Editing African National Congress (section)

=== Negotiations to end apartheid ===
{{Main|Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa}}
From the mid-1980s, as international and internal opposition to apartheid mounted, elements of the ANC began to test the prospects for a [[Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa|negotiated settlement]] with the South African government, although the prudence of abandoning armed struggle was an extremely controversial topic within the organisation.<ref name="Ellis-2013"/> Following preliminary contact between the ANC and representatives of the state, business, and civil society,<ref name="Lodge-1987" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brits |first=J. P. |date=2008 |title=Thabo Mbeki and the Afrikaners, 1986–2004 |url=http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0018-229X2008000200004&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en |url-status=live |journal=Historia |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=33–69 |issn=0018-229X |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227161356/http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0018-229X2008000200004&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en |archive-date=27 December 2021 |access-date=27 December 2021}}</ref> President [[F. W. de Klerk]] announced in February 1990 that the government would unban the ANC and other banned political organisations, and that Mandela would be released from prison.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Ottaway |first1=David |date=1990-02-03 |title=S. Africa Lifts Ban on ANC, Other Groups |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/s_africa/stories/anc020390.htm |access-date=1 July 2016}}</ref> Some ANC leaders returned to South Africa from exile for so-called "talks about talks", which led in 1990 and 1991 to a series of bilateral accords with the government establishing a mutual commitment to negotiations. Importantly, the [[Pretoria Minute]] of August 1990 included a commitment by the ANC to unilaterally suspend its armed struggle.<ref name="Simpson-2009">{{Cite journal |last=Simpson |first=Thula |date=2009 |title=Toyi-Toyi-ing to Freedom: The Endgame in the ANCs Armed Struggle, 1989–1990 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40283245 |journal=Journal of Southern African Studies |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=507–521 |doi=10.1080/03057070902920015 |jstor=40283245 |hdl=2263/14707 |s2cid=145785746 |issn=0305-7070|hdl-access=free }}</ref> This made possible the multi-party [[Convention for a Democratic South Africa]] and later the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum, in which the ANC was regarded as the main representative of the interests of the anti-apartheid movement.

However, ongoing [[political violence]], which the ANC attributed to a state-sponsored [[Third Force (South Africa)|third force]], led to recurrent tensions. Most dramatically, after the [[Boipatong massacre]] of June 1992, the ANC announced that it was withdrawing from negotiations indefinitely.<ref name="Keller-1992">{{Cite news |last=Keller |first=Bill |date=1992-06-24 |title=Mandela, Stunned by Massacre, Pulls Out of Talks on Black Rule |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/24/world/mandela-stunned-by-massacre-pulls-out-of-talks-on-black-rule.html |access-date=2022-07-23 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It faced further casualties in the [[Bisho massacre]], the [[Shell House massacre]], and in other clashes with state forces and supporters of the [[Inkatha Freedom Party]] (IFP).<ref name="Van Baalen-2014">{{Cite journal |last=Van Baalen |first=Sebastian |date=2014 |title=The Microdynamics of Conflict Escalation : The Case of ANC-IFP Fighting in South Africa in 1990 |url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-324310 |url-status=live |journal=Pax et Bellum Journal |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=14–20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211231044542/http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1109559&dswid=4294 |archive-date=31 December 2021 |access-date=28 December 2021}}</ref> However, once negotiations resumed, they resulted in November 1993 in an [[Interim Constitution (South Africa)|interim Constitution]], which governed South Africa's [[1994 South African general election|first democratic elections]] on 27 April 1994. In the elections, the ANC won an overwhelming 62.65% majority of the vote.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-06-28 |title=Elections '94 |url=http://www.elections.org.za/Elections94.asp |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Independent Electoral Commission|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628132254/http://www.elections.org.za/Elections94.asp |archive-date=28 June 2008 }}</ref> Mandela was elected [[President of South Africa|president]] and formed a coalition [[Cabinet of Nelson Mandela|Government of National Unity]], which, under the provisions of the interim Constitution, also included the National Party and IFP.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Drogin |first=Bob |date=1994-05-07 |title=Ex-Guerrillas, Exiles Named to Mandela Cabinet |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-05-07-mn-54878-story.html |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The ANC has controlled the [[Government of South Africa|national government]] since then.