Until We Have Won Our Liberty: South Africa after Apartheid

by Evan Lieberman

A compelling account of South Africa’s post-Apartheid democracy

At a time when many democracies are under strain around the world, Until We Have Won Our Liberty shines new light on the signal achievements of one of the contemporary era’s most closely watched transitions away from minority rule. South Africa’s democratic development has been messy, fiercely contested, and sometimes violent. But as Evan Lieberman argues, it has also offered a voice to the voiceless, unprecedented levels of government accountability, and tangible improvements in quality of life.

Lieberman opens with a first-hand account of the hard-fought 2019 national election, and how it played out in Mogale City, a post-Apartheid municipality created from Black African townships and White Afrikaner suburbs. From this launching point, he examines the complexities of South Africa’s multiracial society and the unprecedented democratic experiment that began with the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994. While acknowledging the enormous challenges many South Africans continue to face―including unemployment, inequality, and discrimination―Lieberman draws on the country’s history and the experience of comparable countries to demonstrate that elected Black-led governments have, without resorting to political extremism, improved the lives of millions. In the context of open and competitive politics, citizens have gained access to housing, basic services, and dignified treatment to a greater extent than during any prior period.

Countering much of the conventional wisdom about contemporary South Africa, Until We Have Won Our Liberty offers hope for the enduring impact of democratic ideals.

Genres: History, Africa, Nonfiction, South Africa, Politics

344 pages, Hardcover

Published June 28, 2022

Reviews

[Mansoor · Rating 1 out of 5]

"As part of my research, I conducted a Historical Memories Survey among adults in Mogale City and asked citizens to compare their current overall quality of life (theirs and that of their family) to life in the Apartheid days. Is it better today? Worse today? Or about the same?

In fact, a full 50 percent of Black residents surveyed said that life was better then, as compared with 40 percent who said things were better now."

[Kevin Carney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of “Until We Have Won Our Liberty” by Evan Lieberman (2022)

The book is a perceptive and honest look at South Africa’s experiment with a multi-racial democracy during the post-apartheid years until 2022, which generally emphasizes South Africa’s progress and accomplishments. The author’s perspective counteracts the prevailing negative views held by the reactionaries in the US, who want to blame Black Africans for all of SA’s problems, and also held by many of the youth in SA, who are not seeing the economic and social benefits of democracy that were articulated by Nelson Mandela and parroted by his ANC presidential successors. The reactionaries of the world want to emphasize SA’s numerous real problems and shortcomings, whereas the author points out the robust democratic institutions and programs that were established in the 1990s and are still functioning today, e.g., an independent judiciary, a free press, regularly scheduled local and national elections, free education through high school, school feeding programs, RDP houses and so on. These institutions and programs provide the groundwork for the possibility (NOT the certainty) of fulfilling Nelson Mandela’s goal of a free, democratic and prosperous country based on the equality of all.

The alternative to SA’s democracy would be authoritarianism, as seen in countries like Tanzania, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe and the USA, where the government curtails personal freedoms, limits free speech, suppresses the popular vote, bypasses the voice of the people in congress, imprisons and detains without due-process and enriches the elites. As the US backslides out of democracy and into authoritarianism, the author believes that SA has the democratic tools and the potential to straighten out its crooked course and become a world leader of true democracy. The question is do they have the political will and the moral vision of their forebearers.

The author takes a detailed look at the 2019 national and local election as it plays out in the town of Krugersdorp ( municipality of Mogale City in Gauteng) to gain insights into the larger politics and social trends in post-apartheid South Africa. In addition the author has spent 25 years traveling to South Africa and observing the society. This informal, experience-based case study does not allow him to make any definitive answers about the value of democracy in South Africa. But he concludes South Africa’s democratic approach to governing a fractured country shows that two diametrically-opposed groups of people can put aside historical divisions and forge a relatively successful political and social community, i.e., Mogale City 2019, which represents the country at large.

South Africa’s relative success in creating a multi-racial, democratic country can be contrasted with Israel’s failure. Similar to South Africa in the mid-1990s, Israel was also in the middle of negotiations to create a democratic solution between the Palestinians and the Jewish people based on equality of two peoples, i.e., a two-state solution. In 1995 the Jewish prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was assassinated, the settlement fell apart and Israel returned to its apartheid system of subjugating Palestinians. In 1993 South Africa had a similar crisis, the assassination of Chris Hani, that threatened to derail its experiment with true democracy. However, South Africa’s democratic institutions, its will power and the good will of its citizens prevailed. Its first ever democratic election in 1994 was a resounding success despite all the nay-sayers and all the deliberate attempts to sabotage it.

