How Did The Political Policy Affect South Africa

South Africa became a well-rounded democratic republic after several years of being run under a government that was a stronghold for conservative-minded white South Africans. This shift of power led to the enactment of new, liberal policies that were put in place to hopefully alter South African society as many citizens were attempting to live in a more accepting, resourceful country. Many people believe that the three main types of legislation passed--social, political and economic--were closely weighted in how much of an effect they had, and still have, in the democracy. However, others may be on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, believing that political transformation was the main policy that saw a major change. But, in this
Now, the new implantations of what they did were overall mediocre in the amount of success some boasted about. For example, the Truth and Reconciliation Commision was founded in 1995 as a way to hopefully discover what truly went down the apartheid era. The TRC was an overall success in what they were hoping to achieve, but the victims of the crimes didn’t get justice in the way they intended to. Nevertheless, the TRC could be considered a milestone in South Africa because it was one of the first times the government cared and seeked answers in regards to the apartheid crimes. Although there were some shortcomings within the TRC, such as the fact that they didn’t acknowledge the vast difference between the crimes committed by the apartheid state and the liberation movements, it was a necessary step to learn from the past and make, hopefully, an attempt to help with the ‘rebuilding’ of the nation. Another substantial political transformation is that more women than ever were in parliament, 30% to be exact. Due to the fact that South Africa was a male-dominated society, this shows that they were taking a stance and believing that equality wasn’t just needed between the races, but it was also needed between the genders. Before 1994, 2.7% of parliament was filled with women. This is a rather drastic change between six years and was partly facilitated by the ANC and its new quota that ensured a specific number of women became representatives in parliament. In addition to this, there were a ton of new government-produced organizations in the late 1990s, including GEAR, RPD, BEE, and individual, smaller policies striving for progress. Many of them didn’t reach their ultimate goal, especially the RDP, but it was a learning