South Africa's first elections with universal adult suffrage, held on 27 April 1994, marked the end of apartheid. The ANC won more than 60 per cent of the popular vote and formed a Government of National Unity. At the regional level of government, the ANC topped the poll in seven of the nine provinces; the IFP won its home province of KZN and the NP held on to the Western Cape. The elections demonstrated the IFP's political marginalisation on the Rand, as it was trounced at the polls just as its followers were isolated in the hostels and exhausted by the violence. Consequently, the IFP concentrated its political efforts in KZN. For its part, the ANC moved to demilitarise Rand townships, urging SDUs to stand down and comply with disarmament initiatives. Numerous SDUs, fearing a resurgence of hostilities, refused to surrender their weapons, and some SDU rivalries persisted, but the scale of violence immediately and substantially diminished once political sponsors disavowed fighting.

Many combatants had a difficult time transitioning to peace. Notwithstanding the trauma they endured, SDU members achieved a status that evaded most township youth. They were feared, they had power, and in the midst of a war, communities had little choice but to tolerate SDU excesses and accept SDU authority. Once the violence was over, the new ANC government had no use for local militias and any continuing violence was branded as criminal. The communities that had once sheltered and fed SDUs no longer did so. Instead, ex-SDU members were sometimes stigmatised as killers and ostracised by their home communities. There was little in the way of counselling or reintegration programs available to these combatants. A handful were absorbed into the local police as reservists, but the majority of these were dismissed or resigned within a short period of time. Many struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance abuse issues along with joblessness and social isolation. SDU members considered themselves to be soldiers of the ANC and pointed out that they had done much more fighting than MK veterans who were eligible for pensions, reintegration packages and enlistment into the post-apartheid military. Some SDU groups lobbied for recognition as statutory combatants, a status that would entitle them to benefits but, despite a short-lived demilitarisation programme in Ekurhuleni, these goals were never realised.