Month: July 2010

South African politics have changed tremendously over the last few decades.  Apartheid began in South Africa in 1948 but that collapsed in 1994.  Apartheid (which is an Afrikaans word meaning separateness) basically meant that blacks and colored faced severe racial discrimination as well as total segregation by law.  This was set up by the country’s National Party government and meant that the whites had minority rule.  But 1994 signaled the start of a new era with South Africa’s first democratic election.  While this has had its advantages, day-to-day life can be extremely volatile for the whites since without the segregation of so many decades, there is constantly the threat of violence from the non-whites.  On the plus side, the economy has emerged as being “one of the most flourishing in the world.”  As well, since 1994, the National Congress Government has created various policies as a way of developing its economy.  The republic’s annual growth rate is around 3.3% but it still suffers in its health sector, being home to the largest amount of HIV patients in the world.  As well, despite its economic prominence, half of its population lives under the poverty line.  People blame this on the republic’s political situation.