Some expected the end of apartheid in South Africa to set off a civil war.

As elections approached 25 years ago — the first in which citizens of all races were able to vote — horrific acts of violence threatened to undermine the hopes for a South Africa freed from white minority rule. White supremacists assassinated a young black leader in his driveway. A mob stoned and stabbed an American volunteer to death, shouting “one settler, one bullet.” And in the black townships, political rivalries set off deadly attacks in which people were burned alive.

Yet, the final transfer of power was a remarkably peaceful, joyful four days. Millions of black South Africans, finally full citizens in the land of their ancestors, stood in line for hours, patiently waiting for the chance to vote for new leaders and end the brutal subjugation of the apartheid system. Officials would later declare that there had not been a single election-related fatality.

[As South Africans vote in Wednesday's election, the A.N.C. faces an electorate increasingly disillusioned with the country's democracy.]