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title: "South Africa: the World's Most Unequal Place..."
description: "South Africa, the Rainbow Nation.\n\nOn the 24th of June 1995, the nation's rugby team, the Springboks, overcame the powerful All Blacks of New Zealand to win the third-ever Rugby World Cup. The nation's first, in what was their team's first-ever appearance at the tournament.\n\nThe country exploded in celebration, celebrating the landmark success in South Africa's most-popular sport. More than a simple sporting victory, the tournament — also held in South Africa — represented the symbolic rebirth of the country as one with equal rights for its inhabitants. The notorious Apartheid system had been abolished only a year earlier, and the Springboks had been excluded from the previous Rugby World Cups on account of the discriminatory policy, which had been in place since 1948.\n\nThe jubilation which accompanied the victory came alongside hopes for an equitable future for the country, and a banishment of the bitter past. The tournament and period was documented in the 2008 book *Playing the Enemy* by author John Carlin, which was in turn converted into a 2009 film called *Invictus*, directed by Clint Eastwood.\n\nSouth Africa's President, Nelson Mandela, had targeted success in the World Cup as a symbolic way to heal the wounds and division caused by decades of separation. And in June 1995, it seemed that this had paid off.\n\nBut while the brutal system had been overhauled, almost miraculously without a major outbreak of violence, this did — and does not — mean that economic and political equality has come to South Africa.\n\nLet's explore.\n\n## South Africa's Inequality\n\nOne thing that probably most know about South Africa — and which is important in the context of today's video — is that the country is incredibly diverse.\n\nSouth Africa has no fewer than 11 official languages, ranging from those of the Bantu family such as Xhosa, Zulu, and Venda, to Indo-European languages such as English and the Dutch-derived Afrikaans. A further 11 languages have recognition or support of some kind, and more still are spoken by smaller communities among the vast 60 million-person population.\n\nIn terms of ethnicity, South Africa is very unique. It has large populations of Asian or Indian South Africans, White South Africans, and so-called Coloureds, in addition to the Black African majority and large immigrant populations from other countries. These groups can be broken down further still, with Black South Africans alone divisible into dozens of different tribes and ethnic groups — most with their own language and customs. These ethnicities can be separated into four overall subgroups: the Nguni (including the Xhosa and Zulu people), the Shangana-Tsonga, the Sotho-Tswana, and the Venda — all including a range of different languages, traditions, beliefs, and customs.\n\nSome South African ethnic groups actually have a degree of cultural or administrative autonomy. The Zulu have their own king, and others have customary laws. There even exists a National House of Traditional Leaders, a body of 23 members which advises the President of South Africa on their customary laws.\n\nEven the European-origin South Africans are relatively diverse, separated into the minority Anglo-Africans — who are of British origin and natively English-Speaking — and the mostly Dutch- and French Huguenot-descended Afrikaners, who constitute the majority of white South Africans, and speak the Afrikaans language natively. There are also White South Africans who belong to neither group, many of them descended from immigrants who arrived during the Apartheid era, and some of whom played a role in the most significant political developments of the period. Noteworthy examples include Greek-Mozambican Dimitri Tsafendas — who assassinated Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of Apartheid, in the South African Parliament in 1966 — as well as Janusz Waluś, a Polish-born man who assassinated civil rights activist Chris Hani in 1993.\n\nGiven its vast array of languages, ethnicities, races, religions, cultures and traditions, it is hardly a mystery why South Africa was dubbed 'the Rainbow Nation' by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu in 1994.\n\nBut it is also the many racial or ethnic classifications of the Rainbow Nation which were the basis for the political and economic manipulation of Apartheid — in terms of discrimination and privilege alike.\n\nFor example, Asian South Africans suffered discriminatory measures — but less severely than the Coloureds. White people were at the top of the system, though Afrikaners marginally more so than Anglo-Africans. Black South Africans — often collectively referred to as 'Bantu' peoples — were dead last, and suffered by far the most discrimination, sometimes even at the hands of other discriminated racial groups. In fact, the inhuman racial classifications of Apartheid led to a general sectarianism and deterioration of relations between many of the categorised groups. In 1949, huge unrest broke out between the Black South African and Asian South African communities of the city of Durban. The so-called Durban Riots lasted three days, left 142 people dead, and remain one of the worst episodes of violence in South African history.\n\nIn many ways, it is the legacy of Apartheid which underlines the inequality present in South Africa today, as we shall see later in this video.\n\nAlthough discriminatory practices — in theory — no longer officially exist, the economic status of South Africa's population remains skewed along ethnic lines. This imbalance is so great that it has resulted in South Africa remaining the most unequal country in the world — according to several independent metrics — to this day.\n\nIn 2024, Swiss bank UBS released their annual Global Wealth Report, highlighting where wealth inequalities have grown the furthest. South Africa uncontestedly topped the list, scoring 82 out of 100 on the inequality index. In doing so, it edged out Brazil (at 81) as well as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — both at 77.\n\nAnother common metric used to judge income inequality is the famous Gini coefficient, introduced by Italian statistician Corrado Gini in 1912. The Gini scale ranges from 0 (or lowest inequality) to 1 (highest). If one person earned all the income in a nation and the rest earned exactly nothing, the Gini coefficient score would be 1.\n\nWell, South Africa has a Gini score of 0.65, the highest in the world, and the second-highest ranking was found to be Namibia at 0.59 — a state which was administratively part of South Africa until 1990.\n\nSo how did all this come to be — and what, if anything, is to be done about it?\n\n## Apartheid\n\nAlthough this notorious political system is well-known, what is perhaps not as well-known is the rigid structures it put in place, alongside other features which contributed to the massive inequality which exists to this day.\n\nIn fact, although Apartheid was introduced in the mid-20th century, restrictions on Black South Africans' freedoms long preceded it.\n\nIn 1905, while South Africa was still controlled by the United Kingdom, a piece of legislation known as the General Pass Regulations Act denied Black Africans the right to vote, and limited them to living in fixed regions. After South Africa became a dominion in 1910, the Native Land Act was passed, which further prevented Black people in most of South Africa from buying land outside certain reserves. Next, the Urban Areas Act of 1923 introduced segregation in mixed areas. Further legislation then resulted in restrictions on the freedoms of other South African minorities — mostly Asian South Africans and so-called Coloureds, an Afrikaans-speaking ethnic group mostly residing in the Cape region of western South Africa.\n\nApartheid was introduced after the Second World War by the right-wing Nationalist Party of Hendrik Verwoerd. It remained in place for more than forty years. Apartheid was based on a political philosophy known as Baasskap, which advocated for the domination of the state by the white minority — especially Afrikaners — and a strict control over the presence of the Black majority in the labour force.\n\nIts first law was to prohibit the intermarriage of whites and non-whites, followed by a ban on all sexual relations between them. In 1950, the infamous Population Registration Act was passed, which classified people into one of four races: White, Indian, Coloured, and Black. The classification would be carried out according to a set of measures, which included ancestry and physical features. But it also included very arbitrary elements like socioeconomic status, knowledge of the Afrikaans language, and even drinking habits.\n\nKeeping in mind that the Indian South African included a significant merchant class, and the Coloureds were at least predominantly Afrikaans-speaking, this left the Black South Africans to bear the unmitigated brunt of the oppressive classification. As a matter of fact, despite the many diverse ethnicities and tribes mentioned previously, they were the only of the four groups not to be sub-categorised further under the Act.\n\nSo while the Indian and Coloured South Africans were broken down into Cape Coloureds, Cape Malays, Indians, Chinese, and so on, the vast Black population shared one simple designation: Black.\n\nOver time, Apartheid sanctioned severe segregation and discrimination against South Africa's non-white majority population, which resulted in the widespread forced resettlement of millions of Black South Africans. By the time Apartheid was repealed in the 1990s, Black populations had lived for generations in various overcrowded districts, many of which had become ghettos. The social and economic repercussions of the discriminatory policy persisted, therefore, long beyond its abolishment.\n\nA noteworthy example is the massive settlement of Soweto.\n\nShorthand for 'South West Townships', and located adjacent to the city of Johannesburg, Soweto was established in the 1930s as the separation of racial communities got underway. Over time, people poured into the settlement, which quickly became densely populated and rife with poverty. Today, some one million people live there, making it the largest township in the country. Its population is predominantly Black South Africans, and it was here that many of the anti-Apartheid movements took hold. Nelson Mandela resided in Soweto for many years, as did current President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was born there. The township became a hub of political activism, and in 1976, it saw one of the most traumatic losses of life of the Apartheid era.\n\nIt had recently been announced that local schools would be forced to teach in English and Afrikaans, the latter of which led to particular outrage. While many Black South Africans saw utility in English, Afrikaans was considered as the language of their oppressor, and was spoken by almost nobody natively in Soweto. Moreover, non-Afrikaans-speaking white populations would not be subject to the measure. The outrage quickly turned into the Soweto Uprising, which was viciously put down by authorities. It is thought that up to seven hundred people may have been killed.