| | On the eve of the first non-racial elections in South Africa the continent seems poised on the edge of a new political era. For many in Africa and elsewhere the April elections will be reminiscent of the heady days of the 1960s when decolonisation and political sovereignty seemed synonymous with freedom and development. Three decades later, the euphoria has gone, Africa remains trapped in a web of under development. Nonetheless there is a tendency to view South Africa, and this dramatic moment in its history as exceptional and therefore infuse its future with all the hopes and broken promises of the region, and indeed the continent. South Africa's importance as an industrial centre is rivalled only by the symbolic power of black South African freedom. |
