Here’s a simple Worlda map depicting the aftermath of an ISOT event that involves the nations of South Africa, Rhodesia and the Portuguese Government-in-Exile (and a few more) being transported to OTL Southern Africa from my
Republic of Rhodesia oneshot that I uploaded last year. I've also taken some inspiration from @rvbomally’s
The South Has Risen Again (Kinda) and its sequel,
The South Has Fallen Again.
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Many thought that the idea of time travel or even travel between other worlds was impossible, but the events of mid-1996 changed all that. Six sovereign states, all of which were some varying levels of dictatorship, replaced what was once a region of free and democratic states on a continent that was usually famous for its dictators.
The nightmares of many South Africans and Zimbabweans who were aboard at the time of ‘The Event’ had been reborn in all their modern, late 1990’s splendour.
The governments of the three Apartheid states merely reacted with shock at their sudden inter-universal transportation, while the communist governments to the north were in utter chaos, still reeling from the loss of their Soviet protectors. Zambia fell into civil conflict about two days after the ISOT, while South Africa and Co. declared martial law and sent the military out to the streets to contain any potential violence. Riots and other forms of widespread civil disobedience began to spread throughout the townships and major cities, where it eventually got to the point of no return in the first week or so after the ISOT. South Africa and Rhodesia quickly collapsed into civil war two weeks after the ISOT, with Estado Novo following shortly thereafter.
The international community reacted with shock, as did President Mandela, who was at the UN during the events of the ISOT. Various sanctions were passed by the international community and a rapid response force of UN and NATO troops prepared for an invasion of the rapidly-disintegrating region. The International Forces quickly made mincemeat of the unprepared South African and Communist forces. The nuclear destruction of Cape Town by an as-yet-unknown party only served to strengthen the resolve of the UN and their newfound allies, most of which were in the form of numerous guerrilla groups, both White and Black.
The remnants of the Apartheid and Communist governments quickly sued for peace approximately 6 months post-ISOT. The occupation duties were split between the major governments of the UN, while new states were created either out of rebellion or carefully negotiated decisions between nations. The South African Conflict, as it came to be known, scarred the continent – and the world – forever. What worried the international community the most was the fact that if some of the worst regimes could just pop up out of nowhere and replace formerly democratic states, who says that it couldn’t happen again?
The current year, 2016 A.D., has seen many changes, for good or for ill. The governments of China, Pakistan and Iran have since passed into history, while the old dictatorships of Iraq, East Africa, Indonesia and Katanga continue to function as they always had. The new Cold War between a military-run Chinese Republic and the United States is set to begin soon, which seems to be a direct consequence of Beijing not getting their ‘fair share’ of South African land to occupy.
Meanwhile, the remnants of South Africa have created their fair share of weird and whacky successors. Formerly exiled-President Mandela went on to run the rump multi-racial South Africa Republic (based out of Pretoria). Natal broke off as an independent biracial Anglo-Zulu Kingdom under native rule, Orange Free State and the surrounding region quickly went Communist, only to have at least half a decade of Chinese recognition and supplies before Beijing went up in smoke, it’s now the African North Korea, to say the least. The Cape region of SA is home to the liberal Cape Republic, dominated by nomically ‘liberal’ Afrikaners, Coloureds and Indians, as most of the Blacks fled to Azania or any of the independent Bantustans that would take them in. Other nations such as Griqualand, Transkei, Botswana, Namibia and Sofala have prospered either by themselves or with a UN/US cash injection to get them going.
Various rogue states have also come out of the South African mess, ranging from the mercenary-run Republic of Angola to the remnants of the Estado Novo regime in Lourenco Marques, who’ve only just doubled-down on their Lusophone version of the Apartheid system and has begun work on a nuclear program with Libyan and Iraqi assistance.
The scientific and cultural implications of the ISOT have now made themselves clear to the world. Science Fiction novels, movies and television series that tell stories of alternate worlds have become popular in certain circles, while historians, students and netizens often speak of the world that the African nations came from, where the USSR stuck around and Jack Kemp was President of the US as opposed to Bill Clinton.
Nobody knows of what further chaos may come from this mess, but it’s now been established that there’s more than just our Earth out there in the sea of time and space. Some tests at CERN and MIT have been recently bearing fruit, which may possibly solve the mystery of what happened all those years ago...
