Today in 1990

I have to admit I didn't immediately remember what made today special when I woke up this morning until I turned on the radio. Today, twenty years ago in 1990, President FW de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and made clear his intentions on releasing Nelson Mandela from jail. It was the first public step from the government in the dismantling of apartheid and the first step on a very long and bumpy road toward unification for a country with a very embattled soul.

I don't really remember this exact day 20 years ago. I was 7 years old and in Sub A, much more concerned with the idiot I sat next to in class than with politics at the time. I had family who were official members of the National Party and I vaguely remember the adults talking about what this meant for the country and for the future. Being white and Afrikaans and a product of a society that based a lot of its in apartheid I found myself around people who were pessimistic about South Africa's future and strongly disagreed with de Klerk's decision. They saw it as the end of an era, the end of the NP... and it was. It finally was.

I have goosebumps thinking about it now, just how momentous that day was, and how greatly unaware I was of the importance of it all. And now twenty years later things look so much different than a lot of people thought they would be, different in a very very good way. South Africa still has a long way to go to be healed, and there are scars that will always remain, blood in the streets that will never be washed away by sugar-coated words and crafty politics. But the past remains with us for a reason, reminds us of the lessons we learned and that we should be vigilant to never let it repeat itself.