African National Congress

South Africa. In 1994, the new African National Congress government, fulfilling its mandate to remove the inequities of the apartheid era, introduced free health services for pregnant women and children under five. In 1998, the government extended fee provision to all those using public primary health care services. The removal of fees led to an increase in service utilization, but health workers felt that they were not prepared for the changes, which resulted in unnecessary tensions between workers and patients. 

Shortly before it handed over power to the African National Congress, the apartheid regime in South Africa confessed to having developed nuclear weapons but announced that it had decided to dismande them. It surrendered its accumulated stockpile of fissionable material to the depository powers of the Treaty, allowed the IAEA to inspect its installations and their dismandement in 1991, and joined the Treaty as a nonweapons state. The buildings and facilities stand as empty shells and monuments. 

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