As a group of visiting academics discovered, it takes just a quick trip to Soweto — a sprawling black township on the outskirts of Johannesburg — to be confronted with the problems that still plague South Africa, 10 years after the advent of democracy.
The group of about 200 had been invited to review the first decade of democracy under the auspices of a conference entitled South Africa: Ten Years after Apartheid. The three-day meeting was held in the capital, Pretoria, from March 24 to 26. A local research organisation, the Africa Institute, hosted the conference.
“Blacks … don’t have land,” observed Fred Hendricks of Rhodes University in South Africa. “Following the end of apartheid, 50% of the land was supposed to be transferred to the landless blacks. But less than 3% has been transferred 10 years later.”
According to government figures, 1,8-million hectares of land have been given to 134 478 black households since 1994. The farm occupations in neighbouring Zimbabwe have made the issue of land ownership in South Africa even more sensitive in recent years however, and authorities have acted with caution on the matter.
Hendricks also noted that only a small percentage of shares on the Johannesburg stock exchange had passed into black hands, “4% to 6% [of] equity”.
“Unless these issues are addressed, they will be a cause of instability in the future,” he warned. Whites make up about 13% of South Africa’s population.
Jeff Radebe, the Minister of Public Enterprises, voiced similar sentiments.
“We need to deracialise the economy. In the next five years we shall spend R15-billion rand to promote black empowerment,” he said.
“Our policy is to empower the disenfranchised sector of our society, especially the black people. We shall pursue this policy without fear or favour,” he told delegates on Friday.
The segregationist laws that made up South Africa’s system of apartheid prevented the country’s black majority from voting, getting a proper education or owning property. As a result, more than half of the black population lives in poverty, according to official statistics. Of the 31,2% of South Africans who are unemployed, most are black.
Joel Netshitenzhe, the head of the government communications department, said the percentage of blacks in senior management positions grew slightly from 15% to 16% between 2000 and 2001. The percentage of blacks who worked as skilled professionals had increased even more slowly, by 0,2%.
However, substantial progress has been made within government departments, where blacks now occupy up to 72% of positions.
Netshitenzhe said some white-owned companies were resisting efforts at black empowerment.
“We have an anomaly in South Africa. The political leadership and the business leadership don’t have the same background. They don’t speak the same language. They have not been to the same school,” he explained.
Earlier this month, FW de Klerk — South Africa’s last president under apartheid — told journalists that he was concerned about the ways in which black empowerment was being implemented.
“I support the programme. What I oppose is the way how it is being implemented. The black empowerment legislation has caused growing concern among minorities and raised fears of reverse discrimination,” he said.
Various laws have been enacted as part of the empowerment policy, including the Mining Charter and the Financial Services Charter. The Bills aim to give blacks control of about 25% of these two sectors within the next decade.
Another area of concern in post-apartheid South Africa is the migration of people from rural to urban areas.
Official statistics show that migration reached 33% between 1994 and 2003 — even though urban areas are ill-equipped to deal with this influx.
“We must stop rural migration to the urban areas. We must create jobs for the majority of our people in rural areas,” said Dan Nabudere, a human rights activist from Uganda.
But, Netshitenzhe questioned whether this was possible.
“Apartheid used to keep black people in their homelands [small areas of land set aside for black occupation]. We cannot do it now. People will always migrate from low economic areas to areas they perceive to be enjoying booms,” he said. — IPS