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20 years ago today: Voters sing while they wait to vote in a voting station April 27, 1994 in Lindelani, in Natal Province, South Africa.
Modern South Africa has officially entered adulthood. It is eighteen years old today, and millions of its people are celebrating ‘Freedom Day’, the anniversary of the country’s first democratic elections and the moment that marked the miracle birth of Nelson Mandela’s ‘Rainbow Nation’.
Today, a public holiday, South Africans are reflecting upon the country’s phenomenal progress, with concerts, private parties and civil celebrations. Citizens are sharing their memories of where they were that day and how it felt to vote for the first time. Some will try to re-live the euphoria and optimism of those historic moments.
South Africa’s eighteenth year of freedom marks a coming of age, with the first children to be born after the end of the racist regime now able to vote for the first time. But increasingly, many South Africans see Freedom Day as a time to reflect upon today’s challenges rather than the victories of yesteryear - a time to ask why South Africa has not progressed further than it has.
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As South Africa approaches its third decade of democracy, many of its black communities are still blighted by poverty and hopelessness; they are on the wrong side of the so-called “economic apartheid”.
Others believe that the cancer of public corruption is modern South Africa's greatest problem, complaining that today’s politicians are mere shadows of the leaders of Nelson Mandela’s generation and have become more focused on their own interests than those of their people.
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View images of civil rights leader Nelson Mandela, who went from anti-apartheid activist to prisoner to South Africa's first black president.
One recent report suggested that forty per cent of South Africans believe most of the country’s lawmakers to be corrupt.
For many citizens, violent crime is the real issue. Although the police claim to be winning the war on many crimes, the recent gang-rape of a mentally disabled girl in Soweto which was filmed and posted onto the internet appeared to indicate a wider epidemic. According to one estimate, a woman is raped in South Africa every 26 seconds.
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This is a youthful society, where most people are too young to have any memory of the dark days of Apartheid. They only know democracy, but are equally familiar with society’s current-day ills. In an editorial, The Star newspaper of Johannesburg reflects on what it calls the nation's ‘crucial crossroads’, arguing that although much has been achieved, democracy has not always been “the magical panacea” that South Africans have hoped for.
“The so-called ‘born frees’ reach adulthood, many of them with little or no interest in the momentous events that led up to the year of their birth. Many other older South Africans have been left bitterly disappointed in what has been achieved since“, it says.
Jackson Mthembu, a spokesman for the ruling party, the African National Congress, defends the record of the government in the same newspaper. “In 18 years a lot has been done, but hardly enough to reverse 300 years of colonialism. The structural weakness of the racist policies did more damage than we care to acknowledge.”
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Such a powerful statement from Jackson Mthembu, "In 18 years a lot has been done, but hardly enough to reverse 300 years of colonialism. The structural weakness of the racist policies did more damage than we care to acknowledge".
I wish South Africa and its people all the best as their problems are not isolated but just a part of the larger problems of our world. And it is also my hope that more revolutionaries like Nelson Mandela will rise again, not the "shadows" of false hope..
south africa once the bread basket and financial center of Africa is now broke, and must import food aid in order to feed it's people; except for the Zulu, who do not want to have anything to do with the present government.
Which begs the question -- for how may years can you blame the past without taking responsibility for your own actions?
Obama and the other democtrats have been doing it for over 3 years now.
From prosperity to poverty "over night" as a Country and that's reason for celebration?? Apartheid by Colonial Settlers was, without a doubt, wrong but the birth of South Africa came about under those circumstances. To bad the Country's new Leaders learned nothing from what they, themselves, saw and used it to maintain the Country's stability and economical growth, instead they allowed their Country to fall into disaray, much the same as most of Africa is today...go figure!!
....what can be said! Throw out those 300 year old colonialists and move on, you free Africans! Just remember free doesn't mean kick back...free means work hard to keep free! Produce a better way, it's up to you now, no one to blame but yourselves if you can't handle freedom!
" No one to blame but yourselves ".That advice is good for almost all the countries in the world as well as to individuals.
As a newly sworn in American citizen, and ex-South African citizen, I take particular exception to Mthembu's comments. While colonialism in Africa led to many divisive policies which severely hampered South Africa, it is now the ANC's fault for the direction the nation has gone. The government is unwilling to challenge violent crime of any variety and many educated individuals are fleeing South Africa for their lives (hence why I live in the United States today). In fact, President Zuma himself has plenty of allegations against him of rape. Last time I checked rape was a violent crime. The ANC has been in power for 18 years. From a humanitarian standpoint, South Africa is better off. But from a quality of life standpoint, South Africa is plummeting into the dark ages, much like the rest of Africa.
