Essay About G5 Cannons And Official Ceremonies

The Challenge of Effective Governance in a Democratic South Africa
Essay title: The Challenge of Effective Governance in a Democratic South Africa
Introduction
There are many events during the course of a transition which signal the
passage from the old order to the new. In the period immediately following
South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994 these symbols of transition
were everywhere. Yet there is one event which stands out in my memory as
among the most vivid symbols of the enormity of the change which South
Africa has experienced.
On 10 May last year, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first
democratically-elected South African president. It was an occasion witnessed
across the globe and attended by many of the world’s leaders. Once Mandela
had been sworn in as president, a squadron of fighter jets of the South African
airforce appeared on the horizon. They flew low over the inauguration
ceremony, trailing jets of coloured smoke behind them. What, you might ask, is
so significant about these aeroplanes? Fly pasts are, after all, common to many
official ceremonies. But on that day, on that occasion, these planes took on a
special meaning. Throughout the dark years of apartheid the National Party
Government would have regular displays of military strength through the
streets of South Africa’s cities. The latest heavy weaponry would be paraded.
G5 cannons and heavy tanks would make huge dents in the tarred streets, while
fighter