South Africans head to the polls soon, on May 29, with their country in disarray. Educational attainments are down, electrical power is in short supply, there are major water availability issues, housing is lacking, and crime rates — among the highest in the world — are rising. Formal unemployment reached 33 percent this year. Corruption is rampant. Economic returns are behind the expected curve. (GDP growth last year was less than 1 per cent.) Most politicians and political parties are regarded as self-serving and illegitimate. In short, the post-apartheid independence and peace dividend that President Nelson Mandela inaugurated in 1994 has been squandered.
264 - The Agonies of South Africa
264 - The Agonies of South Africa
264 - The Agonies of South Africa
South Africans head to the polls soon, on May 29, with their country in disarray. Educational attainments are down, electrical power is in short supply, there are major water availability issues, housing is lacking, and crime rates — among the highest in the world — are rising. Formal unemployment reached 33 percent this year. Corruption is rampant. Economic returns are behind the expected curve. (GDP growth last year was less than 1 per cent.) Most politicians and political parties are regarded as self-serving and illegitimate. In short, the post-apartheid independence and peace dividend that President Nelson Mandela inaugurated in 1994 has been squandered.