Birth: The Conspiracy to Stop the '94 Election

by Peter Harris

In the early 1990s South Africa was repetitively rocked by violent incidents that often threatened to derail the delicate peace process and negotiations for a new state. Among these was a right-wing conspiracy to ruin the 1994 election by staging a coup d’etat from the northwest of the country, aided by mutinous elements in the SA Defence Force. Harris relates grippingly how some of the biggest bombs in the country’s history were exploded in the then Transvaal, and, with moving sympathy, the desperate plight of the right-wingers in their pitiful invasion of the then homeland of Bophuthatswana.

But the biggest drama was perhaps the attempt to break into the electronic counting system of the election, for whose supervision Harris was responsible. Harris has one at the edge of one’s seat as he tells of the drama behind the scenes, eleventh-hour meetings with Mandela and de Klerk, the plans to make the results flow again, and of how closely the country steered away from disaster and ended giving itself a miracle result.

Genres: South Africa, Africa, Nonfiction, History

287 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Peter Harris practiced law in South Africa for 15 years before being seconded to the National Peace Accord in the early 1990s. He headed the Monitoring Directorate of the Independent Electoral Commission for the 1994 election and is currently Executive Chairman of the Resolve Group Management Consultancy, which he co-founded.

Reviews

[Carolien · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insider's view of the first South African democratic elections in 1994 which reminds those of us who were there what an awesome achievement it was. Well written and researched.

[Peter Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I finished this I initially thought that it was a very short text however the reality was that, even though we all now know it all turned out well in the end , the writing draws you into the author’s fears at the time that the whole thing was a precarious operation that could potentially unravel at any moment and you are therefore drawn at rapid speed through the book to see what happens next.

This book filled in much of the background of the events that I watched on the time on the UK TV news – particularly in regard to the AWB’s disastrous Bophuthatswana intervention. It also revealed an entire area that I don’t recall being in the UK news at the time (the attempted hacking of the election results) which appears unresolved even now over 20 years later.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember watching the election queues from European shores, thousands of people smiling at the TVs and waiting to vote in this momentous year. 1994. Peter Harris' account of his role as head of the Monitoring Directorate of the election committee gave me the goose bumps. Incredible historic detail, turmoil, coups de scène, hacking of the electronic count, right wing bombing attempts, murder, violence and terrible sacrifice. But the main players held steady and made it happen for all of us. It is easy to forget how this election changed the course of history. Not just for South Africans but the world. 25 years on, the actions of these courageous people make up the single most striking event I have witnessed in the last decade of the 20th century. I really hope that the memory will live on in the 21st century.

[Avy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced account of how the extreme right Afrikaner and Zulu nationalists attempted to sabotage South Africa's first democratic election in 1994. The moderate majority on both sides prevailed, thus averting all-out war.
The author was a senior official of the election commission. His account of the enormous difficulties in organizing the election against the clock and in the face of all the obstructions reads like thriller.

[Rob Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful to pick up some SA history and get context on SA's difficulties from the past. A few nice anecdotes about individuals who are currently important figures in SA. Pravin Gordhan showed his gerrymandering past through an incident in KZN during the election counting process when he allowed rigged ballots to be counted in order to avoid derailing the process. Understandable in the context but it highlights his ability to compromise morals.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting telling of the elections in SOuth Africa that brought Mandela to power, but found it a bit of a slog to get through. The writing is very (over) detailed and lacked a larger perspective on the story. Still, I got caught up in it by the end and it does read a bit like a thriller!

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting read - in part because it describes how a colleague was involved in the SA elections in 1994.

[Christina’s Word · Rating 4 out of 5]

An astonishing account of how the road to freedom was almost hijacked by the
right wing. A story we weren't aware of and certainly not how close to disaster the
dream was.