Why is South Africa on The Edge of Collapse? - Visualpolitik en

It is known as the rainbow nation for its cultural, linguistic and religious diversity. It’s constitution alone acknowledges 11 different languages! Yes, this is South Africa, a country situated in the extreme south of Africa. This is not a small country, its surface is larger than Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands combined! It is, by far, the most developed economy of all the countries situated south of the Sahara desert. In the year 2010, it was the first African country to hold a Soccer World Championship. The summer of Shakira´s “Waka Waka” if anyone cares to remember that... The most important month in South Africa’s History was April 1994. Between the 26th and 29th of that month, South Africa celebrated the first, free, universal, and democratic elections. They were also the longest because the elections last for 4 long days. During that time, South Africans left their houses massively to vote... having to wait in queues kilometers long! The hype was justified, for these elections meant the end of 300 years of colonialism and white supremacy. The elections marked the end of apartheid. APARTHEID Apartheid was a system based on racial segregation which remained in effect for 50 years. It mainly consisted of separating the white population from the black population. This applied in any situation: living, studying, even the spending of leisure time. Obviously, as you might imagine, all the best areas and services were built for, and used by, the white population. A good example were ambulances. Even though the black population were 80% of the total population, the barely had any ambulances to use. However, the ambulances for the white population were numerous and, also, refused to carry black people because they couldn’t according to the law. Apartheid gave the white population all the political power and, also, established many limitations, precisely, in order to consolidate white power. As an example, mixed race relationships and marriage were completely forbidden. Quite simply, It left the black population in an inhuman situation. It could be said there were two different South Africa's, one black and terribly poor, and the other, white, and very wealthy. And of course, those who rebelled suffered terrible punishments and repression... MANDELA´S DREAM But that all changed in 1994 thanks to Nelson Mandela, also known as Madiba. He was considered the father of the country. Mandela lead the political fight against Apartheid and racism, but he had to pay for it. In 1961 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for betrayal. Mandela spent 27 years in jail, until 1992. Nevertheless, two years later in the 1994 elections were held and he was elected as President of South Africa, the first black president in the country's history. Many were surprised to see Mandela aiming for reconciliation rather than revenge. Mandela dreamt of a free, united, and prosperous South Africa. He made it clear in his inaugural speech: We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the *** of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world. Mandela kept his word. He worked towards a united South Africa, and when the time came, he left power following the limits of the constitution. This all turned him into a legend for the country. But let’s now focus on present-day South Africa. It is the only country in the world to hold three capital cities: Cape Town, the capital city for legislative power, Pretoria, for executive power, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital city. And on top of that, neither is the the most populated or the one where most businesses concentrate… For that we have to move to a fourth city: Johannesburg. It’s not uncommon for different textbooks to state different cities as the capital of South Africa. Now, after the fall of Apartheid, South Africa experienced quite an economic boost. Since 1994, the economy, considering purchasing power, has tripled. Poverty has been strongly reduced and hundreds of thousands of black families make it into the middle class every year. And even though violence is still high (it needs to be said that South Africa is quite a violent country) it has also reduced. Further, in general, the access to drinkable water, electricity and health care has also improved quite a lot. To illustrate the situation: South Africa is the biggest tourist center and financial power in the south of the continent. Its stock market is the most important in Africa and it is, also, an important place for the automotive industry. Companies such as BMW and General Motors have factories here. So it all sounds pretty good, right? Well, things today are actually not looking that rosy. CRISIS AND STAGNATION Despite its numerous achievements, the economy hasn’t changed since 2009. The economy isn’t growing, unemployment rates are one of the highest in the world and, in general, very few people are working. The country has a population of about 55 million people, 15 million are without work, and many of these jobs that people do have are informal. And this is not the only problem. Investment by companies has also kept decreasing in the last 9 years. Its currency, the RAND, has been greatly depreciated and public debt is about to be declared as "junk bonds". This is a pretty major economic disaster. In fact, in the last years, people with money are escaping the country. So what happened in South Africa? What lead to this crisis? JACOB ZUMA This is Jacob Zuma, the president since 2009, and his years in office have been, well, they’ve been a huge mess. The man is facing 783 corruption cases. He been described as a professional at taking things that are not his. But this is not the only issue. Mr. Zuma´s political decisions don’t encourage foreign investment. Further, the President's labor regulations are an obstacle when it comes to job creation. And the regulations are getting more and more rigid. His last idea was a huge raise in minimum wage. Something that doesn’t make a bunch of sense in a country where there are so few people working. In fact, many financial analysts have criticized the measure by saying it is nonsensical to establish a minimum wage which amounts to twice as much as half of the workers are making. Now, let’s be honest, we all want our salaries to raise, but to do so we´ll need to create wealth first, don't you think? If job creation was already an issue before, imagine what’s going to happen now with higher salaries. South Africa has other problems too. An important one is its problematic education system... AN AWFUL EDUCATION SYSTEM The education system in South Africa is pretty awful: Picture this: 1 in every 3 students who has attended school for 6 years has difficulties when it comes to something as essential as reading, and only 1 in every 100 black students gets an engineering diploma. We can now understand the reason why national companies complain about the difficulty to find skilled labour. And it is not a money issue. South Africa is one of the countries with a highest investment in education in the world. So, what’s happening? According to some people, the ones to blame are the Democratic Teachers´ Union. They control the state education system and it has become a real mafia. The Union is an ally of President Zuma. Zuma, besides putting an end to education supervision, he has pulled so many strings get more teachers that the education level of teachers themselves is very low. A few years ago, maths teachers in the country were given a test (these were teachers teaching maths to 11 and 12 year-olds.) The result? 8 out of 10 of these teachers got lower results than the the results expected of their students. And to be honest, maths isn’t exactly of the President´s strengths... Obviously, the results in white students, who go to private schools, are far better. Showing that maybe some of that apartheid heritage is still in effect… If these problems weren’t bad enough, racial conflict in South Africa has been growing in the last few years. The Economic Freedom Fighters is a radical political party founded in 2013. This party is now the third largest political force in the country. Some if its members are suggesting to almost invert Apartheid and apply it to the white population. It is still a minority party but as an element of subversion it works quite well. Anyway, it looks like Mandela's dream is now in danger. So, what do you think? Will South Africa make Madiba´s dreams come true? Will South Africa become the most prosperous nation in Africa again? Or will hatred, distrust, and bad politics triumph? Let us know in the comments below. Also, if you liked this video, be sure to click that like button below and don’t forget to subscribe, we put out brand new videos every Monday and Thursday. And as always, I’ll see you next time.