Aerial view of long queue of voters taking part in elections in South Africa

They built the new “Rainbow Nation”—one ballot at a time, together.

Citizen Voters

All of my life had been spent in the shadow of apartheid. And when South Africa went through its extraordinary change in 1994, it was like having spent a lifetime in a boxing ring with an opponent and suddenly finding yourself in that boxing ring with nobody else and realizing you’ve got to take the gloves off and get out, and reinvent yourself.
—Athol Fugard, South African playwright, The Guardian, March 18, 2002

• From April 26 to 29, 1994, nearly 20 million everyday South Africans came together for the first time to shape their country’s future.
• These were the first general elections in South Africa in which people of all backgrounds were allowed to take part. They were tasked with electing a new National Assembly, which would write a new constitution for the country.
• The African National Congress (ANC) won 62 percent of the vote and formed a government of national unity with the Inkhata Freedom Party and the formerly ruling National Party.
• The new National Assembly elected Nelson Mandela president. April 27 is a public holiday in South Africa—Freedom Day.