Millions celebrate victory
By Norm Dixon
JOHANNESBURG — "You can proclaim it from the rooftops: free at last!" Nelson Mandela declared near the end of his historic victory speech. Within minutes, millions of South Africans were doing just that. They spilled into the streets of the cities and townships to celebrate.
Soweto ANC activist Khabs Mosunkutu told Green Left Weekly many South Africans awoke on May 3 with a hangover. "But we went to work as the president directed", he added with a laugh, "although I am not sure what happened in the factories".
South Africans, after a painfully slow wait as votes were counted, were ready to party. "About 80% of the people of Soweto were in the streets ... I don't think there was a single house in Soweto that was not celebrating in one way or another."
Mosunkutu said that while Mandela was speaking — the speech was broadcast live over national radio — the streets were silent. But "within 10 minutes of Mandela finishing his speech, the streets were filled. There were literally millions of people outside toyi-toying and singing freedom songs."
The celebrations went on into the night, he said. "It was like the day we heard that Mandela had been released."
Huge crowds filled the streets in Alexandra to the north of Johannesburg and in the townships to the east, shouting and waving ANC posters. Thousands converged on the streets surrounding the plush Carlton Hotel, where Mandela delivered his speech to a delirious audience of campaign workers and invited dignitaries. They sang, danced and blew their car horns. Cleaners at the hotel cast aside their mops and joined the carnival. ANC flags and the new national flag were everywhere.
Similar scenes were reported from Cape Town, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Durban. In the war-ravaged KwaMashu township near Durban, which had a welcome drop in political violence during the election days and after, ANC supporters fired green tracer bullets into the sky.