Lifestyle and Leisure
Rebuilding the rainbow
Once a nation defined by racial segregation, South Africa has developed and grown in leaps and bounds since apartheid ended 12 years ago
Ben Lewis examines how the country has progressed and looks at what differences a decade of governance by the African National Congress has made to its resident's lives
With the tremendous progress of South Africa in the 12 years since the African National Congress (ANC) party took control of the country, it is easy to forget the mess South Africa was in all those years ago. Having already experienced over 30 years of racial segregation, throughout the 1980s things got progressively worse for the country.
With two million unemployed black people and a shrinking white minority, violent resistance to the regime was becoming increasingly regular and severe. On top of this, the economy was suffering badly from the international sanctions placed on it by countries from all over the world and the dire situation finally convinced many South Africans that something had to change and it had to change quickly.
In 1989 F.W. De Klerk was voted into power after promising to sort out the situation and seek a compromise between the majority blacks and the minority whites. In 1990 De Klerk removed the ban that had been placed on the ANC since the 1960s and released Nelson Mandela from the prison in which he had been incarcerated for 27 years. It marked the beginning of the end for apartheid and a new beginning for a country feeling the strain brought about by the notorious political decisions of its past.
In 1994 the first truly democratic elections were held and the ANC, with Mandela as its leader, was voted into power by a massive majority. The elections marked the end of many years of the internal conflict and international isolation that had held a country with so much potential back for so long. However, all this was just the start of a rebuilding process that is still very much in progress today. It is fair to say that South Africa still has many challenges it must face up to and overcome before it can claim to have wiped out all the effects of apartheid. Lifelong South Africa resident Jacob Nel believes the apartheid years were a horrible and futile debacle. "In the last years of apartheid our country was bankrupt," says Nel. "Without being able to trade internationally, the government wasted unbelievable amounts of money on arms and producing fuel because we couldn't get it from anywhere."
Any doubts about the role Mandela played in lifting the country out of the hole it was in are not shared by Nel: "Thank god we had Nelson Mandela. He was a giant of a man, who had enough compassion in him to say lets forgive and forget. If anyone questions the role the ANC has played since they took over power I say you just have to look at the fact that the country now has a positive bank balance and the economy is growing year on year." And its not just from an economic point of view that things have changed. "I remember back at the time of the Rugby World Cup in 1995, not long after the ANC took over," says Nel. "When we won that the sense of euphoria was quite something. Whether you were black, white, purple, orange or yellow it didn't matter because the sense of pride we felt about our country pushed all those problems away. Everybody was simply South African, regardless of race."
Now, for the first time in modern history the country is witnessing some sweeping changes. The growth of a black middle class is helping to boost the economy and for the first time ever people of all races are finding themselves on an equal footing, not only with regards to their human right but also financially.
In a recent article in the Observer, Rory Carroll identified a growing population of young black urban professionals driving a consumer boom. In ways that the previous generation of black South Africans could only imagine these professionals, or buppies as they are known, are finding themselves with money and all the mod cons that go with it. Retailers have reported record levels of sales in everything from property through to jewellery and new businesses are popping up at a rate that hasn't been witnessed for over 20 years. As a result the economy benefitted enormously as overseas investors pump money into the country thanks to a newly discovered confidence brought about by six years of economic growth. Some forecasters are predicting that 2006 will see the economy grow by a further six per cent.
One person to have done well from the growth in the black middle class is Kennedy Mbiko, a salesman at BMW dealership Jo'burg City Auto. In an interview with Carroll, Mbiko explained that ninety-nine per cent of his clients were black. "There is a huge amount of pride and aspiration among the people who come here. Brand personality has taken over and people want to be seen driving these cars," he says.
Such is the progress the country is making that recent polls have suggested that 67 per cent of the population are positive about the direction the South Africa is going. Television programmes that at one time would rarely feature a black face, have now tapped into the native culture and are realising an entirely new market. Magazines now feature black models and African culture and history is now openly celebrated. However, South Africa is still, as
President Thabo Mbeki observed, a country of "two nations". The down side to all the progress and growth is the inevitable fact that the gap between the rich and the poor is constantly growing. The very real issue of poverty and all the issues that go with it are there for all to see. Unemployment is at 38 per cent, leaving a large percentage of the population languishing below the poverty line.
To the government's credit they have recognised that such an issue can only be combated through effective education, training and job creation. As such, President Mbeki has recently outlined a plan to invest up to £34 billion over the next three years in job creation and public infrastructure in an effort to tackle the issue. Since its election the ANC has also managed to build close to two million affordable houses and provide basic services such as water and electricity to millions of people who were neglected for years under apartheid.
Unfortunately, the ANC has not been quite so constructive in the country's battle against HIV and Aids. South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, a problem that disproportionally affects those below the poverty line and is undoubtedly linked to a lack of education about the nature of the disease. A few years ago Mbeki raised a storm of international controversy by publicly expressing doubts that HIV leads to Aids, a fact that is scientifically indisputable. Despite the very obvious issues with HIV and Aids, the government has, so far, failed to tackle the issue head on. This has meant that antiretroviral medications, so vital for those suffering with the disease, are still widely unavailable to the people who need them.
However, despite the lack of urgency exhibited by the ANC, things are getting better. The drugs that are needed are starting to reach more people than they have in the past, health facilities in the country's rural areas are being improved, guidelines have been put in place designed to prevent discrimination against those who have the disease and there is a push to educate the entire population on how to avoid and cope with infection. Despite these problems, it is difficult to be overly critical of a government that has had so much to deal with in the 12 years they have been in power. The fact is, that it has been no easy task to take a country divided along racial lines and being on the verge of civil war to where it is now, a fully democratic, multi-racial society with ever improving social programmes and a thriving economy.
Former South Africa resident Sarah Yorke left the country in the dark days of apartheid because she felt the country was heading for trouble. "I left in 1975, and even then it was obvious that what was happening had the potential to end in disaster," she says. Since apartheid ended, Yorke has frequently returned to the place she called home for over six years. "The thing about South Africa is that it is such an unbelievably beautiful country that once you have been there it is impossible not to want to return. In the past seven or eight years or so, it has been remarkable how much has changed. It is just a much better place to be these days, the underlying feeling of tension has, for the most part, gone and I have people of all races that I consider to be very close friends."
Yorke points to the freedom of the press as being a major factor in the change. "People should remember that in those days before Mandela and De Klerk made the much-needed changes to our system, the press was completely controlled by those in power. This was before the days of the Internet or anything like that so made it very difficult for those living in South Africa to hear about anything the government didn't want them to hear about. I moved out there when I was 18 and at the time I was pretty ignorant about the political situation. I think it was the same for a lot of people there at that time who were just living in there own little worlds away from all the horrible things that were happening. These days, the population is so much better informed, which has helped people form a much healthier and realistic view of what is going on in the country."
Years of racial division and untapped prejudice mean that the problems in South Africa are not likely to disappear overnight. However, the progress the country has made in the 12 years since its first truly democratic elections is there for all to see. If the economy continues to grow in the way that it has, it follows that unemployment rates will drop, standards of education will rise and money will become available to tackle problems presented by HIV infection head on. In short, it is difficult to see anything but a bright and colourful future for the new and improved Rainbow Nation.
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