ABSTRACT
The year 1999 marked the second democratic election in South Africa and the end of Nelson Mandela’s Presidency. The African National Congress (ANC) was returned to power by a significant majority (just short of 66%) and President Thabo Mbeki set an aggressive agenda of transformation. It is also nearly 10 years since President F.W.de Klerk announced his intention to unban the resistance organizations and dismantle the apartheid legislation. This is an opportune moment to reflect on one of the key challenges in the dismantling of the apartheid system and the construction of an embryonic South African identity: the desegregation of schooling. However, unlike much of the literature on the process of desegregation that has concentrated solely on the experiences of desegregation, assimilation, and racism in the formerly White, Indian, and colored schools, this article will seek to assess the role that the state has played in managing the process and its implications for education more generally.1
