The Lucrative Sectors of the South African Economy - Research Paper Example

 South Africa was the last country to attain independent in Africa in 1994. This led to formation of very string and rigid economic and political structures which have proved very hard to restructure as promised by Nelson Mandela when he was released from prison. Although apartheid declined in after independence, the African leadership under the governance of ANC continues to experience the effects of “neo-apartheid”. The analysis of this study will review Terreblanche Sampie’s Lost in Transformation which provides information on how ANC has aided in spread of “neo-apartheid”. Mathabane Mark’s Kaffir Boy will also be used to provide insights on the plight of workers in South Africa. American Association for the Advancement of Science and Physicians for Human Rights (AAAS)’s The Legacy of Apartheid provides information on the increasing effects of apartheid. It is imperative to say that apartheid is so ingrained in the South African psyche that it continues to exist in different forms. The mine worker continues to be over-exploited by the current regime just like the over-exploitation of the black South African in the apartheid period. Furthermore, they are lowly paid and suffer due to poor working conditions. This has led to a class struggle between the rich ruling people who take shares in the ownership of the countries factors of production while leaving the poor people at their mercy. In August 2012, the mine workers at Marikana experienced a massacre which opened the eyes of the workers to the types of neo-colonization with a class struggle that made the mine workers poorer and their working conditions worse. This massacre can be correlated to the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 which was meant to drive away the effects of apartheid on the mine workers which were imposed on them by the white supremacy of the colonizers. With regards to the working conditions of the mine workers in South Africa, apartheid effects are still felt from the successive governments. The African National Congress (ANC) presents the “neo-apartheid regime with typical features of historical apartheid” such as overexploitation of workers, poor wages, poor working conditions, protects, arrests and murder of protesting workers (Clark and Worger 23). During the Marikana massacre, 69 black protesters were killed and approximately 18,000 activists arrested. The country continues to experience unequal access to facilities and resources on the basis of racial or tribal affiliations. Although the African National Congress has led south Africa for about 20 years now while advocating for equality in all sectors of the economy and declining the effects posed by the colonial masters during the apartheid time, all the talks of “post-apartheid” South Africa has resulting into an equally similar leadership as that of apartheid (Apartheid South Africa 4). The ANC has attracted massive criticism and protests from the poor people and the working class who despise them the same way they despised the racist rulers of the past. Some of the evils which are committed by the government that is consistent with “post-apartheid” South Africa include forceful evictions, cutoffs and price hikes of electricity, police brutality and unequal employment opportunities as the white people get the bets opportunities. South Africa remains the most populated by the white population and even though most of the industries and corporations were nationalized after independence, the white people hold the bets positions in most sectors of the economy. This trend continues even 20 years after independence (Terreblanche, 29). The rise in effects of capitalism as Nelson Mandela vowed to restructure the political and economic systems of apartheid to provide the people of South Africa with core benefits which were enjoyed by the colonial masters. There are only few managers and Africans holding lucrative positions in South Africa. Most of them are come from the ANC such as Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa. While there have been slight improvements in the services offered to the majority of the South African, the country has not changed much after independence. Most of the South Africans continue to live in the shanties where water and electricity is a problem; access to education is limited since the education is not free even at the elementary level. The issuance of basic services is enormously deficient in South Africa while most of the blacks live in such impoverished townships which have led to the spread of the shantytowns. South Africa has the largest slum in Africa called Soweto which has not been rectified or quality of life of such people improved. According to the AAAS, “the rule of law still lacks political correctness”, as witnessed by the police who match on residential places as though they have been invited to calm unrest (AAAS 5). On the other hand, the ruling class and the white South African live in the leafy suburbs where life is on the upper class. When nelson Mandela moved into the wealthy suburb of Houghton Estate, he did not care about handling the problems faced by the local people. Furthermore, the Group Areas Act, which advocated for the rights of the South African, was gone. Growth of corrupt leaders who are compensated by the government for embezzling funds meant for public development has been the agenda of the successive leadership in South Africa to promote capitalism. The government sets out hundreds of billions of rand in government funds which are meant to be used in promotion of the development of