The Afrikaners

For South Africa the year 1988 was one of politically charged anniversaries. It was 500 years since the Portuguese explorer, Bartholomeu Dias, became the first European to set foot on the southern tip of Africa. The ruling National Party marked 40 years in power, while President P.W. Botha celebrated ten years as the country's controversial leader. Most important of all was the 150th anniversary of the Great Trek, the heroic focal point in the history of the Afrikaners, the white tribe that dominates South Africa. The trek was undertaken by Afikaner or "Boer" fugitives from British colonial rule in the Cape. Dragging their ox-wagons over mountains and through swirling rivers, they made their way north to establish their own republics, suffering hardship and death on the way. The commemoration of the Great Trek was therefore a tumultuous event for the Afrikaners. But it was celebrated by a bitterly divided people. President Botha's cautious moves towards sharing power with people of colour have led to Afrikanerdom's most fundamental schism to date. Hardliners seeking a return to rigid apartheid have moved to the right.
Liberal Afrikaners have gone in search of common ground with black nationalists. This leaves the National Party trying to hold the centre ground. Every level of Afrikaner society has been torn by the rifts. Given the Afrikaner's firm grip on power in South Africa and his determination to survive despite overwhelming opposition from the rest of the world, what happens within Afrikanerdom is of crucial importance to the country's future. The violent unrest in the black townships during the mid-1980s was crushed in a clear demonstration that the Afrikaners are not about to surrender control over their future. Today the Afrikaners are embarked upon their final trek. It is a journey to the very core of South Africa's racial problem; a journey which will determine whether this singular and stubborn people can live side by side with their black fellow countrymen, whose political aspirations they have so far thwarted.