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Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa in 1994. He is the country's first black president. He was elected by the country's National Assembly. The Assembly had been chosen in South Africa's first elections in which the country's blacks were allowed to vote. Blacks won a majority of the Assembly seats, and the Assembly selected Mandela as president. These developments marked the beginning of a new era in South Africa. They resulted in blacks gaining control …

…injustice, including laws that denied blacks the right to vote in national and provincial elections. The first truly open national elections in which all races could vote were held in April 1994. The ANC won a majority of the seats in the country's National Assembly, and Mandela became president. Mandela stepped down as head of the ANC in 1997 In 1992, Mandela announced that he and his wife, Winnie, had agreed to separate. The couple was divorced in 1996.