Former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, a supporter of the Apartheid regime and white power in South Africa, died last Friday.  But just before he did, Helms had the opportunity to experience the funeral of one of the last vestiges of the Apartheid era in the United States.

Last Monday, President George W. Bush signed into law HR 5690, which states that members and supporters of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's democratically nominated party, will no longer be considered terrorists by the United States.

During the Apartheid regime, a state-sponsored segregation and oppression by the controlling white population in South Africa from 1948-1994, the ANC fought for racial equality and freedom.  They often sabotaged government facilities and leadership, and participated in targeted killings and guerrilla actions such as bomb explosions.  These actions caused the United States to label the ANC, along with its members and material supporters, as terrorists and place them on a State Department watch list - the same list U.S. minutemen fighting British tyranny would have undoubtedly landed on.

In 1994, Apartheid ended when the ANC won a landslide victory in a peaceful, democratic election and is today the majority party in South Africa.  But the U.S. never took the political party off the terrorist watch list.  

For fourteen years, anyone who belonged to the ANC or gave material aid to them before 1994, including former South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela, hit a roadblock whenever they applied for a U.S. visa. Every time they paid a visit, they had to have a waiver signed by the Secretary of State.  And if that isn't demeaning enough, the waiver said that the person using it had permission to travel to the U.S., but was still considered a terrorist.

Described as an "oversight," the treatment of those convicted under the Apartheid government of anti-Apartheid activities was passed over when the government fell.  Really, it's embarrassing how long it took the U.S. to act.  

The South African government realized the situation with applying for visas long ago, when every time they tried to visit the United States they were reminded of their painful past of being considered criminals and exiles.

"Basic principles of fairness and opportunity for Members of the African National Congress have been wrongly denied for some time," Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) said. "It is a travesty to reject entry to America because of one's participation in a fight for freedom and justice in South Africa. For far too long, many of these patriots have been mislabeled as terrorists solely because of their membership in the ANC."

House Foreign Affairs Committee Howard L. Berman (D-CA), soon to lead a Congressional delegation to South Africa, realized there was a problem when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice complained to him that she was signing waivers to let Nelson Mandela, who had a criminal conviction under Apartheid law, into the U.S.  

"It is shameful that the United States still treats the ANC this way based solely on its designation as a terrorist organization by the old Apartheid South African regime," Berman said in a press release.  "Amazingly, Nelson Mandela still needs to get a special waiver to enter the United States based on his courageous leadership of the ANC.  What an indignity. This legislation will wipe it away."

Berman quickly drafted the bill, which passed through the House and Senate quickly...for the government at least.  Introduced to House on April 3, 2008 it was passed by May 8, 2008.  

The Senate picked it up on June 26, 2008 and doing something almost unheard of today in American politics, passed it twelve hours after receiving the bill. The President signed HR 5690 into law on July 1, 2008, just in time to celebrate South Africa's independence along with our own.

Now, people who were ANC members before the end of the Apartheid regime, convicted of an anti-Apartheid crime, or gave the ANC support will no longer face roadblocks and waivers when entering the United States.

The bill passed just in time for Mandela's birthday.  He will be 90 on July 18.

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