\n\nThe Apartheid era also saw South Africa establish so-called Bantustans for Black Africans. These were de-facto separate states, usually in arid and undeveloped regions, into which Black Africans were herded, losing their South African citizenship in the process. Between 1960 and 1980, some 3.5 million black South Africans were deported to resettlement camps in the Bantustans — which were recognised by nobody but South Africa, and were roundly criticised by the international community. Nevertheless, at one time there were twenty of them in South Africa and modern-day Namibia, and their existence led to a concentration of Black populations in certain regions, which continued beyond the fall of the system. After 1994, the Bantustans were reabsorbed into South Africa and a reconfiguration of its provinces took place.\n\nWhat this meant was that practically the remainder of South African land was free to purchase by the privileged few, leading to not only oversaturated and impoverished urban areas, but the lopsided land distribution which continues today.\n\n## Mandela and the Transition to Freedom\n\nEventually, years of domestic and international pressure led to the fall of Apartheid.\n\nSouth Africa had increasingly become a sort of pariah in the international sphere, being boycotted by multiple countries and excluded from sporting tournaments by the 1970s and 1980s. At home, the situation was not much better, as civil rights movements and left-wing organisations rallied for an end to the system. Even before the horrific Soweto Uprising, another anti-Apartheid protest in the township of Sharpeville had been brutally put down by state police, resulting in 91 deaths. Many of the dead were shot as they fled, and the total number of victims was hidden by the state for many years.\n\nThe Sharpeville Massacre led to the rise of what became known as the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). The movement advocated greater solidarity amongst Black South Africans, Coloureds, and Indians. It rejected apartheid, and also rejected what it saw as the patronising attitudes of white liberals and anti-Apartheid activists towards Black culture.\n\nThe BCM was suppressed heavily by the state, and its leader, Stephen Bantu Biko, was arrested and beaten to death in a police station in 1977. The rise of the movement coincided with some more aggressive opposition groups to Apartheid, most famously the uMkhonto we Sizwe, a paramilitary organisation which became the armed wing of the African National Congress. The ANC was the most major African nationalist political party, established all the way back in 1912, but it had been banned after Sharpeville and remained underground throughout Apartheid. One of the most noteworthy figures of uMkhonto we Sizwe was its founder, Nelson Mandela, who was convicted of terrorism in 1964 and spent 27 years in prison, having narrowly escaped the death penalty.\n\nDuring his lengthy imprisonment, Mandela abandoned violent means to overcome the regime, and became the leading voice for a peaceful transfer of power. He was released in 1990, and soon became the leader of the ANC, and later one of the most celebrated statesmen in history. His release coincided with the weakening of the system, and the ground was eventually set for its downfall.\n\nEventually, a referendum on the abolishment of Apartheid was called in 1992, open only to white voters. The referendum passed with 68% in favour, which led to the fall of the system in 1994. Mandela was elected President of South Africa the same year.\n\nWith that said, the end of the repressive system brought a period of significant instability to South Africa.\n\nBetween 1990 and the repeal of the system in 1994, 14,000 people died in political killings. Only 7,000 people had died in known political killings in the Apartheid era, so this represented a significant surge — although it later emerged that many state-sanctioned killings had been covered up or denied by Apartheid governments.\n\nStill, as the system waned, fears of a race war rose.\n\nA stand-off took place in Pretoria in 1993, when a conservative organisation known as the Afrikaner Volksfront amassed and threatened to ignite a conflict, but were ultimately stood down by their leader, Constand Viljoen. Another dissident rightwing group, the ultranationalist AWB, along with some members of the Volksfront, staged another standoff in 1994 in the Bantustan of Bophuthatswana. Eventually, this too subsided after a short conflict, which claimed the lives of four AWB members and 67 civilians.\n\nGenerally, although individual instances of violence, retribution, and terrorism took place, the race war that many feared — and some hoped for — did not take place. 14,000 lives were lost, but a brittle peace was secured, which allowed for the phasing out of the system and the beginning of a new era in South Africa.\n\nMandela brought into place the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996, which exposed but generally pardoned crimes committed during the period. While hardly ideal, since it allowed many participants in the brutal system to escape without punishment, it did at least allow some closure to affected families and helped avoid a violent reaction from the minority population as power was transferred away from them.\n\nBy the mid-1990s, free elections had taken place, and — as expected — the ANC stormed to power, assuming 252 of an available 400 seats in the National Assembly. The ANC have remained in power ever since, as the preferred party of the majority population.\n\nWith that said, their rule has not been without criticism, controversy, corruption and internal divisions.\n\n## The ANC\n\nNow, before moving on, it is important to understand the oftentimes precarious political landscape in South Africa, which has been seen by some as upholding or — at least — permitting the great inequality which has persisted since Apartheid.\n\nThe ANC, following its legalisation in 1990 and rise to power in 1994, has dominated South African politics in the period since. For six years in the 1990s, it was led by Mandela, and was later by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki, then Jacob Zuma, and finally current President Cyril Ramaphosa.\n\nDuring its successful 1994 campaign, the ANC ran on the slogan \"a better life for all\", and promised expanded access to housing, healthcare, education, and the economy.\n\nHowever, the ANC's record on actually delivering on these promises in the thirty years since has been dismissed by some observers as dismal. It has largely failed to address impoverishment, the land and property ownership imbalance, and skyrocketing crime. The ANC has also been subject to many claims of corruption and profiteering, and Jacob Zuma — its leader for ten years — was in 2021 convicted for benefitting from a controversial arms deal while President of South Africa. Another former President, Mandela's successor Thabo Mbeki, has also been accused of profiting from the same deal.\n\nResultantly, trust in the ANC has plummeted, something reflected at the ballot box. Although it remains South Africa's single largest party, the ANC now holds just 159 seats in the National Assembly, from a high of 252 in 1994. It remains in government, but only in coalition with the second-placed Democratic Alliance and other parties — a coalition which collectively holds 71% of seats in what has become a highly fractured legislative chamber.\n\n## South Africa of the 'Born-Free' Generation\n\nIn 2024, South Africa remains troubled by its massive inequality, amid a string of other pressing issues.\n\nPerhaps surprisingly, the wealth disparity has only been increasing since Apartheid fell, although the imbalance can, no doubt, be traced to the oppressive system which dominated the country for so long.\n\nWith that said, it is not that no progress has been made. The Black middle class has grown significantly — being now numerically greater in size than the White middle class. Basic human rights are guaranteed to all citizens, access to education has improved, and South Africa's GDP per capita remains relatively high. At 5,700 dollars, it ranks among the highest in Africa and nearly three times that of either Nigeria or Kenya. Moreover, the share of farmland owned by Black South Africans — according to the government — has risen to 25%, the highest in history.\n\nBut for the many — including South Africa's poorest — the situation remains dire.\n\nAccording to the IMF, in 2017 the wealthiest 20% of South Africa's population held around 70% of the country's income. Further, the wealth of South Africa was found to be overwhelmingly concentrated in the major urban hubs, with the inhabitants of the province of Gauteng, home to the country's administrative capital Pretoria and most populous city Johannesburg, being almost twice as wealthy (on average) as the inhabitants of the rural region of Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. Furthermore, according to CNN, South Africa's wealthiest 10% held about 71% of the nation's total wealth in 2018, and the bottom 60% held just 7%. South Africa's richest households were about 10 times as wealthy as poor households.\n\nCentral to the question of economic inequality is land ownership, which remains predominantly in the hands of the white minority. A government audit in 2018 revealed that 72% of South Africa's farmland was owned by the white minority, which at that time constituted less than a tenth of the population — although as mentioned before (and if government figures are to be believed), this share has since fallen.\n\nThe Black majority remains by far the most economically deprived, and constitute the majority of South Africa's high unemployment rate — which is 32%, according to government figures.\n\nA Black South African was found to be four times as likely to be unemployed as a White South African. It was also found that about half of South Africa's population lived below the poverty threshold in 2018, judged at around 83 US dollars in income per month. Around 64% of the people falling into this category were found to be Black South Africans, around 41% Coloureds, 6% Indian or Asian South Africans, and just one percent White.\n\nIn terms of income, the same CNN report determined — using the economic classification on which Apartheid relied — that the average White South African earned the equivalent of about 844 dollars per month and Asian South Africans earned around 823. Coloureds earned on average around 334, and Black South Africans only around 305.\n\nThe great wealth disparity in South Africa is in some places visible to the naked eye, with lavish suburban neighbourhoods in provinces like Gauteng and the Western Cape existing directly adjacent to poor, overcrowded slums and temporary housing. Swimming pools sit beside shantytowns, paved roads run parallel to dirt tracks.\n\nAnd amidst the vast economic imbalance, demands for reparations and redistribution of wealth have remained a hotly-contested topic.\n\nSome have proposed the abolishment of inheritance — effectively meaning that the property of a deceased person would either have to either be bought at full price by the inheritor, or would be placed on the market. Others have proposed a higher inheritance tax, resulting in at least some bequeathed properties being made available to a new buyer.