The author, Evan Lieberman, points out several strengths of SA’s democracy that have helped it to endure: “multiple opportunities for participation [locally and nationally] and the norm of proportionality” (254). SA has strong and active local governments in the urban and rural areas that hold elections for ward councillors (4,468 wards), who are close to and responsive to their constituents. Additionally, SA’s democracy is structurally stronger at its core than the US’s because it has a proportional representation system as opposed to a winner-take-all system. This system allows for a wide-range of groups and identities to be represented proportionally in government even though they did not win the election. In a diverse and divided society, this is the way to go. Lieberman writes, “ it has opened up space for new parties… new ideas…and has contributed to a more dynamic democratic environment” (255). Minorities of every stripe are not shut down or shut out. They still have a voice and some hope.

One of the main contentions of the book is that democracy is inherently a better system of government than any other form of government, more tolerant, more freedoms, more transparent, more prosperous, more just and so on. But a lot has changed since the publication of this book in 2022. In 2026 Democracy has lost its luster. In the usa, it is so eroded that it is not recognizable. Any political system that produces a Donald Trump as a freely elected president has major flaws. In SA, the same can be said about the democratic election of a Jacob Zuma. Furthermore, the youth of South Africa have learned that democracy without equitable economic development is empty. In fact, there are many Black SA citizens today that look back to the authoritarian, white apartheid government as better than the current Black ANC government. People are starting to recognize that the “free and fair elections” of democracy have become just an illusion to maintain a certain order that enriches the elite.

These anti-democratic tendencies were already apparent in 2022, but the author’s innate optimism downplays them. For example, from 2016-2018 there were 90 South African politicians killed for one reason or another including those who were whistleblowers: “…we can no longer describe these countries [such as SA] as being governed by ballots but by bullets” (165). The popularity of simple, authoritarian solutions to any problems can be seen in the results of the author’s own Historical Memories Survey among the 40-and-over adults of Mogale City (51). Incredibly, 50% of the Black respondents preferred life under apartheid to life under SA’s democracy today. The most ironic and surprising part of this survey are the xenophobic comments the Black residents of Mogale wrote: “Foreigners are selling drugs…Pakistanis are raping our kids, they take our jobs and bring rotten food in South Africa,” 52-year old Black woman (237). There is NO daylight between their racism and Trump’s. Immigrants seem to be universally despised.

In the end, even though democracy is messy, unpredictable, cumbersome, and even criminal, the author believes it is better than the alternative. It certainly does not guarantee the good life, but, as he observes, it is necessary for the dignified development of all peoples- to at least have a chance.

Today the Freedom Charter of 1955 seems like ancient history and its rights and freedoms for all seem even further away. But if the new generation can stay the course, devise new strategies, and keep up the good fight “UNTIL WE HAVE WON OUR LIBERTY,” then Nelson Mandela’s democratic aspirations might be realized in the not too distant future.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book can be said to contain three approaches to South Africa. One part is the history of South Africa from the beginning of apartheid to its fall, one part is the history since 1994 when ANC won the first free election and analysis of the political, economical och social developments since then and the third part is the author going around and talking to South Africans and getting some surveys filled in so he can get an understanding how the citizens feel about the development of the country since the end of apartheid.

I thought it was a good overview and gave a richer understanding than you get from news articles. There certainly are problems in South Africa and many citizens are dissatisfied, but it is also true a lot more people have better housing, have access to electricity and running water, the elections are free, there is a free press and there has never been a descent into violence between ethnic groups since the end of apartheid.
The author is very sympathetic to ANC and I feel he sometimes skip past some problems. For example he acknowledges South Africa has a problem with their electricity grid with both planned and unplanned power outages, but after he tells us readers this is partly because a lot more citizens have access to electricity today he leaves the subject. He is probably correct, but the problems with the power grid is still very bad for the country and it would have been interesting to hear in more detail why it doesn't work and what plans there is to fix it. As a reader I get the feeling he doesn't want to dwell on it because it is a bad look for South Africa.
Still I think he does make a good case that tremendous strides has been made in South Africa since 1994 compared to similar countries.

3,5 stars.

author has some bias for south Africa and ANC, but still make a pretty good case

[Giacomo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book recounts the history of South African democracy from the end of the Apartheid regime. The author, a distinguished political scientist, asks: was the promise of democracy fulfilled? The core argument is that it did: despite the enormous shortcomings in economic development, employment, and social cohesion, democratization opened a new season of "dignified development", which gave millions of disenfranchised people the opportunity to challenge the status quo, actively demand (and largely obtain) public service provision, and seek to shape their future. Rather than evaluating democracy based on its economic effects, the author argues that a pluralist democratic system has a value per se in granting dignity and empowerment to people.

Things I liked the most:

- the normative argument in defense of electoral democracy
- the account of the design of South African's national and local government institutions and how they are meant to increase participation, representation, and responsiveness
- the field work in Mogale City on election day, with many interviews in polling stations, a beautiful account of electoral democracy in practice

[Pie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as Apartheid and the struggle to end it were of world historical importance, for those who want to understand South Africa today an account of more recent events is very helpful and informative.

[Tom Wein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A convincing defence of South Africa's progress under democracy, introducing the idea of dignified development, plus a generous portrait of the residents of Mogale.