Former liberation movements, who replaced white minority regimes in Southern Africa with the support of an international solidarity movement, have in retrospective failed to meet the expectations, also measured against what they had promised. The transition towards majority rule paved the way for a new elite project, with less benefits for the ordinary people than originally hoped for. This article takes critically stock of what can be considered as the limits to liberation. It seeks to explain the context and legacy of the struggle for self-determination when it comes to the failures of true emancipation.