\n\nIn South Africa, inheritance tax — referred to as 'Estate Duty' — is applied to estates above a certain value threshold. Currently, the state charges a 20% tax on estates worth between 3.5 and 30 million South African Rand (so between 190,000 and 1.7 million US dollars), and 25% on any estate valued above this. However, to remove inheritance or to increase the Estate Duty would almost certainly affect all economic groups — including the growing Black middle class. And to instead implement a measure specifically targeting certain racial groups would come with its own problems — and probably several lawsuits.\n\nBut there are those who've proposed a more radical solution still, one which comes with even more pronounced risks. This is the idea of a simple expropriation of assets or land without compensation, something supported by several activist groups.\n\n## The Economic Freedom Fighters\n\nPerhaps the most aggressive exponent of this rapid solution to the issue in post-Apartheid South Africa is a party which emerged in the 2010s, known as the Economic Freedom Fighters.\n\nThe Economic Freedom Fighters or EFF were established in 2013 in Soweto, by dissidents who'd broken away from the ANC. At the centre was the party's founder and leader, Julius Malema Sello.\n\nMalema has been accused of running the EFF with an iron fist, purging uncooperative members and critics. He has also been accused of money laundering, threats to journalists, and has twice been convicted of hate speech.\n\nMany elements of the EFF's styling are peculiar, if not downright amusing. The group and its officials wear red overalls — including in parliament — including berets which parody revolutionary organisations from across the world in the 20th century. Their rallies often resemble concerts, or sports events or perhaps some kind of megachurch service, with thousands of red-clad supporters dancing in tandem to African music and chants.\n\nHowever, its positions are far from amusing.\n\nA central theme in its programme is the swift redistribution of South African land assets, something visible in its rather uncreative party slogan, *Our land and jobs, now!*.\n\nThe EFF released a memorandum on its plan for land expropriation without compensation in 2020, and has bitterly argued in favour of the divisive plan, which gained momentum following the government's 2018 land ownership audit. Following some support from the ANC, the question gained enough traction such as to gain the attention of then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020, who declared it would be 'disastrous' for South Africa and its economy.\n\nNow, with the EFF, it is difficult to separate political bluster from genuine ideological positions. Its rhetoric is often bellicose and violent, and it has been accused of several instances of race-based incitement, particularly against White and Asian South Africans. The party has nevertheless seen success at the ballot box, becoming the fourth-largest party in South Africa. It has a membership of more than one million, and occupies around ten percent of seats in the National Assembly, the directly-elected house of the South African parliament.\n\nJust like its leader, the EFF has faced other controversies, having been accused of corruption, media intimidation, tampering with the judiciary, pseudo-militaristic posturing, and repeated instances of racism. Amidst allegations of anti-white and anti-Indian racism, Malema has come in for particular scrutiny. He received notoriety for his retweeting of ominous statements by Robert Mugabe, which included the quote:\n\n> The only white man you can trust is a dead white man.\n\nHe has also led a number of controversial chants at his energetic EFF rallies, most infamously the Xhosa-language *Dubul' ibhunu*, generally translated as 'Kill the Farmer'.\n\nNow, some have defended the use of the song, arguing it is a traditional rallying cry and not a literal call to violence against farmers. However, given the high rate of farm attacks in South Africa, the use of the chant has been labelled by many as yet another example of hate speech.\n\nMalema has virulently insisted he will continue to use the song at his rallies, in spite of the backlash.\n\n## Ethnic Separatism and the Volkstaat\n\nAmidst the militant rhetoric of groups such as the EFF and factions of the ANC, the land-owning classes of South Africa have looked on with some nervousness.\n\nAnd their fears are not entirely unfounded. As the discourse regarding land ownership and redistribution of South Africa's assets has raged on, multiple high-profile killings and farm attacks have taken place which have thrown fuel to the fire of expropriation without compensation but by violent means. One of the most notable cases was the 2010 killing of Eugene Terreblanche, founder and leader of the ultranationalist AWB, who was hacked to death by labourers at his farm in the townland of Ventersdorp.\n\nIt's not exactly that wealthy South Africans have to look far to see an example of chaotic landgrabs put in practice. Such was the case in neighbouring Zimbabwe in the early 2000s, when the Zanu-PF party under Robert Mugabe permitted the reclamation of white-owned farms by Black Africans, resulting in a string of violent acts and the flight of many White Zimbabweans to Britain, Australia, and to South Africa.\n\nFor many, it would appear that the insidious rhetoric of Malema would mirror the actions of Mugabe and the Zanu-PF, especially since the EFF has been linked to several instances of arson and violence, and with Malema's regular repetition of Mugabe's slogans on Twitter.\n\nThis had led to an under-siege sentiment among some in South Africa, exacerbated by combined with a volatile domestic crime landscape, which has included many killings of South African farmers in their homes. The suspicion which accompanied the end of apartheid, the difficult transition to democracy, and the lingering distrust have resulted in some rather peculiar resolutions.\n\nSome have advocated for the establishment of a separate homeland for the Afrikaner people, the predominant white population of South Africa. The so-called Volkstaat idea rose around the end of Apartheid, deriving from historic self-determination plans by the Boers. Some fringe groups continue to actively support the idea, which is also sympathised with by the Freedom Front Plus, the largest party representing Afrikaner interests.\n\nIn fact, the Volkstaat idea has extended as far as the establishment of planned communities. In the years since 1994, settlements such as Orania and Kleinfontein have been built, gated communities inhabited exclusively by ethnic Afrikaners. Orania — in particular — has gained fame and some notoriety for its seemingly exclusionary residency policy, mandating that only ethnic Afrikaners may settle there — and that after a screening by the town council. Despite negative attention, its town council has argued that the settlement is above all a cultural project intended to preserve Afrikaner heritage, the Afrikaans language, and to provide a safe haven from South Africa's rising high crime rate.\n\nBut it doesn't help Orania's image that one of its features is a prominent statue of Hendrik Verwoerd, or that the area on which it was built was subject to one of the last evictions of the Apartheid era, when 64 Black African families were resettled in a town around 160 kilometres away only a few months before the town was established in 1991. Given its image, and many years of negative press, many have questioned why a town like Orania, with its strict and exclusionary residency criteria, is even allowed to exist. However, the right to Afrikaner self-determination was something enshrined in South Africa's constitution amidst the transfer of power in 1994. Moreover, the right to self-determination is guaranteed and exercised by multiple groups in South Africa, not least the Zulus, with their own King.\n\nAnd some even look at places like Orania — with agricultural self-sufficiency and its own power sources — as a sort of inspiration amid the woes of the nation elsewhere. High crime rates and the failing energy system have resulted in the town's population having dramatically risen from a handful of families in the 1990s, to around 3,000 by 2024.\n\nEfforts to mitigate the crime surge are also occurring elsewhere. Private security firms have taken off in South Africa, especially in its major cities. According to NPR, there are more than 2.7 million registered private security officers in the country, making South Africa's security industry one of the largest in the world, and far outnumbering its estimated 150,000 police officers. Many of these firms patrol wealthy gated communities in the suburbs of cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg. Heavily armed personnel also patrol exposed or vulnerable farmland communities, many of which have installed rigid perimeter fences and security systems, alongside the rise of volunteer neighbourhood watch movements.\n\nSome groups of disaffected farmers and landowners have even formed what amount to self-defence militias. This includes the Suidlanders, an ethnonationalist group which believes in an impending race war or pogrom, and which pursues self-sufficiency and survival training to prepare accordingly.\n\n## Analysis — A Problem Too Big to Solve?\n\nReturning to the central question of South Africa's great wealth inequality, it is difficult to foresee a satisfactory resolution to the problem.\n\nYou see, aside from the legality or morality of land expropriation without compensation, it is likely that this would lead not only to great instability, but perhaps also to the flight of landowning communities abroad. The wealthiest South Africans are — like in many countries — the most well-educated, and the possibility of their emigration, a resulting Brain Drain, and the collapse of some of South Africa's industries may be swift in the event of the rapid redistribution of assets.\n\nSuch was the case in nearby Zimbabwe — when Mugabe's controversial expropriations, while popular with many, caused the collapse of the economy and an astronomical level of inflation. This ultimately killed the country's currency, and actually exacerbated its dire economic prospects even further.\n\nSouth Africa even had a taste of such a development itself. In the years after Apartheid, around one-fifth of the white population emigrated abroad. That led to skills shortages which hampered South Africa's economy to the extent that it was forced to introduce curbs on capital export and cuts to pension payments, and its tax revenues declined.\n\nAnd South Africa really cannot afford to tank its own economy. The country has been beset by myriad problems in recent years, which some link to poor governance and corruption by the ruling ANC. This has included high crime, high unemployment, health problems, and political instability.\n\nBut that's not all. South Africa's infrastructure is also teetering. The country has suffered electrical power shortages for years, being beset by rolling blackouts affecting much of the country, and which are locally referred to as 'load-shedding'. Gang violence has also risen dramatically, especially in the poor townships of major cities and the Cape Town hinterland, known as the Cape Flats. South Africa now has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and also suffers from a HIV/AIDS epidemic and high rates of drug abuse — all this in addition to its aforementioned high rates of poverty and inequality.