Two decades later, we're still in awe as to how we pulled it off. The world had thought, and we had come to believe, that we weren't equal to the task. It is a story that gets tastier by its retelling. For the events triggered by FW de Klerk's speech on February 2 1990 constitute by far the most delicious part of our history, when tears suddenly signified joy, not pain, when darkness broke into a glorious dawn and the only dream that had mattered for centuries was finally realised. Miracles, perhaps; but we demean the contributions and sacrifices of so many if we ascribe their achievements to accident or happenstance.
Some have tended to claim more credit than they deserve. But credit surely belongs to Nelson Mandela and De Klerk, leaders of the two major opposing forces. It is ultimately their leadership and foresight that saw us through. It takes two to tango.
Mandela was playing true to type. Leading his people to freedom had been his lifetime's ambition. And he paid dearly to achieve it. De Klerk, on the other hand, was an unlikely hero. He acted completely out of character - a right winger who won the leadership of his party precisely because he was seen as the man to preserve, not destroy, apartheid. Five years earlier he had effectively stopped PW Botha's tepid attempts at reform; only to unleash what can only be described as a revolution when he succeeded Botha.
"It is ultimately De Klerk's and Mandela's leadership and foresight that saw us through. It takes two to tango"
There are those who, for political reasons, would want to minimise De Klerk's role in the transformation of SA. But to put De Klerk's role in its proper perspective does not in any way diminish the significant role played by icons of the struggle in our liberation. De Klerk's role was pivotal. He held the key. He could have easily postponed our freedom and lengthened our pain, especially as the ANC's much vaunted armed struggle was nowhere near overthrowing the state. As one wag opined at the time, to howls of protest, the ANC could hardly run a tap. Few would argue with that assessment today.
De Klerk opened the sluice gates. He must have thought, like Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union, that he could control events. They overtook him, instead. The genie was out of the bottle.
Like a married couple, prisoner and president marched together, often squabbling, but mindful of the fact that the destiny of an entire nation depended on them co-operating. And thank God they pulled it off.
I remember Joe Modise telling a puzzled press corps in Dakar, Senegal, that no, the ANC could not accede to calls to break off talks with the ruling National Party in the wake of the horrific Boipatong massacre. De Klerk may be an adversary, Modise said, but he was also the ANC's only partner for peace.
Both sides had to walk that fine line, appeasing their supporters while at the same time keeping their eyes on the prize. Mandela did it better than most. He was master of the genre. The least we can do as an expression of our gratitude is to stay true to his ethos, his legacy to us. De Klerk, after committing political hara-kiri for the national good, seems content these days to busy himself with the mundane aspects of life, like saving Afrikaans from extinction.
But it is Mandela's party that we should now worry about. We wouldn't bother if our future didn't lie in its reckless hands. A movement that once inspired religious zeal among its supporters has in 15 years in power morphed into nothing more than a freeloaders' paradise.
How we wish we can recapture the spirit of those golden years! There's one important quality missing: leadership.
