Paul Weinberg: Thirty Years of Democracy: The 1994 Elections Portfolio
  • Nelson Mandela votes for the first time in his life, Ohlange High School, KwaZulu-Natal, 1994, 2024
  • The first free multi-racial election in South Africa in 1994 was a miracle. The country had, for five years, teetered on the brink of civil war. Car bombs, massacres, and political assassinations were an almost monthly occurrence. Racial violence was further exacerbated by black-on-black violence, which was matched with an upsurge of white-on-white clashes. However, this near-full-scale civil war was miraculously forgotten as a non-violent election, with its iconic voting queues, was broadcast to the world.
     
    Of course, everybody remembers the towering figure of Mandela. But what might be forgotten is that one organisation was tasked with bringing the election together: the Independent Election Commission (IEC). The IEC was, in many ways, the first vision of what a multi-racial future might look like. Paul Weinberg, the official photographer of the IEC, remembers, the IEC was a strange collection of Afrikaners (loyal to the National Party), young black radicals, and the human rights activists of the UDF, ‘all working together, shoulder to shoulder, to make the elections happen.’
     
    At the centre of the collection is the official photograph of Nelson Mandela voting for the first time at the Ohlange School in Kwa-Zulu Natal. The fact that Mandela chose Ohlange to cast his first ever vote is a moment of great significance, for more than just the obvious reasons. The fact that Jacob Zuma can be seen standing at his shoulder is very much part of that history.
     
    Ohlange was a school built in the Inanda/Pheonix area by the first president of the ANC, John Dube. Not only was it one of the first black owned and built schools in South Africa, it was a mere stone’s throw away from Mahatma Gandhi’s Phoenix ashram.
     
    But Mandela’s joy at voting, with the presence of the spirits of Dube and Gandhi, was not simply a nod to those other men of peace and enlightenment. It was also an acknowledgement of the tinder box that was KwaZulu-Natal. It was an admission that the stability and unity of South Africa depend on peace prevailing in that province.
  • As one of Weinberg's other images testifies, the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party's clash with the ANC almost upset the election....
    IFP supporters march through Johannesburg in the run up to the historic elections that brought democracy, 1994, 2024
     
     
     
     
    As one of Weinberg's other images testifies, the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party's clash with the ANC almost upset the election.
     
    The IFP members, armed with traditional weapons, marched into Johannesburg on 28 March, one month before the election, demanding a Zulu homeland. But they ended up at the Shell House, the headquarters of the ANC. A massacre ensued when ANC security guards opened fire on the IFP supporters. As Weinberg's photograph reveals on the faces of its subjects, it was a day of violence and heightened emotion that nearly ended the chances of a non-violent election.
  • The collection also records the anxiety of the period. The image of a tired and disquieted Judge Kriegler, sitting pensively,...
    Judge Johann Kriegler, head of the independent electoral commission, visits President Mangope then premier of Bophutatswana, to inform him the homeland will be terminated at the end of the elections, Mafikeng, 1994, 2024
     
     
     
     
     
     
    The collection also records the anxiety of the period. The image of a tired and disquieted Judge Kriegler, sitting pensively, at the meeting with Bophuthatswana’s Lucas Mangope expresses much of the emotions of the time.
  • 'This vivid portfolio provides a unique insider’s insight into how the elections unfolded, and reminds us of the idealism and commitment of the heady days of 1994.'

    – Judge Johann Kriegler (Chairperson of the 1994 Independent Electoral Commission)

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    Bophuthatswana had been the site of a televised massacre of white AWB terrorists who entered Bophuthatswana in order to support Mangope’s fight to remain independent. Kriegler’s task, as head of the IEC, was to inform Mangope that his own apartheid-backed fiefdom was over. The image captures the moment that Mangope, who sits beside Kriegler head hands, realises that his rule is effectively over.
     
    But it was not simply the likes of the IFP, Mangope, and the AWB that threatened to destabilise the election. Many who had been life-long supporters of the National Party now came out of the wood work to defame their leaders. 

    Weinberg captured this with his image of a white woman standing defiantly at an oil drum, an effigy of FW de Klerk, and an ANC flag burning within. A group of apartheid-era thugs stand in unison around a bonfire of their nemeses.