\n\nTo upset the fragile economy risks adding another major problem to the country, aside from the threat of political instability and fracturing of the fragile racial harmony in place.\n\nThe state has an even more recent case-in-point to relate what sudden instability could look like.\n\nAllegations of corruption led to the 2021 arrest of Jacob Zuma, former President of the ANC and South Africa. But massive protests by his supporters led to widespread looting and rioting that summer, amidst a general dissatisfaction with high crime, inequality, and unemployment — all of which had been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic. 354 people died in the course of a summer of unrest.\n\nWith this in mind, it could be argued that the South African government does not have the time or means to take on the huge question of how to resolve inequality, especially given more short-term problems, as well as the responses such a move could entail.\n\nAnd some analysts have claimed that the legacy of Apartheid does not even fully explain that massive inequality, and that to target the predominantly-white landowning population would provide all the instability for little benefit.\n\nYou see, part of the reason why the country's problems and the poverty rate of Black South Africans has grown so much is because of a runaway demographic growth, with the South African population having risen sharply since 1994. At the end of Apartheid, South Africa had around 43 million people, of whom the white population constituted around 10%, at some 4.5 million people. That population is now 60 million, and although the white population has remained more or less the same, it has proportionally fallen to around 7% of the population — with the Black and Coloured populations having grown exponentially in that time.\n\nThis has led to even more overpopulation in poor districts, and a rise in the number of people born to — and living in — great poverty — despite the legal and economic entitlements of the black community not having fallen in that time.\n\nMoreover, if the assets of the wealthy were redistributed, the question would follow: to whom should they be given?\n\nThe Zimbabwean example showed just how fraught this question could be. Mugabe and the Zanu-PF seized the land of around 4,000 white farmers, which were redistributed to around one million Black Africans — however, this resulted in most people benefitting only fractionally, and came with the complete disruption of Zimbabwe's agricultural industry. Given the corruption that both the ANC and the EFF — the most vocal advocates of land reappropriation — have been accused, it is highly likely that any such redistribution would be carried out equitably, and seized assets would simply end up in the hands of party cronies, rather than impoverished communities.\n\nWith time running out for the ANC, it is clear that some solution needs to be found to at least some of South Africa's problems.\n\nIf they fail, who knows what would follow.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- South Africa's rugby victory in 1995 symbolized national unity post-Apartheid.\n- Despite the end of Apartheid, economic inequality persists along ethnic lines.\n- The ANC's rule has been marked by corruption and failure to address inequality.\n- The Economic Freedom Fighters advocate for land expropriation without compensation.\n- High crime rates and political instability pose significant challenges to South Africa.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### What is the significance of the 1995 Rugby World Cup victory for South Africa?\n\nThe 1995 Rugby World Cup victory was more than just a sporting achievement; it symbolized the rebirth of South Africa as a nation with equal rights for all its inhabitants. It marked a significant moment in the country's healing process after the abolition of the Apartheid system.\n\n### How many official languages does South Africa have?\n\nSouth Africa has 11 official languages, including Xhosa, Zulu, Venda, English, and Afrikaans. Additionally, 11 more languages have some form of recognition or support.\n\n### What is the Gini coefficient, and what is South Africa's score?\n\nThe Gini coefficient is a measure of income inequality, ranging from 0 (lowest inequality) to 1 (highest inequality). South Africa has a Gini score of 0.65, the highest in the world.\n\n### What was the Population Registration Act of 1950?\n\nThe Population Registration Act of 1950 classified people into one of four races: White, Indian, Coloured, and Black. The classification was based on ancestry, physical features, socioeconomic status, knowledge of the Afrikaans language, and even drinking habits.\n\n### What is the significance of Soweto in South African history?\n\nSoweto, short for 'South West Townships,' is a large settlement adjacent to Johannesburg. It became a hub of political activism during the Apartheid era and was the site of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, where hundreds of people were killed during protests against forced education in Afrikaans.\n\n### What are Bantustans, and how did they contribute to inequality?\n\nBantustans were de-facto separate states for Black Africans, established by the Apartheid government. They were often in arid and undeveloped regions, and Black Africans were forced to live there, losing their South African citizenship. This led to a concentration of Black populations in certain regions and contributed to the lopsided land distribution that persists today.\n\n### What is the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, and what are its main goals?\n\nThe Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a political party established in 2013. Its main goals include the swift redistribution of South African land assets and the slogan 'Our land and jobs, now!' The party advocates for land expropriation without compensation.\n\n### What is the Volkstaat idea, and how is it related to the Afrikaner community?\n\nThe Volkstaat idea advocates for the establishment of a separate homeland for the Afrikaner people. It has led to the creation of gated communities like Orania and Kleinfontein, which are inhabited exclusively by ethnic Afrikaners. These communities aim to preserve Afrikaner heritage and provide a safe haven from South Africa's high crime rate.\n\n### What is the current unemployment rate in South Africa, and how does it affect different racial groups?\n\nThe current unemployment rate in South Africa is 32%. Black South Africans are four times as likely to be unemployed as White South Africans, highlighting the ongoing economic disparities in the country.\n\n### What is the significance of the 2021 protests in South Africa?\n\nThe 2021 protests in South Africa were sparked by the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma. The protests led to widespread looting and rioting, resulting in 354 deaths. The unrest was fueled by dissatisfaction with high crime, inequality, and unemployment, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Original Places video: South Africa: the World's Most Unequal Place...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7paUQtSVE8s)\n- [https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/01/29/na012820six-charts-on-south-africas-persistent-and-multi-faceted-inequality](https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/01/29/na012820six-charts-on-south-africas-persistent-and-multi-faceted-inequality)\n- [https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/07/africa/south-africa-elections-inequality-intl/index.html](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/07/africa/south-africa-elections-inequality-intl/index.html)\n- [https://youtu.be/VL-sbov3vUE?si=IXJ5hTzXW0k7Yswk](https://youtu.be/VL-sbov3vUE?si=IXJ5hTzXW0k7Yswk)\n- [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-09-03/south-africa-s-private-security-firms-thrive-as-murders-kidnappings-rise](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-09-03/south-africa-s-private-security-firms-thrive-as-murders-kidnappings-rise)\n- [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53988788](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53988788)\n- [https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/statistics-south-africa-official-unemployment-rate-third-quarter-2024-12-nov](https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/statistics-south-africa-official-unemployment-rate-third-quarter-2024-12-nov)\n- [https://aaregistry.org/story/the-durban-riots-begin/](https://aaregistry.org/story/the-durban-riots-begin/)\n- [https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gini-coefficient-by-country](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gini-coefficient-by-country)\n- [https://www.statista.com/statistics/264627/ranking-of-the-20-countries-with-the-biggest-inequality-in-income-distribution/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/264627/ranking-of-the-20-countries-with-the-biggest-inequality-in-income-distribution/)\n- [https://www.aehnetwork.org/blog/long-run-effects-of-forced-resettlement-evidence-from-apartheid-south-africa/](https://www.aehnetwork.org/blog/long-run-effects-of-forced-resettlement-evidence-from-apartheid-south-africa/)\n- [https://africanactivist.msu.edu/recordFiles/210-849-22495/EB136_opt.pdf](https://africanactivist.msu.edu/recordFiles/210-849-22495/EB136_opt.pdf)\n- [https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-south-africa-election-racial-inequality/](https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-south-africa-election-racial-inequality/)\n- [https://www.statista.com/statistics/1121014/gdp-per-capita-of-african-countries/](https://www.statista.com/statistics/1121014/gdp-per-capita-of-african-countries/)\n- [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/11/anc-south-africa-elections](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/11/anc-south-africa-elections)\n- [https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf](https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf)\n- [https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/FAQ-2020.pdf.pdf.pdf](https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/FAQ-2020.pdf.pdf.pdf)\n- [https://apnews.com/general-news-144533277241402735ad0b70b5ee91b1](https://apnews.com/general-news-144533277241402735ad0b70b5ee91b1)\n- [https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news/item/795-south-african-leader-malema-s-anti-indian-comments-spark-controversy](https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news/item/795-south-african-leader-malema-s-anti-indian-comments-spark-controversy)\n- [https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news/item/2139-sahrc-to-haul-malema-to-equality-court-over-dead-white-man-tweet](https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news/item/2139-sahrc-to-haul-malema-to-equality-court-over-dead-white-man-tweet)\n- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbtrV29N5ZQ&t=1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbtrV29N5ZQ&t=1s)\n- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suL6sAN4bKU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suL6sAN4bKU)\n- [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Cape_Town_%28ZA%29%2C_Parliament_of_South_Africa_--_2024_--_3487.jpg) by Dietmar Rabich / openverse, by-sa.\n\n## Related Coverage"
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<!-- aeo:section start="lede" -->
South Africa, the Rainbow Nation.

