The night of Sunday, 30 June 2024, will go down in the annals of South African history as the day when 100 years of nationalist rule came to an abrupt end. Afrikaner nationalists gained control of South Africa in 1924 and ruled until they were replaced by African nationalists in 1994. Thirty years later, African nationalists’ rule was rejected by the electorate and they could only stay in power with the support of the Wasp (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) middle class of the DA. Nationalism is a grievance-driven ideology. Afrikaner nationalism was driven by grievances against the British for destroying the Boer republics and taking ownership of South Africa’s minerals. African nationalism was also driven by grievances against the British for betraying the African elite by allowing the Afrikaner nationalists and British mining companies to abolish the non-racial Cape Constitution. They were also aggrieved that Afrikaner nationalists had excluded them from property ownership, skills and the franchise.
Why did the African nationalists of the ANC lose power? …more