 After 1989 , F. W. de Klerk was elected president and immediately <unk> the African National Congress ( ANC ) and released their leader Nelson Mandela from prison . De Klerk instigated negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa with Mandela 's ANC . One of the ANC 's demands was that the flag gradually decrease in usage in South African life as well as requesting that a new flag be created as black South Africans associated the current one with apartheid and Afrikaner nationalism . 
