History of South Africa The Democratic Party and Pan Africanist Congress, among others, formed a parliamentary opposition in the country's first non-racial parliament. Nelson Mandela was elected as President on 9 May 1994 and formed a Government of National Unity, consisting of the ANC, the National Party and Inkatha. On 10 May 1994 Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's new President in Pretoria with Thabo Mbeki and F. W. De Klerk as his vice-presidents. The Government of National Unity lapsed at the end of the first parliament sitting in 1999, with the ANC becoming the sole party in power while maintaining a strategic alliance
Malawi–South Africa relations Malawians were viewed as important workers in the South African mines due to their "skills, work discipline and lack of militancy". Malawi was the only country in Africa to maintain diplomatic relations with South Africa during the apartheid era. Hastings Banda was the first black President ever to visit South Africa in 1971 and the first chief of any foreign state to come since the United Kingdom's King George VI's visit in 1947. During his visit, Banda received a 21 gun salute and an official welcome from President Jacobus Johannes Fouché. White students at the University of Stellenbosch applauded him