When the apartheid government fell in 1994, the continent rose up in applause. The end of white minority political rule and the inauguration of the ANC as the new government of South Africa was a shared celebration.
Many African nations had played an instrumental role in supporting the ANC and its cadres in the Goliath fight against apartheid. Political freedom in South Africa was a significant beacon of light and liberation in the continent’s long crusade against colonialism and towards self-determination.
In 1957, Ghana became the first African country to gain independence. South Africa was the last of the former colonies to attain political freedom. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s president, spoke of how the independence of Ghana was meaningless “unless it is linked