On the 24th of June 1995, the nation's rugby team, the Springboks, overcame the powerful All Blacks of New Zealand to win the third-ever Rugby World Cup. The nation's first, in what was their team's first-ever appearance at the tournament.

The country exploded in celebration, celebrating the landmark success in South Africa's most-popular sport. More than a simple sporting victory, the tournament — also held in South Africa — represented the symbolic rebirth of the country as one with equal rights for its inhabitants. The notorious Apartheid system had been abolished only a year earlier, and the Springboks had been excluded from the previous Rugby World Cups on account of the discriminatory policy, which had been in place since 1948.

The jubilation which accompanied the victory came alongside hopes for an equitable future for the country, and a banishment of the bitter past. The tournament and period was documented in the 2008 book *Playing the Enemy* by author John Carlin, which was in turn converted into a 2009 film called *Invictus*, directed by Clint Eastwood.

South Africa's President, Nelson Mandela, had targeted success in the World Cup as a symbolic way to heal the wounds and division caused by decades of separation. And in June 1995, it seemed that this had paid off.

But while the brutal system had been overhauled, almost miraculously without a major outbreak of violence, this did — and does not — mean that economic and political equality has come to South Africa.

Let's explore.

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<!-- aeo:section start="south-africa-s-inequality" -->
## South Africa's Inequality

One thing that probably most know about South Africa — and which is important in the context of today's video — is that the country is incredibly diverse.

South Africa has no fewer than 11 official languages, ranging from those of the Bantu family such as Xhosa, Zulu, and Venda, to Indo-European languages such as English and the Dutch-derived Afrikaans. A further 11 languages have recognition or support of some kind, and more still are spoken by smaller communities among the vast 60 million-person population.

In terms of ethnicity, South Africa is very unique. It has large populations of Asian or Indian South Africans, White South Africans, and so-called Coloureds, in addition to the Black African majority and large immigrant populations from other countries. These groups can be broken down further still, with Black South Africans alone divisible into dozens of different tribes and ethnic groups — most with their own language and customs. These ethnicities can be separated into four overall subgroups: the Nguni (including the Xhosa and Zulu people), the Shangana-Tsonga, the Sotho-Tswana, and the Venda — all including a range of different languages, traditions, beliefs, and customs.

Some South African ethnic groups actually have a degree of cultural or administrative autonomy. The Zulu have their own king, and others have customary laws. There even exists a National House of Traditional Leaders, a body of 23 members which advises the President of South Africa on their customary laws.

Even the European-origin South Africans are relatively diverse, separated into the minority Anglo-Africans — who are of British origin and natively English-Speaking — and the mostly Dutch- and French Huguenot-descended Afrikaners, who constitute the majority of white South Africans, and speak the Afrikaans language natively. There are also White South Africans who belong to neither group, many of them descended from immigrants who arrived during the Apartheid era, and some of whom played a role in the most significant political developments of the period. Noteworthy examples include Greek-Mozambican Dimitri Tsafendas — who assassinated Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of Apartheid, in the South African Parliament in 1966 — as well as Janusz Waluś, a Polish-born man who assassinated civil rights activist Chris Hani in 1993.

Given its vast array of languages, ethnicities, races, religions, cultures and traditions, it is hardly a mystery why South Africa was dubbed 'the Rainbow Nation' by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu in 1994.

But it is also the many racial or ethnic classifications of the Rainbow Nation which were the basis for the political and economic manipulation of Apartheid — in terms of discrimination and privilege alike.

For example, Asian South Africans suffered discriminatory measures — but less severely than the Coloureds. White people were at the top of the system, though Afrikaners marginally more so than Anglo-Africans. Black South Africans — often collectively referred to as 'Bantu' peoples — were dead last, and suffered by far the most discrimination, sometimes even at the hands of other discriminated racial groups. In fact, the inhuman racial classifications of Apartheid led to a general sectarianism and deterioration of relations between many of the categorised groups. In 1949, huge unrest broke out between the Black South African and Asian South African communities of the city of Durban. The so-called Durban Riots lasted three days, left 142 people dead, and remain one of the worst episodes of violence in South African history.

In many ways, it is the legacy of Apartheid which underlines the inequality present in South Africa today, as we shall see later in this video.

Although discriminatory practices — in theory — no longer officially exist, the economic status of South Africa's population remains skewed along ethnic lines. This imbalance is so great that it has resulted in South Africa remaining the most unequal country in the world — according to several independent metrics — to this day.

In 2024, Swiss bank UBS released their annual Global Wealth Report, highlighting where wealth inequalities have grown the furthest. South Africa uncontestedly topped the list, scoring 82 out of 100 on the inequality index. In doing so, it edged out Brazil (at 81) as well as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — both at 77.

Another common metric used to judge income inequality is the famous Gini coefficient, introduced by Italian statistician Corrado Gini in 1912. The Gini scale ranges from 0 (or lowest inequality) to 1 (highest). If one person earned all the income in a nation and the rest earned exactly nothing, the Gini coefficient score would be 1.

Well, South Africa has a Gini score of 0.65, the highest in the world, and the second-highest ranking was found to be Namibia at 0.59 — a state which was administratively part of South Africa until 1990.

So how did all this come to be — and what, if anything, is to be done about it?

<!-- aeo:section end="south-africa-s-inequality" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="apartheid" -->
## Apartheid

Although this notorious political system is well-known, what is perhaps not as well-known is the rigid structures it put in place, alongside other features which contributed to the massive inequality which exists to this day.

In fact, although Apartheid was introduced in the mid-20th century, restrictions on Black South Africans' freedoms long preceded it.

In 1905, while South Africa was still controlled by the United Kingdom, a piece of legislation known as the General Pass Regulations Act denied Black Africans the right to vote, and limited them to living in fixed regions. After South Africa became a dominion in 1910, the Native Land Act was passed, which further prevented Black people in most of South Africa from buying land outside certain reserves. Next, the Urban Areas Act of 1923 introduced segregation in mixed areas. Further legislation then resulted in restrictions on the freedoms of other South African minorities — mostly Asian South Africans and so-called Coloureds, an Afrikaans-speaking ethnic group mostly residing in the Cape region of western South Africa.

Apartheid was introduced after the Second World War by the right-wing Nationalist Party of Hendrik Verwoerd. It remained in place for more than forty years. Apartheid was based on a political philosophy known as Baasskap, which advocated for the domination of the state by the white minority — especially Afrikaners — and a strict control over the presence of the Black majority in the labour force.

Its first law was to prohibit the intermarriage of whites and non-whites, followed by a ban on all sexual relations between them. In 1950, the infamous Population Registration Act was passed, which classified people into one of four races: White, Indian, Coloured, and Black. The classification would be carried out according to a set of measures, which included ancestry and physical features. But it also included very arbitrary elements like socioeconomic status, knowledge of the Afrikaans language, and even drinking habits.

Keeping in mind that the Indian South African included a significant merchant class, and the Coloureds were at least predominantly Afrikaans-speaking, this left the Black South Africans to bear the unmitigated brunt of the oppressive classification. As a matter of fact, despite the many diverse ethnicities and tribes mentioned previously, they were the only of the four groups not to be sub-categorised further under the Act.

So while the Indian and Coloured South Africans were broken down into Cape Coloureds, Cape Malays, Indians, Chinese, and so on, the vast Black population shared one simple designation: Black.

Over time, Apartheid sanctioned severe segregation and discrimination against South Africa's non-white majority population, which resulted in the widespread forced resettlement of millions of Black South Africans. By the time Apartheid was repealed in the 1990s, Black populations had lived for generations in various overcrowded districts, many of which had become ghettos. The social and economic repercussions of the discriminatory policy persisted, therefore, long beyond its abolishment.

A noteworthy example is the massive settlement of Soweto.

Shorthand for 'South West Townships', and located adjacent to the city of Johannesburg, Soweto was established in the 1930s as the separation of racial communities got underway. Over time, people poured into the settlement, which quickly became densely populated and rife with poverty. Today, some one million people live there, making it the largest township in the country. Its population is predominantly Black South Africans, and it was here that many of the anti-Apartheid movements took hold. Nelson Mandela resided in Soweto for many years, as did current President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was born there. The township became a hub of political activism, and in 1976, it saw one of the most traumatic losses of life of the Apartheid era.