     

    Another image catches that strangest of strange moments, FW de Klerk canvassing for votes in Soweto. To add to the incongruity of the event, the hand of a Soweto resident rises behind him, signalling V for victory. Whose victory, however, remains unclear. 

    But not all whites had stood for apartheid. Helen Suzman had, in many ways, been the lone voice against apartheid inside the white parliament. Weinberg captures her dedicated bravery, as a commissioner for the IEC, visiting the violence-torn Katlehong.
  • 'My prevailing sentiment was one of gratitude to the political leadership for their steadfastness, to the people for their forbearance, and to everyone for making it work.'

    – Judge Kriegler

    • Helen Suzman, human rights veteran and commissioner for the IEC, visits the violence-ridden Kathlegong in the run up to the...

      Helen Suzman, human rights veteran and commissioner for the IEC, visits the violence-ridden Kathlegong in the run up to the historic elections, 1994, 2024

    • Voter education in the Richtersveld during the IEC's Operation Access campaign in the 1994 elections, Northern Cape, 1994, 2024

      Voter education in the Richtersveld during the IEC's Operation Access campaign in the 1994 elections, Northern Cape, 1994, 2024

    • Voters lineup to vote in the historic elections that brought democracy to South Africa, 1994, 2024

      Voters lineup to vote in the historic elections that brought democracy to South Africa, 1994, 2024

  • Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF... Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF... Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF... Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF... Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF... Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF... Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF... Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF... Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF... Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF...
     
     
     
    Suzman sits among colleagues in perhaps the most incongruous of all places for her, an apartheid-era military vehicle. A SADF troopie's head pokes up, on guard, above her. The photograph is pregnant with irony. It expresses the paradox of how both the apartheid state and one of its greatest critics had joined forces to ensure a peaceful and fair election.
     
    The need for voter education took the IEC and Weinberg to some of the remotest parts of South Africa. They travelled from Limpopo to the Northern Cape, talking to groups as disparate as the Church of Zion and the goat farmers of Namaqualand. The images convey a sense of almost wonder in these men, who probably never imagined, that in their lifetime, their vote would be equal to that of their white oppressor.
     
    Several of the images capture the voting process itself. The famous first-day queues of people patiently waiting as the IEC struggled with the logistic enormity of the election.
     
    The silhouettes of Weinberg's one image reveal almost perfectly the patient and tired bodies of adults who have waited a lifetime to make their mark. The image brings to mind a linocut print, which, along with photography, was the artistic aesthetic of much of the anti-apartheid movement.
  • In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of... In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of... In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of... In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of... In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of... In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of... In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of... In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of... In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of... In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of...
     
     
     
    In several of the images, there is the presence of soldiers at the polling stations, protecting, that most sacred of all things, the ballot box. The collection also contains the documentation of prisoners voting: a white member of the IEC looks on, ensuring that the black convict places his vote in the box, with delicate, gentle fingers.
     
    Then, of course, came the vote counting. Again, the IEC creaked at the seams as disorder and confusion gripped the process. But finally, five days after the final votes were cast, the IEC came out with a final tally that almost all agreed was a fair reflection of the people's will. And so the celebrations began, at the centre of which was Mandela's iconic, joyful seventy-seven-year-old 'Madiba shuffle'.
     
    It was a time as that evoked Wordsworth's line on the French Revolution: 'Bliss, was it in that dawn to be alive'. The feeling developed into one of pride as Mandela was inaugurated as the first black president of South Africa. Multi-racial crowds gathered and watched with dignity and reverence as the suited, almost regal figure of Mandela declared:
     
    'The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement. Let freedom reign. God bless Africa.'
  • Photographs
    • Madiba does his shuffle as the ANC celebrates the 1994 election victory, Johannesburg, 1994, 2024

      Madiba does his shuffle as the ANC celebrates the 1994 election victory, Johannesburg, 1994, 2024
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    • Former President F.W. de Klerk campaigns in Soweto, 1994, 2024

      Former President F.W. de Klerk campaigns in Soweto, 1994, 2024
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    • The inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president, 5 May 1994, Union Buildings, Pretoria, 1994, 2024

      The inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president, 5 May 1994, Union Buildings, Pretoria, 1994, 2024
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    • South Africans usher in a new era, Inauguration, Union Buildings, Pretoria, 1994, 2024

      South Africans usher in a new era, Inauguration, Union Buildings, Pretoria, 1994, 2024
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