It was only two decades ago that South Africa was truly in a deep social and economic crisis; the CODESA II (Convention for a Democratic South Africa) political negotiations had broken down and tensions between the then Nationalist government and the ANC (African National Congress) were at a breaking point.
Of course we remember only too well the conditions by which many impoverished fellow South African people lived at this time, which was directly as a result of the inequalities created by the previous Apartheid government and system.
At the time, political violence plagued our country and South Africa was very unstable, and foreign investors had successfully ‘economically starved’ South Africa’s growth through economic and political sanctions.
It was only in 1989 that some form of ‘normality’ was restored in the country, when the then President of South Africa, FW de Klerk, unbanned the ANC and other organisations and released the leader of the ANC, Nelson Mandela. Now over 20 years later, South Africa has enjoyed a relatively peaceful political transition from the previous highly segregated society, where white people predominantly enjoyed all the benefits of the economy. Today we have a country which provides a Constitution that protects the rights of all its citizens, black people included, but that’s about all.
Although South Africa achieved its democracy in 1994, there are still massive inequalities which exist amongst our people and the gap between the rich and poor has widened since the transition. Just a few months ago, President Jacob Zuma lamented, saying that “we want to have a country where millions more South Africans have decent employment opportunities, which has a modern infrastructure and vibrant economy and where the quality of life is high.” Essentially a vibrant, growing, broad based middle class working society is urgently required; rather than a few advantaged ‘insiders’ and this being at the expense of a larger group of impoverished underclass people desperate for employment.
