Barely two decades ago, many doomsayers and commentators believed South Africa was headed towards possible prolonged civil war or even serious racial conflict. While this never happened, is the country's post-1994 situation a sign of political stability? Is South Africa a politically stable and economically prosperous society? How unique or exceptional is the county's democratic transition? If so, what explains such 'exceptionalism' and apparent triumph over so many hurdles the country faced just before its 1994 historic all-raceelections? This presents us with an apparent paradoxical situation: is South Africa's transition to democracy unique? Further, what are the country's prospects for democratic consolidation? This paper examines South Africa's transition to multi-party democracy through free and fair, internationally accepted elections. It approaches the subject from an Afro-optimistic but cautionary