Essay on South Africa

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South Africa is a nation of diverse cultures, origins, languages and religions. From1948 to 1994 a system of government known as the apartheid system segregated the black, white, coloured and Asian population. The system was abolished in the early 1990’s and a number of steps were taken to break down the social, political and economic barriers that had been implemented. However even though South Africa began a new era with the end of the apartheid system, it is argued that the country has yet to truly become the unified, democratic nation that the leaders of the freedom movement, such as Nelson Mandela, had envisioned. There are still many issues for South Africa to address, but socially, politically and economically it is steadily consolidating its position and transforming into an equitable society.
The abolishment of the apartheid system began in the 1970’s and 1980’s due to domestic and international pressure. It was not until the early 1990’s when the government finally abolished the apartheid system by introducing the interim constitution that gave all South Africans the right to vote. The first election held for all races was in 1994 in which the ANC won nearly two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly and Nelson Mandela was selected as president. The ANC’s key objectives were to create a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society in which all South Africans have equal opportunities at life. This was backed up by Nelson Mandela when he said “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve”. This ideal was the beginning of change for South Africa economically and socially.
The economic standards of South Africa are well below the global median. This is due to the racial segregation of the apartheid system. As 31.3% of all South Africans are unemployed, this has only slowly improved over the last ten years from 40.6%. This is due to the inequality that still exists throughout South Africa. As Even though the white minority only makes up 8.9% of the population there average income in 2008 was 75567 rands which is almost doubt the amount from 1993. While black South Africans who make up 79.2% of the population only get 9790 rand on average which has only increased by around 3000 rand from 1993. This has a major effect on education as the white minority is able to pay and go through school while the black minority is struggling to survive. This results in a continued cycle which is hard to break. The government is slowly working on fixing these problems but it is not fast enough as between 1995 and 2002 1.6 million jobs were created but the job market grew by 5 million within that time. This shows that the ANC is not producing the desired results it promised the people throughout the last 10 years as there is still a major problem with the inequality throughout South Africa. This can only be fixed by the government creating more jobs and helping the people of South Africa out of the poverty line.
However South Africa’s Economic standards cannot increase without the countries health standards rising. As South Africa has the highest death ration out of any country throughout the world of 17.49/1000. This is due to poor hygiene in the slums of South Africa which have only slightly increased over the last 10 years. (Show picture of 1994 and 2014 slums). As you can see not much has changed and due to this, bacteria and diseases are able to spread easily through the slums. One major disease which has significantly impacted South Africa is HIV which affects 17.9% of all South Africans. HIV causes AIDS which if untreated makes people very sick and are fatal. This is the major cause of South Africa’s death rate. Mbeki the president of
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