It had recently been announced that local schools would be forced to teach in English and Afrikaans, the latter of which led to particular outrage. While many Black South Africans saw utility in English, Afrikaans was considered as the language of their oppressor, and was spoken by almost nobody natively in Soweto. Moreover, non-Afrikaans-speaking white populations would not be subject to the measure. The outrage quickly turned into the Soweto Uprising, which was viciously put down by authorities. It is thought that up to seven hundred people may have been killed.

The Apartheid era also saw South Africa establish so-called Bantustans for Black Africans. These were de-facto separate states, usually in arid and undeveloped regions, into which Black Africans were herded, losing their South African citizenship in the process. Between 1960 and 1980, some 3.5 million black South Africans were deported to resettlement camps in the Bantustans — which were recognised by nobody but South Africa, and were roundly criticised by the international community. Nevertheless, at one time there were twenty of them in South Africa and modern-day Namibia, and their existence led to a concentration of Black populations in certain regions, which continued beyond the fall of the system. After 1994, the Bantustans were reabsorbed into South Africa and a reconfiguration of its provinces took place.

What this meant was that practically the remainder of South African land was free to purchase by the privileged few, leading to not only oversaturated and impoverished urban areas, but the lopsided land distribution which continues today.

<!-- aeo:section end="apartheid" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="mandela-and-the-transition-to-freedom" -->
## Mandela and the Transition to Freedom

Eventually, years of domestic and international pressure led to the fall of Apartheid.

South Africa had increasingly become a sort of pariah in the international sphere, being boycotted by multiple countries and excluded from sporting tournaments by the 1970s and 1980s. At home, the situation was not much better, as civil rights movements and left-wing organisations rallied for an end to the system. Even before the horrific Soweto Uprising, another anti-Apartheid protest in the township of Sharpeville had been brutally put down by state police, resulting in 91 deaths. Many of the dead were shot as they fled, and the total number of victims was hidden by the state for many years.

The Sharpeville Massacre led to the rise of what became known as the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). The movement advocated greater solidarity amongst Black South Africans, Coloureds, and Indians. It rejected apartheid, and also rejected what it saw as the patronising attitudes of white liberals and anti-Apartheid activists towards Black culture.

The BCM was suppressed heavily by the state, and its leader, Stephen Bantu Biko, was arrested and beaten to death in a police station in 1977. The rise of the movement coincided with some more aggressive opposition groups to Apartheid, most famously the uMkhonto we Sizwe, a paramilitary organisation which became the armed wing of the African National Congress. The ANC was the most major African nationalist political party, established all the way back in 1912, but it had been banned after Sharpeville and remained underground throughout Apartheid. One of the most noteworthy figures of uMkhonto we Sizwe was its founder, Nelson Mandela, who was convicted of terrorism in 1964 and spent 27 years in prison, having narrowly escaped the death penalty.

During his lengthy imprisonment, Mandela abandoned violent means to overcome the regime, and became the leading voice for a peaceful transfer of power. He was released in 1990, and soon became the leader of the ANC, and later one of the most celebrated statesmen in history. His release coincided with the weakening of the system, and the ground was eventually set for its downfall.

Eventually, a referendum on the abolishment of Apartheid was called in 1992, open only to white voters. The referendum passed with 68% in favour, which led to the fall of the system in 1994. Mandela was elected President of South Africa the same year.

With that said, the end of the repressive system brought a period of significant instability to South Africa.

Between 1990 and the repeal of the system in 1994, 14,000 people died in political killings. Only 7,000 people had died in known political killings in the Apartheid era, so this represented a significant surge — although it later emerged that many state-sanctioned killings had been covered up or denied by Apartheid governments.

Still, as the system waned, fears of a race war rose.

A stand-off took place in Pretoria in 1993, when a conservative organisation known as the Afrikaner Volksfront amassed and threatened to ignite a conflict, but were ultimately stood down by their leader, Constand Viljoen. Another dissident rightwing group, the ultranationalist AWB, along with some members of the Volksfront, staged another standoff in 1994 in the Bantustan of Bophuthatswana. Eventually, this too subsided after a short conflict, which claimed the lives of four AWB members and 67 civilians.

Generally, although individual instances of violence, retribution, and terrorism took place, the race war that many feared — and some hoped for — did not take place. 14,000 lives were lost, but a brittle peace was secured, which allowed for the phasing out of the system and the beginning of a new era in South Africa.

Mandela brought into place the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996, which exposed but generally pardoned crimes committed during the period. While hardly ideal, since it allowed many participants in the brutal system to escape without punishment, it did at least allow some closure to affected families and helped avoid a violent reaction from the minority population as power was transferred away from them.

By the mid-1990s, free elections had taken place, and — as expected — the ANC stormed to power, assuming 252 of an available 400 seats in the National Assembly. The ANC have remained in power ever since, as the preferred party of the majority population.

With that said, their rule has not been without criticism, controversy, corruption and internal divisions.

<!-- aeo:section end="mandela-and-the-transition-to-freedom" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="the-anc" -->
## The ANC

Now, before moving on, it is important to understand the oftentimes precarious political landscape in South Africa, which has been seen by some as upholding or — at least — permitting the great inequality which has persisted since Apartheid.

The ANC, following its legalisation in 1990 and rise to power in 1994, has dominated South African politics in the period since. For six years in the 1990s, it was led by Mandela, and was later by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki, then Jacob Zuma, and finally current President Cyril Ramaphosa.

During its successful 1994 campaign, the ANC ran on the slogan "a better life for all", and promised expanded access to housing, healthcare, education, and the economy.

However, the ANC's record on actually delivering on these promises in the thirty years since has been dismissed by some observers as dismal. It has largely failed to address impoverishment, the land and property ownership imbalance, and skyrocketing crime. The ANC has also been subject to many claims of corruption and profiteering, and Jacob Zuma — its leader for ten years — was in 2021 convicted for benefitting from a controversial arms deal while President of South Africa. Another former President, Mandela's successor Thabo Mbeki, has also been accused of profiting from the same deal.

Resultantly, trust in the ANC has plummeted, something reflected at the ballot box. Although it remains South Africa's single largest party, the ANC now holds just 159 seats in the National Assembly, from a high of 252 in 1994. It remains in government, but only in coalition with the second-placed Democratic Alliance and other parties — a coalition which collectively holds 71% of seats in what has become a highly fractured legislative chamber.

<!-- aeo:section end="the-anc" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="south-africa-of-the-born-free-generation" -->
## South Africa of the 'Born-Free' Generation

In 2024, South Africa remains troubled by its massive inequality, amid a string of other pressing issues.

Perhaps surprisingly, the wealth disparity has only been increasing since Apartheid fell, although the imbalance can, no doubt, be traced to the oppressive system which dominated the country for so long.

With that said, it is not that no progress has been made. The Black middle class has grown significantly — being now numerically greater in size than the White middle class. Basic human rights are guaranteed to all citizens, access to education has improved, and South Africa's GDP per capita remains relatively high. At 5,700 dollars, it ranks among the highest in Africa and nearly three times that of either Nigeria or Kenya. Moreover, the share of farmland owned by Black South Africans — according to the government — has risen to 25%, the highest in history.

But for the many — including South Africa's poorest — the situation remains dire.

According to the IMF, in 2017 the wealthiest 20% of South Africa's population held around 70% of the country's income. Further, the wealth of South Africa was found to be overwhelmingly concentrated in the major urban hubs, with the inhabitants of the province of Gauteng, home to the country's administrative capital Pretoria and most populous city Johannesburg, being almost twice as wealthy (on average) as the inhabitants of the rural region of Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. Furthermore, according to CNN, South Africa's wealthiest 10% held about 71% of the nation's total wealth in 2018, and the bottom 60% held just 7%. South Africa's richest households were about 10 times as wealthy as poor households.

Central to the question of economic inequality is land ownership, which remains predominantly in the hands of the white minority. A government audit in 2018 revealed that 72% of South Africa's farmland was owned by the white minority, which at that time constituted less than a tenth of the population — although as mentioned before (and if government figures are to be believed), this share has since fallen.

The Black majority remains by far the most economically deprived, and constitute the majority of South Africa's high unemployment rate — which is 32%, according to government figures.

A Black South African was found to be four times as likely to be unemployed as a White South African. It was also found that about half of South Africa's population lived below the poverty threshold in 2018, judged at around 83 US dollars in income per month. Around 64% of the people falling into this category were found to be Black South Africans, around 41% Coloureds, 6% Indian or Asian South Africans, and just one percent White.

