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This paper is an application of Karl Deutsch?s techniques to democratic change and political liberation in South Africa. Variables that measure level of education are established in relation to a series of dates throughout the gradual process of political mobilization in South Africa. The transition from an oligarchy based on race and sex to a democracy based on universal suffrage is thus quantified in accordance with variables that are independent of access to suffrage. The population ratios thus obtained highlight the gap between expanding human capacity resources and the political impasse inherent to the apartheid regime. While the intention of this method is to explore the potential role of education in the promotion of political mobilization, it in no way refutes the unquestionable importance of civil society and its role in raising political awareness among the majority of the country?s African population.