SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa held the first elections where all the racial groups were able
to vote, in 1994. The party that won the election was the African National
Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela. During the elections there were lots
of bombs, bombing of polling booths and violence because different political
groups wanted to stop the elections. This was due to the fact that for the
first time, in history there was a black party running for power and black
people were allowed to vote alongside whites. The most violent were the
"far right", a group of white Afrikaaners against this change
of black people being able to vote, and Lukatha, a party led by chief Buthelezi,
the leader of the Zulu's.
Because of this dramatic change in lifestyle for everyone, it created a
lot of problems, and as a result it has also created a lot of new challenges
for the new South African government, which for the first time in history
is black.
Some of these challenges are made extremely obvious in the economics, political
and social factors of the new South Africa.
The huge change and the problems due to this change that have arisen in
the past couple of years, are a consequence of the many changed political
factors.
Before Nelson Mandela was voted to power, there were no black parties and
no black persons were able to vote. This all changed in 1994 when, Nelson
Mandela joined in the running for president along side of the National party
(which has been in power since 1948) and for the first time black people
were allowed to vote.
As a result of such a quick change, many of the white people were opposed.
They showed their disapproval in a very violent manner. For example such
people as the right wing, (a group of whites) were bombing polling booths
and other areas to try to delay the elections and to try to deter both the
black people and the black party. Many whites are still not convinced of
the worth of a black government and still perceive blacks as animals. Throughout
these lead ups to the elections, Nelson Mandela said many things and built
up peoples expectations and faith in the black government.
Although this was mainly the black people and it has resulted in a lot of
whites losing their confidence in a black government. This alone is quiet
a large factor for the new South Africa to overcome.
One of the major problems with the economics side is that there is now a
great need for employment for all the blacks. There is a total of 40% of
South Africans unemployed compared with Australia, which is around 8 or
9%. How to create so many much needed jobs in such a short amount of time?
There is a promise to create 300,000 to 500,000 non-agricultural jobs every
year within five years, yet to achieve this during a prolonged recession
it will require some "affirmative actions". Before we are able
to start giving jobs to the blacks a certain amount of education must be
needed, this is where another problem arises. Most blacks have little or
no education, so these educational facilities that they were deprived of
earlier have to be made available if they are to start entering the work
force where a higher education is needed, especially to the 15 million black
South Africans that are illiterate. There is much needed money to be spent
on reducing disease among the black population, and in rural areas if the
blacks are to be returned to their homelands. Health facilities, particularly
in rural South Africa are often non-existent.
Access to housing with adequate facilities such as water, toilets, showers,
electricity and shelter is an area where much needed money has to be spent.
Housing conditions in South Africa are among the worst in the world. just
58 per cent of homes are connected to a water supply and more than a quarter
are not classified as 'permanent' structures. The disparity between white
and black homes is enormous. The average floor area per person for whites
is 33 square meters each, whereas blacks have 4 square meters each. Then
there is concern among the whites that their living standards will drop
due to the fact that blacks are increasing their living standards, so they
need to be reassured that they will not be greatly effected.
Many of the factors already listed can also be classed as social problems,
considering that 15 million blacks are illiterate, it will reduce the chance
of them being able to obtain a job and if they do, then the chances are
that it will be an extremely low paying job, putting them in the lower class
of society.
The quick change with letting the blacks into society has also caused an
uproar within the white community. Because of the many rules associated
with apartheid it is hard for the whites to accept, that now the blacks
will enter into a shop the same way as they do, that they will be in the
same area as the whites now and they will have the same jobs etc.
This equality between the blacks and whites will result in more mixed marriages
and coloured children. This will be hard for most to accept but eventually
it will work as an advantage, by showing that blacks and whites are mixing
socially.
History has much to answer for. The prejudices between black and white have
grown over the many years, especially seeing that it was enforced by a white
South African government. This is basically the reason there are so many
difficulties. There is still much prejudices from the whites, particularly
elder ones, considering they have grown up thinking that whites are the
superior race, that now have to share such facilities as hospitals, shops,
schools, parks etc.
Because of these prejudices, violence has been quite a common part of life.
Those that were once fighting, now have to learn to live with each other,
and the new laws to have a functional society, where everyone is accepted
for who they are.
I feel South Africa has a long way to go before this happens and then things
will never be fully equal. We should know from our own experiences.
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