In terms of income, the same CNN report determined — using the economic classification on which Apartheid relied — that the average White South African earned the equivalent of about 844 dollars per month and Asian South Africans earned around 823. Coloureds earned on average around 334, and Black South Africans only around 305.

The great wealth disparity in South Africa is in some places visible to the naked eye, with lavish suburban neighbourhoods in provinces like Gauteng and the Western Cape existing directly adjacent to poor, overcrowded slums and temporary housing. Swimming pools sit beside shantytowns, paved roads run parallel to dirt tracks.

And amidst the vast economic imbalance, demands for reparations and redistribution of wealth have remained a hotly-contested topic.

Some have proposed the abolishment of inheritance — effectively meaning that the property of a deceased person would either have to either be bought at full price by the inheritor, or would be placed on the market. Others have proposed a higher inheritance tax, resulting in at least some bequeathed properties being made available to a new buyer.

In South Africa, inheritance tax — referred to as 'Estate Duty' — is applied to estates above a certain value threshold. Currently, the state charges a 20% tax on estates worth between 3.5 and 30 million South African Rand (so between 190,000 and 1.7 million US dollars), and 25% on any estate valued above this. However, to remove inheritance or to increase the Estate Duty would almost certainly affect all economic groups — including the growing Black middle class. And to instead implement a measure specifically targeting certain racial groups would come with its own problems — and probably several lawsuits.

But there are those who've proposed a more radical solution still, one which comes with even more pronounced risks. This is the idea of a simple expropriation of assets or land without compensation, something supported by several activist groups.

<!-- aeo:section end="south-africa-of-the-born-free-generation" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="the-economic-freedom-fighters" -->
## The Economic Freedom Fighters

Perhaps the most aggressive exponent of this rapid solution to the issue in post-Apartheid South Africa is a party which emerged in the 2010s, known as the Economic Freedom Fighters.

The Economic Freedom Fighters or EFF were established in 2013 in Soweto, by dissidents who'd broken away from the ANC. At the centre was the party's founder and leader, Julius Malema Sello.

Malema has been accused of running the EFF with an iron fist, purging uncooperative members and critics. He has also been accused of money laundering, threats to journalists, and has twice been convicted of hate speech.

Many elements of the EFF's styling are peculiar, if not downright amusing. The group and its officials wear red overalls — including in parliament — including berets which parody revolutionary organisations from across the world in the 20th century. Their rallies often resemble concerts, or sports events or perhaps some kind of megachurch service, with thousands of red-clad supporters dancing in tandem to African music and chants.

However, its positions are far from amusing.

A central theme in its programme is the swift redistribution of South African land assets, something visible in its rather uncreative party slogan, *Our land and jobs, now!*.

The EFF released a memorandum on its plan for land expropriation without compensation in 2020, and has bitterly argued in favour of the divisive plan, which gained momentum following the government's 2018 land ownership audit. Following some support from the ANC, the question gained enough traction such as to gain the attention of then-US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2020, who declared it would be 'disastrous' for South Africa and its economy.

Now, with the EFF, it is difficult to separate political bluster from genuine ideological positions. Its rhetoric is often bellicose and violent, and it has been accused of several instances of race-based incitement, particularly against White and Asian South Africans. The party has nevertheless seen success at the ballot box, becoming the fourth-largest party in South Africa. It has a membership of more than one million, and occupies around ten percent of seats in the National Assembly, the directly-elected house of the South African parliament.

Just like its leader, the EFF has faced other controversies, having been accused of corruption, media intimidation, tampering with the judiciary, pseudo-militaristic posturing, and repeated instances of racism. Amidst allegations of anti-white and anti-Indian racism, Malema has come in for particular scrutiny. He received notoriety for his retweeting of ominous statements by Robert Mugabe, which included the quote:

> The only white man you can trust is a dead white man.

He has also led a number of controversial chants at his energetic EFF rallies, most infamously the Xhosa-language *Dubul' ibhunu*, generally translated as 'Kill the Farmer'.

Now, some have defended the use of the song, arguing it is a traditional rallying cry and not a literal call to violence against farmers. However, given the high rate of farm attacks in South Africa, the use of the chant has been labelled by many as yet another example of hate speech.

Malema has virulently insisted he will continue to use the song at his rallies, in spite of the backlash.

<!-- aeo:section end="the-economic-freedom-fighters" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="ethnic-separatism-and-the-volkstaat" -->
## Ethnic Separatism and the Volkstaat

Amidst the militant rhetoric of groups such as the EFF and factions of the ANC, the land-owning classes of South Africa have looked on with some nervousness.

And their fears are not entirely unfounded. As the discourse regarding land ownership and redistribution of South Africa's assets has raged on, multiple high-profile killings and farm attacks have taken place which have thrown fuel to the fire of expropriation without compensation but by violent means. One of the most notable cases was the 2010 killing of Eugene Terreblanche, founder and leader of the ultranationalist AWB, who was hacked to death by labourers at his farm in the townland of Ventersdorp.

It's not exactly that wealthy South Africans have to look far to see an example of chaotic landgrabs put in practice. Such was the case in neighbouring Zimbabwe in the early 2000s, when the Zanu-PF party under Robert Mugabe permitted the reclamation of white-owned farms by Black Africans, resulting in a string of violent acts and the flight of many White Zimbabweans to Britain, Australia, and to South Africa.

For many, it would appear that the insidious rhetoric of Malema would mirror the actions of Mugabe and the Zanu-PF, especially since the EFF has been linked to several instances of arson and violence, and with Malema's regular repetition of Mugabe's slogans on Twitter.

This had led to an under-siege sentiment among some in South Africa, exacerbated by combined with a volatile domestic crime landscape, which has included many killings of South African farmers in their homes. The suspicion which accompanied the end of apartheid, the difficult transition to democracy, and the lingering distrust have resulted in some rather peculiar resolutions.

Some have advocated for the establishment of a separate homeland for the Afrikaner people, the predominant white population of South Africa. The so-called Volkstaat idea rose around the end of Apartheid, deriving from historic self-determination plans by the Boers. Some fringe groups continue to actively support the idea, which is also sympathised with by the Freedom Front Plus, the largest party representing Afrikaner interests.

In fact, the Volkstaat idea has extended as far as the establishment of planned communities. In the years since 1994, settlements such as Orania and Kleinfontein have been built, gated communities inhabited exclusively by ethnic Afrikaners. Orania — in particular — has gained fame and some notoriety for its seemingly exclusionary residency policy, mandating that only ethnic Afrikaners may settle there — and that after a screening by the town council. Despite negative attention, its town council has argued that the settlement is above all a cultural project intended to preserve Afrikaner heritage, the Afrikaans language, and to provide a safe haven from South Africa's rising high crime rate.

But it doesn't help Orania's image that one of its features is a prominent statue of Hendrik Verwoerd, or that the area on which it was built was subject to one of the last evictions of the Apartheid era, when 64 Black African families were resettled in a town around 160 kilometres away only a few months before the town was established in 1991. Given its image, and many years of negative press, many have questioned why a town like Orania, with its strict and exclusionary residency criteria, is even allowed to exist. However, the right to Afrikaner self-determination was something enshrined in South Africa's constitution amidst the transfer of power in 1994. Moreover, the right to self-determination is guaranteed and exercised by multiple groups in South Africa, not least the Zulus, with their own King.

And some even look at places like Orania — with agricultural self-sufficiency and its own power sources — as a sort of inspiration amid the woes of the nation elsewhere. High crime rates and the failing energy system have resulted in the town's population having dramatically risen from a handful of families in the 1990s, to around 3,000 by 2024.

Efforts to mitigate the crime surge are also occurring elsewhere. Private security firms have taken off in South Africa, especially in its major cities. According to NPR, there are more than 2.7 million registered private security officers in the country, making South Africa's security industry one of the largest in the world, and far outnumbering its estimated 150,000 police officers. Many of these firms patrol wealthy gated communities in the suburbs of cities like Cape Town and Johannesburg. Heavily armed personnel also patrol exposed or vulnerable farmland communities, many of which have installed rigid perimeter fences and security systems, alongside the rise of volunteer neighbourhood watch movements.

Some groups of disaffected farmers and landowners have even formed what amount to self-defence militias. This includes the Suidlanders, an ethnonationalist group which believes in an impending race war or pogrom, and which pursues self-sufficiency and survival training to prepare accordingly.

<!-- aeo:section end="ethnic-separatism-and-the-volkstaat" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="analysis-a-problem-too-big-to-solve" -->
## Analysis — A Problem Too Big to Solve?

Returning to the central question of South Africa's great wealth inequality, it is difficult to foresee a satisfactory resolution to the problem.

You see, aside from the legality or morality of land expropriation without compensation, it is likely that this would lead not only to great instability, but perhaps also to the flight of landowning communities abroad. The wealthiest South Africans are — like in many countries — the most well-educated, and the possibility of their emigration, a resulting Brain Drain, and the collapse of some of South Africa's industries may be swift in the event of the rapid redistribution of assets.