the black sought Africans who work in different sectors. For instance, the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) receives a lot of billions to be used in black’s empowerment but unfortunately, the money lands in the hands of the leaders which are meant to ensure such development but instead they use the money for their own personal needs. This has led to the “creation of a narrow layer of BEE tycoons” at the expense of the impoverishing people (Terreblanche 34). This point can be evidenced by the former head of the National Union of Mineworkers, Cyril Ramaphosa who ordered for the police to attack the p platinum strikers at Marikana which led to a huge massacre. Despite all that, he was elected deputy president four months later. In his book, Lost in Transformation, South African economist Sampie Terreblanche explains that the effects of capitalism are spread by the ruling class starting with Nelson Mandela as he was the first president to hold secret meetings with the South African corporations led by the white people in order for them to prevent tampering with the South African capitalism (Terreblanche, 2012). There are those who hold that the end of apartheid was marked in the 1994 elections which gave the Africans in South Africa the rights and freedoms of a free nation to own the property and to government themselves. The end of racial segregation was market in 1994 and the south Africans have equal access to the basic human rights, they are allowed to vote for their leadership and discrimination against skin colour in provision of basic and social services was ended. This gave the South Africans the right to choose the people they wanted to rule them and if the ruling party of ANC has given them the problems they so complain about, then they have the opportunity and the right to take them out of office during the election year. Furthermore, the end of apartheid gave the people of South Africa the freedom of expression and movement as there are no curfews anymore. People are more free and comfortable than during the apartheid period where most of the black people suffered a lot. To refute this claim, we examine the extent to which the apartheid structures were rigid such that they have not been shaken 20 years after the attainment of South African independence. Measures to restructure the economic and political systems in south Africa has only led to the breeding another capitalist ruling class who become richer every day as the poor black south African become poorer in the shanties. Different programs have been formulated by the successive governments to provide economic freedom to the South Africans. The Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP) was an economic program during the leadership of Nelson Mandela while the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) program was utilized under the leadership of Thabo Mbeki. The two programs never achieved their objectives as they led to growth of wealthy capitalists, over exploitation of the black people which turned them into “wage slaves”. While the government corporations were privatized, the tariffs were lowered which led to accumulation of wealthy by the ruling class who controlling all the factors of production in South Africa. This was done with both the knowledge and consent of the ANC and SACP (Afrobarometer Network 7). Although South Africa attained independence in 1994, apartheid is so ingrained in the South African psyche that it continues to exist in different forms. This can be viewed on the perspective of the problems the country was facing under apartheid regime and their manifestation in the current governance under ANC. South Africa miners have experienced worse conditions of labour, compensation and conditions of work as was experienced during apartheid. The blacks continue to be discriminated against in areas of education and employment as the whites take possession of the lucrative sectors of the South African economy. The ANC has created a class of wealthy rulers who have taken the role of the past rulers to implement “neo- apartheid”. I have learned that there is a difference between paper freedom and practical freedom. Works Cited Apartheid South Africa. History of Apartheid. South Africa Travel Online. 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.southafrica.to/history/Apartheid/apartheid.htm American Association for the Advancement of Science and Physicians for Human Rights (AAAS) Human rights and health: the legacy of apartheid. 2006. Print. Afrobarometer Network. Trends in political party support in South Africa. IDASA, CDD, and MSU. 2003. No. 6. Available at: http://www.afrobarometer.org/publications.html. Clark, Nancy L. and William H. Worger. South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. Routledge; 2nd edition, April 21, 2011. Print. “Her Majesty’s Social Democrats in Bed with the Police,” in The Internationalist No. 29, Summer 2009. Print Mathabane Mark. Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography--The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa. Free Press; 1st edition. October 7, 1998. Print. “South Africa: Bloody Mine Massacre Unmasks ANC Neo-Apartheid Regime” (29 August 2012), The Internationalist special issue, November-December 2012. Print. “‘Socialist’ Elected in Seattle on Platform of Liberal/Populist Reforms,” in this issue. Quoted in Workers Vanguard No. 602, 10 June 1994, at a time when WV was the voice of revolutionary Trotskyism. 1994. Print Terreblanche, Sampie. Lost in Transformation: South Africa's search for a New Future since 1986. KMM Review Publishing Company, Sandton. 2012. Print. Read More