87,216	74.46	29,909	25.54	117.125
natal	Durban	204.371	85.03	35,975	14.97	240.346
natal	Pietermaritzburg	66,500	75.98	21,023	24.02	87,523
Orange Free State	Bloemfontein	58,066	58.60	41,017	41.40	99,083
Orange Free State	Kroonstad	54,531	51.54	51,279	48.46	105.810
Transvaal	Germiston	164.025	65.38	86,844	34.62	250,869
Transvaal	Johannesburg	324,686	78.30	89,957	21.70	414,643
Transvaal	Pietersburg	37,612	43.02	49,820	56.98	87,432
Transvaal	Pretoria	287.720	57.37	213.825	42.63	501,545
Transvaal	Roodepoort	124,737	52.44	113.145	47.56	237,882
South Africa as a whole		1,924,186	68.73	875,619	31.27	2,799,805

In his speech after the election victory, de Klerk said:

“The White electorate has reached out, through this landslide win for the YES vote, to all our compatriots, to all other South Africans and the message of this referendum is: Today, in a certain sense, is the real birthday of the new South African nation. "

"With this landslide victory of the YES vote, the white electorate reached out to all compatriots, to all other South Africans and the message of this referendum is: Today is the real birthday of a new nation South Africa."

- Frederik Willem de Klerk : speech of March 18, 1992

Further negotiations with the ANC finally led to an agreement on the first general election, in which all parts of the population of South Africa were eligible to vote. These elections took place on April 27, 1994 and were won by the ANC with just under two-thirds of the vote.

Web links

• The 1992 Whites only referendum 'For' or 'Against' a negotiated constitution on South African History Online (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Christopher S. Wren: De Klerk's Party Loses Seat to Rightists. New York Times, February 20, 1992, accessed July 26, 2013 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} The 1992 referendum: Twenty years on ( Memento from March 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
3. ^ De Klerk Plans Apartheid Vote. The Washington Post, February 21, 1992, accessed July 26, 2013 .