Such was the case in nearby Zimbabwe — when Mugabe's controversial expropriations, while popular with many, caused the collapse of the economy and an astronomical level of inflation. This ultimately killed the country's currency, and actually exacerbated its dire economic prospects even further.

South Africa even had a taste of such a development itself. In the years after Apartheid, around one-fifth of the white population emigrated abroad. That led to skills shortages which hampered South Africa's economy to the extent that it was forced to introduce curbs on capital export and cuts to pension payments, and its tax revenues declined.

And South Africa really cannot afford to tank its own economy. The country has been beset by myriad problems in recent years, which some link to poor governance and corruption by the ruling ANC. This has included high crime, high unemployment, health problems, and political instability.

But that's not all. South Africa's infrastructure is also teetering. The country has suffered electrical power shortages for years, being beset by rolling blackouts affecting much of the country, and which are locally referred to as 'load-shedding'. Gang violence has also risen dramatically, especially in the poor townships of major cities and the Cape Town hinterland, known as the Cape Flats. South Africa now has one of the highest murder rates in the world, and also suffers from a HIV/AIDS epidemic and high rates of drug abuse — all this in addition to its aforementioned high rates of poverty and inequality.

To upset the fragile economy risks adding another major problem to the country, aside from the threat of political instability and fracturing of the fragile racial harmony in place.

The state has an even more recent case-in-point to relate what sudden instability could look like.

Allegations of corruption led to the 2021 arrest of Jacob Zuma, former President of the ANC and South Africa. But massive protests by his supporters led to widespread looting and rioting that summer, amidst a general dissatisfaction with high crime, inequality, and unemployment — all of which had been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic. 354 people died in the course of a summer of unrest.

With this in mind, it could be argued that the South African government does not have the time or means to take on the huge question of how to resolve inequality, especially given more short-term problems, as well as the responses such a move could entail.

And some analysts have claimed that the legacy of Apartheid does not even fully explain that massive inequality, and that to target the predominantly-white landowning population would provide all the instability for little benefit.

You see, part of the reason why the country's problems and the poverty rate of Black South Africans has grown so much is because of a runaway demographic growth, with the South African population having risen sharply since 1994. At the end of Apartheid, South Africa had around 43 million people, of whom the white population constituted around 10%, at some 4.5 million people. That population is now 60 million, and although the white population has remained more or less the same, it has proportionally fallen to around 7% of the population — with the Black and Coloured populations having grown exponentially in that time.

This has led to even more overpopulation in poor districts, and a rise in the number of people born to — and living in — great poverty — despite the legal and economic entitlements of the black community not having fallen in that time.

Moreover, if the assets of the wealthy were redistributed, the question would follow: to whom should they be given?

The Zimbabwean example showed just how fraught this question could be. Mugabe and the Zanu-PF seized the land of around 4,000 white farmers, which were redistributed to around one million Black Africans — however, this resulted in most people benefitting only fractionally, and came with the complete disruption of Zimbabwe's agricultural industry. Given the corruption that both the ANC and the EFF — the most vocal advocates of land reappropriation — have been accused, it is highly likely that any such redistribution would be carried out equitably, and seized assets would simply end up in the hands of party cronies, rather than impoverished communities.

With time running out for the ANC, it is clear that some solution needs to be found to at least some of South Africa's problems.

If they fail, who knows what would follow.

<!-- aeo:section end="analysis-a-problem-too-big-to-solve" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="key-takeaways" -->
## Key Takeaways

- South Africa's rugby victory in 1995 symbolized national unity post-Apartheid.
- Despite the end of Apartheid, economic inequality persists along ethnic lines.
- The ANC's rule has been marked by corruption and failure to address inequality.
- The Economic Freedom Fighters advocate for land expropriation without compensation.
- High crime rates and political instability pose significant challenges to South Africa.

<!-- aeo:section end="key-takeaways" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="frequently-asked-questions" -->
## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is the significance of the 1995 Rugby World Cup victory for South Africa?

The 1995 Rugby World Cup victory was more than just a sporting achievement; it symbolized the rebirth of South Africa as a nation with equal rights for all its inhabitants. It marked a significant moment in the country's healing process after the abolition of the Apartheid system.

### How many official languages does South Africa have?

South Africa has 11 official languages, including Xhosa, Zulu, Venda, English, and Afrikaans. Additionally, 11 more languages have some form of recognition or support.

### What is the Gini coefficient, and what is South Africa's score?

The Gini coefficient is a measure of income inequality, ranging from 0 (lowest inequality) to 1 (highest inequality). South Africa has a Gini score of 0.65, the highest in the world.

### What was the Population Registration Act of 1950?

The Population Registration Act of 1950 classified people into one of four races: White, Indian, Coloured, and Black. The classification was based on ancestry, physical features, socioeconomic status, knowledge of the Afrikaans language, and even drinking habits.

### What is the significance of Soweto in South African history?

Soweto, short for 'South West Townships,' is a large settlement adjacent to Johannesburg. It became a hub of political activism during the Apartheid era and was the site of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, where hundreds of people were killed during protests against forced education in Afrikaans.

### What are Bantustans, and how did they contribute to inequality?

Bantustans were de-facto separate states for Black Africans, established by the Apartheid government. They were often in arid and undeveloped regions, and Black Africans were forced to live there, losing their South African citizenship. This led to a concentration of Black populations in certain regions and contributed to the lopsided land distribution that persists today.

### What is the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, and what are its main goals?

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a political party established in 2013. Its main goals include the swift redistribution of South African land assets and the slogan 'Our land and jobs, now!' The party advocates for land expropriation without compensation.

### What is the Volkstaat idea, and how is it related to the Afrikaner community?

The Volkstaat idea advocates for the establishment of a separate homeland for the Afrikaner people. It has led to the creation of gated communities like Orania and Kleinfontein, which are inhabited exclusively by ethnic Afrikaners. These communities aim to preserve Afrikaner heritage and provide a safe haven from South Africa's high crime rate.

### What is the current unemployment rate in South Africa, and how does it affect different racial groups?

The current unemployment rate in South Africa is 32%. Black South Africans are four times as likely to be unemployed as White South Africans, highlighting the ongoing economic disparities in the country.

### What is the significance of the 2021 protests in South Africa?

The 2021 protests in South Africa were sparked by the arrest of former President Jacob Zuma. The protests led to widespread looting and rioting, resulting in 354 deaths. The unrest was fueled by dissatisfaction with high crime, inequality, and unemployment, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

<!-- aeo:section end="frequently-asked-questions" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="sources" -->
## Sources

- [Original Places video: South Africa: the World's Most Unequal Place...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7paUQtSVE8s)
- [https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/01/29/na012820six-charts-on-south-africas-persistent-and-multi-faceted-inequality](https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/01/29/na012820six-charts-on-south-africas-persistent-and-multi-faceted-inequality)
- [https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/07/africa/south-africa-elections-inequality-intl/index.html](https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/07/africa/south-africa-elections-inequality-intl/index.html)
- [https://youtu.be/VL-sbov3vUE?si=IXJ5hTzXW0k7Yswk](https://youtu.be/VL-sbov3vUE?si=IXJ5hTzXW0k7Yswk)
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- [https://africanactivist.msu.edu/recordFiles/210-849-22495/EB136_opt.pdf](https://africanactivist.msu.edu/recordFiles/210-849-22495/EB136_opt.pdf)
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- [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/11/anc-south-africa-elections](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/11/anc-south-africa-elections)
- [https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf](https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf)
- [https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/FAQ-2020.pdf.pdf.pdf](https://effonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/FAQ-2020.pdf.pdf.pdf)
- [https://apnews.com/general-news-144533277241402735ad0b70b5ee91b1](https://apnews.com/general-news-144533277241402735ad0b70b5ee91b1)
- [https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news/item/795-south-african-leader-malema-s-anti-indian-comments-spark-controversy](https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news/item/795-south-african-leader-malema-s-anti-indian-comments-spark-controversy)
- [https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news/item/2139-sahrc-to-haul-malema-to-equality-court-over-dead-white-man-tweet](https://www.sahrc.org.za/index.php/sahrc-media/news/item/2139-sahrc-to-haul-malema-to-equality-court-over-dead-white-man-tweet)
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbtrV29N5ZQ&amp;t=1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbtrV29N5ZQ&amp;t=1s)
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suL6sAN4bKU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suL6sAN4bKU)
- [Hero image source](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Cape_Town_%28ZA%29%2C_Parliament_of_South_Africa_--_2024_--_3487.jpg) by Dietmar Rabich / openverse, by-sa.

<!-- aeo:section end="sources" -->
<!-- aeo:section start="related-coverage" -->
## Related Coverage
<!-- aeo:section end="related-coverage" -->