Apartheid and Post-Apartheid South Africa

1366 Words3 Pages

Seventeen years have passed and the Apartheid era has ended, but the legacy it has left behind has caused South Africa’s rehabilitation and self-determination to be an obstructed undertaking. Unaddressed security problems of belligerent crimes and HIV/AIDS are a direct cause of the failure to manage the aforementioned legacy (Vercillo n.p.). Back in 1947, the growing desegregation which was caused by the liberation of India and Pakistan, helped spread the evidential racial equality. The Afrikaaner Nationalists of South Africa, led by Dr. Malan, believed that the whites were a superior race and that the blacks were a subservient people; a menace in society that the whites must be protected from. In 1948, when the Nationalists won the elections, Dr. Malan vowed to protect his people through his policy; the Apartheid (Lowe 340). This policy was much more structured as compared to the one implemented before the 1948 elections. This separation of the blacks from the whites became more apparent by the forced removal of the blacks in the rural areas from their houses to the special reserves. Blacks residing in the city were forcibly removed as well, but to isolated townships with distances that the government deemed apt. Modes of transportation, public utilities as basic as toilets, hospitals and churches were provided separately for the blacks as well (Lowe 340). Through Nelson Mandela’s victory from South Africa’s first ever multiracial elections which was believed to be rooted from his early political awareness, the nation had from then on been liberated from their oppressing past. Therefore, South Africa should use its transition into the Post-Apartheid era to create positive changes in their political and social scene.

The concept...

... middle of paper ...

...struggle veterans, including his closest comrades, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu, for him liberation had come too late.” (Johnson 136) The end of the Mandela regime marked the beginning of a new one; the Thabo Mbeki presidency.

Thabo Mbeki put his office to work right away by dealing with issues regarding the youth, gender equality, the handicapped, HIV/AIDS, NGOs and international relations (Johnson 137). He also implemented an elite-driven foundation for the black middle class which is the Black Economic Empowerment policy (Carton 38). This policy however, failed to address the unskilled sector. He also made South Africa the main point of the continent’s economic development by enticing most of Africa’s Foreign Direct Investment to expend money. Despite all of this, Mbeki has been lambasted for stating that the cause of AIDS is not HIV, but poverty (Meo n.p.).

More about Apartheid and Post-Apartheid South Africa

Open Document