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CWA # 1428, 1 August 2024
NIAS Africa Studies
Nelson Mandela's South Africa: The dream and the reality

  Mugdha Chaturvedi

In 2024, South Africa marks 30 years of democracy and the end of apartheid. African National Congress under Nelson Mandela led the apartheid movement, envisioning a better country. As the leader of the apartheid movement and first President, he dreamed of a country where values of peace, justice, and equality prevailed; where there was equality of opportunity for everyone, irrespective of gender, race and background. 30 years of democracy, it remains a question whether South Africa has been able to realise Mandela’s dream. 

The development of South Africa and the realisation of Mandela’s dream is reviewed through the following indicators. 

Economic crisis, poverty and income inequalities
Under the apartheid regime, the country faced high levels of racial, ethnic and gender inequalities and poverty with unequal access to education, healthcare and jobs. Even after 30 years, the country seems to struggle with the legacies of the apartheid regime. According to the World Bank, the richest decile holds 65 per cent of the national income and more than 80 per cent of the national wealth. The poorest half of the population accounts for only six per cent of the national income. Poverty elevation programs were introduced by the post-apartheid regime through national policies including the Reconstruction and Development Program in 1993 and the National Development Plan of 2011. They were supported by fiscal policy and redistributive measures. Initially, these measures exhibited positive results and a reduction in poverty levels, but after the 2007 Global Financial Crisis, the schemes failed. According to the UN, 55 per cent of the people live in poverty.

In February 2022, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stated: “The problems with the South African economy were structural and deep. Electricity supply can’t be guaranteed, our railways and ports are inefficient when innovation is held back by a scarcity of broadband spectrum, and water quality deteriorates in our municipalities and where we live. Companies are reluctant to invest and the economy can’t function properly.”

Unemployment
South Africa is one of the most industrialised economies in the continent. However, the most industrialized country in Africa faces the highest unemployment rate. The South African government recorded an unemployment rate of 34 per cent during the second quarter of 2022. The unemployment rate reached an all-time high of 35.3 per cent in 2021 as a result of COVID-19. Frank Blackmore, South Africa’s leading economist said: “As long as the economy continues to grow below 1 per cent, with a population growth of 1.5 per cent, the unemployment rate will continue to rise.” The total number of unemployed people stands at more than 8.2 million. The unemployment rate is high among the youth and the black population. 

Literacy and education 
According to the Harvard Kennedy School blog, South Africa has spent on its education much more than several other countries in the continent. However, the outcomes are not close to the spending. A BBC article on 17 May 2023 reports that eight out of ten children struggle to read by the age of ten. South Africa ranked last out of the 57 countries, according to the assessment by the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, which tested the reading ability of 400,000 students globally in 2021. The Basic Education Minister of South Africa, Angie Motshekga, called these results “disappointingly low” and stated: “The country’s education system was faced with significant historical challenges including poverty, inequality, and inadequate infrastructure.” The study showed that 81 per cent of the people in South Africa could not read and comprehend any of the 11 official languages of the country. The long-standing struggles with the education system point to the inequalities and segregation between white and black students. 

Health care 
Russell Rensburg’s article at the University of the Witwatersrand describes the challenges of the healthcare system in South Africa. 

Firstly, the per cent of money invested in the public healthcare system does not meet the needs of people dependent on them. The public sector is underfunded and underdeveloped. Several people cannot afford private healthcare. To counter the imbalance, the government launched the National Healthcare Insurance Scheme under which the government would buy the services from the private players and provide them to the poor at cheaper rates. 

Secondly, the majority of the population lacks awareness of their health. This delays the access to proper treatment and care.  

Thirdly, Rensburg describes that there are two tiers of the healthcare system in the country. The first was the state-funded which catered the needs of approximately 70 per cent of the population. The second tier was the private sector with medical schemes and health insurance which catered for the needs of 27 per cent. He claims that spending on public sector healthcare mechanisms is meagre. The public system lacks efficiency and modern healthcare access. The minority rich population can afford private health care. 

These challenges increased the risk of severe illness, the spread of diseases and increased the number of deaths in the country, especially during the pandemic. 

In sum, these indicators and the facts imply that South Africa faces additional challenges and issues compared to 1994.  30 years into democracy and seven transfers of power, all governments failed to hinder emerging issues and provide impacting solutions for the lasting problems. It can be understood that the country has not been able to live up to the South African dream which Nelson Mandela had.

About the author
Mugdha Chaturvedi is a Postgraduate Student at Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gujarat.

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