To this day, I still believe South Africa is the most beautiful place on earth however the cowards running that nation are no better than the criminals on the street who rape, rob, and murder innocent people on a daily basis.
There seems to be a widespread notion in the Western media that it it is not politically correct to expose the unsavoury aspects of life in South Africa such as the crime spree and the frequency of rapes.Unless the world focuses more on such phenomena there will be no improvement in the country's life.
When countries were under colonization they were much more well goverened and civilized. Now look at them. We got alot of good doctors and other proffesionals here in the the states from that suppossed liberation.
Sad to see how so many educated South Africans had to leave the country they loved, but what hope is there for them? And sadder to see how the corruption has become so accepted in South Africa. All those millions that the ANC members have accumulated in personal fortunes, such as the Youth Leader who was expelled from the ANC or the president who is spending millions of rand on his fourth wife. What about those unfortunate South Africans who are under/uneducated and have schools that lack so many things or live in shacks? Dont they deserve better? or the constant strikes while the output continues to decrease? or putting unqualified people in positions? or the farms that have gone bankrupt given to people who had no incentive to succeed or the skills to run? 18 years and 300 years are like comparing apples to oranges, because South Africa had a strong stable economy when the ANC took over and is still a country rich in minerals and products. Unfortunately the ANC leadership simply changes rules when they are asked to be accountable for their misappropriation of funds so they cannot be held responsible. I hope i am truly wrong but one day when SA collapses you will see these same rich ANC people running away because they have lost Mandela's vision for a strong fair economic and social South Africa......
We watch in horror as South Africa slips back towards the same fate as Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), as corrupt and mentally unstable politicians use tribal mores to enrich themselves, demonizing the now-minority whites, asians and indians, gradually but inexorably disenfranchising those whose ancestors built the country.
Police wink at crime unless bribed, minorities live in fear behind increasingly thick walls of concrete and hired security guards, and blacks seem resigned to the violence perpetrated upon them by scoundrels of their own ethnicity.
The developed nations have plowed trillions of dollars into the continent - and, admittedly, benefited inordinately from its mineral and agricultural bounty - but the money somehow appears more in Swiss and other offshore bank accounts than in developing infrastucture, in arms and bloodshed among tribal factions whose idea of a good time is to grab a machete and hack off a kid's arms.
The lucky ones escape to Europe and America, where they somehow know exactly how to play the system of asylum, "refugee aid societies" and public assistance, claiming political persecution and whining their way into the public purse.
Pffaw !
The result of black rule was and is predictable. Africa is a continent of failure time and time again. Very sad as it is a continent rich in culture and resources.
This is the country that supreme court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says, has the best "Constitution" in the world and we (America) should have one like it. From reading this article, it seems South Africa is just as corrupt as America has become and they possibly took a page from (our) present government enterprise.
We make fault of the past yet do little in the present to create a better future. Only our minds allow corruption to rule the rhythm of our hearts.
If we look at the nearest neighbor, Zimbabwe, that shares much with SA historically and culturally, we can see disturbing parallels. Zimbabwe got their (statehood, independence, end of minority white rule, you name it) in 1980. By 2008, it was ruined economically, socially, and politically.
Now we see the precursors to the same kind of catastrophe in SA. The crime is rampant. Whites are leaving or sometimes are being pushed to leave. There's the talk of redistributing whites-owned land to blacks.
If nothing changes, I give SA only another 10 years or so of relatively normal but slowly deteriorating life. And then it will be another failed state just like Zimbabwe (see Zimbabwe timeline).
I wish the history proves me wrong, but I have the gut feeling my prognosis is right, if not too rosy.
“So perverse is mankind that every nationality prefers to misgoverned by its own people than to be well ruled by another". General Charles James Napier
Why am I not surprised to see so many, "Yes, we mistreated them, killed them, falsely imprisoned them but it was 'safer'" comments. American white people are so very sad.
Izzat so?Not seeing it. Going by your name and comment,I'll give you a heads up.Your people[I'm guessing} haven't evolved
The former "colonies" want freedom, they want democracy but with that freedom and democracy come RESPONSIBILITY! Obviously South Africa as a country thought that democracy would be easy, take all the white people out, vote the black people in and all would be great. It doesn't work that way! Apartheid was reprehensible and no longer exists ,yet 18 years later its still being used as an excuse. The country is worse off now that it ever was. How's that democracy and freedom working out for you now? Mandela did not imagine his South Africa this way.
mandela is a racist terrorist that did nothing too improve south africa but destabilize and destroy it. I dare any liberal too look up the history and progression of a once mighty nation. You cannot deny the facts or should we just blame bush too llmfao!