CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Ashley Green-Thompson, South Africa, April 1998
THEME = SOCIAL CONDIT.
What this country is all about
48 years of National Party rule and the apartheid policy of social segregation, during which liberation movements declared the country ungovernable, called for sanctions and sought to destroy the basis of white rule has taken its toll on South Africa. The new government has inherited a nation that has greater wealth inequality than Brazil, long held as the reference point in economic discourse. The wealthy are extremely wealthy, and the poor are numerous and destitute from decades of neglect.
Yet the new dispensation ushered in with the historic 1994 election, has achieved much in its short life. The South African Constitution and Bill of Rights is among the best in the world, and provides for a number of institutions to protect human rights and guard against the abuse of power. There is a Public Protector, a Human Rights Commission, Commission on Gender Equality and the Constitutional Court, which has the power to overrule Parliament, if legislation or policy is unconstitutional. The Constitution is supreme. These are all independent bodies, accountable to parliament and resistant to summary dismissal.
For 48 years, white South Africans enjoyed all the benefits that derived from the largest economy in Africa. Black people, the majority in the country, provided cheap labour. The new government, for obvious reasons, has placed at the top of its agenda, the social development of blacks, and the redistribution of the country's enormous wealth.
Initially the flagship for this process was the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), a plan for addressing the legacy of apartheid. This plan found favour with many sectors of society, including the Bishops' Conference who publicly endorsed it as a "just and admirable programme". However, the pressures of the global village and international financial institutions, led to the relegation of the RDP and the adoption of a neo-liberal macro- economic plan, called "Growth, Employment and Redistribution" (GEAR).
There is a great deal of opposition to GEAR, particularly from non- governmental and development organisations, but government officials claim to have no choice in a hostile world market.
Politically, the African National Congress (ANC) is the strongest party, with over 60% of representation, followed by the National Party with about 20%. The smaller opposition parties include Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party (which has remained in the government of national unity after the NP left); the Freedom Front; Democratic Party; Pan-Africanist Congress; and the smallest, the African Christian Democratic Party.
The ANC recently held its 80th National Congress, at which President Mandela handed over the reins of the party to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. This has secured Mbeki's place as the next president of the country. It was during this congress, that President Mandela issued a challenge to white South Africa, to accept the need for transformation of power and economic relations. His message is best summed up by his quoting of Lyndon Johnson's 1965 speech at Howard University: "We seek not just freedom but opportunity; not just legal equity but human ability; not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and as a result." Mandela emphasised that national reconciliation cannot happen without social transformation.
While the ANC emerged politically stronger from a Congress that demonstrated the movement's cohesion in the face of sometimes harsh opposition, it will be hard put to handle the problems of corruption in government and rampant crime. Many say that the corruption is no worse than it was under apartheid. This argument no longer holds sway, and the recent failure of the Eastern Cape provincial government to pay the monthly old-age pension, generated angry responses from a wide range of organisations.
Millions are being lost to corruption, maladministration and inefficiency. Much of this is a legacy of the negotiated settlement of the early 1990's, that guaranteed old apartheid civil servants their jobs for 5 years. Much of it can be attributed to the destructive legacy of apartheid.
Whatever the reason, for its own survival and to prevent South Africa becoming a nation of thieves, the ANC leadership in government, must put a stop to it.
This corruption finds overt expression in the rampant crime rate. While efforts by the severely under-resourced police and criminal justice system have seen some success in certain areas, the overall level of especially violent crime, remains high.
Between January-September 1997, 40 people in every 100,000 South Africans were murdered. Attempted murder - 47 people in every 100,000. Robbery with aggravating circumstances -116.6 people in every 100,000. These statistics, (as with all such studies which depend on the methodology and political slant of the researcher), are widely regarded as a direct consequence of the violent struggle against apartheid that happened in the black townships and beyond. The government has initiated strategies and plans to combat crime, and have used some innovative ideas. The success of these efforts will only be measurable during the course of this year.
One noble attempt by the nation to deal with the pain and trauma of the past, is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Headed by Anglican Archbishop Tutu, the Commission has spent the past two years investigating past violations and abuses of human rights. The measure of it's success as a healing and reconciling agent, will only be gauged during the course of time.
At present, criticism still abounds that the TRC remains biased towards perpetrators, who receive amnesty if they tell the whole story, while their victims have yet to receive any compensation or restitution. Again this is a unique experiment in the world, and one that demonstrates how much black people are prepared to forgive their former oppressors. At the same time, it exposes how many whites refuse to truly repent for their acceptance of apartheid while it benefited them. Perhaps distant future generations will fully appreciate the impact of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
A recent census was conducted and emerged with a population of 37.9 million inhabitants. This was regarded as low by most observers who questioned techniques and accuracy. Most put the figure above 40 million. Of this, over 30% are formally unemployed. While many of these are active in the informal sector - trading on street corners in anything from fruit to Fuji cameras - it is difficult if not impossible, to get an accurate assessment of their conditions. Suffice to say, in the urban centres, the informal sector is a tough and competitive market place, where newcomers, especially migrants, are not always welcome.
GEAR promised to create 126,000 jobs in 1996, and a further 252,000 in 1997. What happened between June 1996 and June 1997 is that 79,800 jobs were lost. 450,000 young people leave school each year to enter the job market.
A recent survey states that 20% of households in South Africa get by (or don't get by) on an income of about US $100 per month. And this in a country where the gross domestic product is $1,430.
One of the biggest catch phrases today in South Africa is "black empowerment". This refers to ensuring black people have not just political power, but control over the economy. What has actually been happening, is that huge acquisition deals into white companies, have taken place by black-owned consortiums, thereby allowing black businessmen to gain access to the upper echelons of the economy.
So today, 3% of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange is owned by black companies. Critics say that black empowerment cannot be measured by how many new black millionaires there are, but by how many more people have jobs.
A few more figures on the health front where the Minister has succeeded in providing free health care to children and expectant mothers; cheaper generic drugs are available, and medical students must complete community service before they may enter private practice. These controversial but revolutionary advances have been one of the major achievements of the new government. An estimated 2.4 million adults and 58,000 babies were HIV positive at the end of 1996. By 1997, the Department of Health estimates that 70,000 adults and 20,000 children would develop full blown AIDS. Tuberculosis still remains, however, the largest preventable disease with 151 per 100,000 of the population reported.
In terms of housing, between March 1994 and September 1997, 36% (360,000) of the government's target of 1 million houses by 1999 had been built or were under construction. Progress again has been made here, but when you have a housing shortage in excess of 2 million units, this represents only the beginning.
Two areas that have improved since 1994 are in the provision of piped water and in electricity. 1997 saw 1.7 million people receive piped clean water for the first time, while 18 million people still don't have a basic water supply. At the beginning of 1997, 20 million people did not have electricity, but connections are happening at around 80,000 new connections per year.
Statistics don't often prove very much. The source for many of these figures is the Institute for Race Relations, a body with a definite ideological slant. However, they do give an indication of the progress the country has made. There are fundamental social problems, some that are par for the course for a newly liberated developing country. Others are peculiar hangovers from the apartheid nightmare. Nonetheless, the country's saving grace and its hope for success in this difficult world order can be found in two things.
The first is the maturity and skill of its political leaders. The second is a vibrant civil society in which Church and other community organisations and leaders, play a key role in keeping the transformation process on track. This is democracy in its infancy, and the infant must still learn how to behave well enough to be called an adult.
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CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
PeaceLink 1998 - Reproduction authorised, with usual acknowledgement