End of the Apartheid

 

Nice observation. The fact that it's been 15 years on the 17th totally bypassed me. I was 13 at the time of the referendum and still remember the moment. In all constituancies bar one, the "Yes" vote won, signalling the end of Apartheid. This was two years after the release of Nelson Mandela and 3 years after PW Botha's so called "Rubicon" speach where he informed South Africans that it would be the intention of the goverment to steer the country to a non-racial society.

 

I can remember the fear and even paranoia that preceded the 1994 general elections as well as the euphoria and even, dare I say it, feelings of brotherhood that followed the first few years after the election.

 

Today, the country and its people matured alot and things are more normal. The country showed good economic growth over the pas few years and service delivery to poor communities increased substantially. The ANC government looks stronger than ever but faces strong opposition from within its alliance partners in the form of the trade unions. The races do mix freely and openly and if you go out to a pub on the weekends, you do see people from all races sitting around the same tables enjoying themselves. Today you'll see people are more divided along social classes.

 

Racism is still present in the country (from all groups) but after visiting other countries I noticed it's not unique to South Africa and seems to be more prevelant in the rural areas.

 

The topic of race is still very much on the tongue of business in the form of "affirmative action" or "black economic empowerment" topics whereby business is encouraged to uplift black communities by offering vacant positions and contracts first to black people before white people, among other initiatives. Race is also still a much-loved playing card for the different politicians (unfortunately).

 

All in all things are looking up for the country. The biggest problems still facing the country is providing basic education effectively to everybody, the high unemployment rate (close to 20%) and the high crime rate. Big fish to tackle but if we can address that, it would be a wonderful country to live in.

 

Kind regards,

Eon