Ten years after the end of apartheid and South Africa's first free elections, TIME's Peter Hawthorne asks some notable South Africans their thoughts on the country's greatest successes, biggest failures and the challenges ahead.
Posted Sunday, April 11, 2004; 2.15BST Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Nobel Peace Prize Winner and chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission:
Successes: Many thought we would be overwhelmed by a racial bloodbath. I believe the most notable success since 1994 is that we are still there, a viable and stable and nascent democracy going into its third democratic elections. Contrast that with the shambles in Russia, which made the transition to democracy about the same time as we did. A very diverse society with a painful history of racial conflict, we are managing to walk the path of forgiveness and reconciliation rather than that of retribution and revenge.
Failures: We have played ducks and drakes with the lives of people we could have saved with a more coherent and decisive AIDS policy. We could have created more jobs. Unemployment has fuelled a high level of crime and we could have invested in social upliftment projects rather than purchasing arms we do not need.
Challenges: We must make freedom a reality for all, in the quality of homes we build for the poor, in the healthcare we provide, in education and jobs created. We must remain ever vigilant so that our freedom is not eroded by kowtowing sycophancy, a freedom that is vibrant because people are free to criticize everyone and everything without their patriotism or loyalty being impugned; that we revive our altruism to avoid a huge gap growing between the rich and poor; and to recover our idealism looking for a new quality of society — compassionate, caring and gentle, where people matter more than things. We must beware the siren song of affluence, huge mansions and big cars when the bulk of our people still live in poverty and squalor.
F. W. de Klerk The last apartheid President and deputy to Nelson Mandela for two years after 1994:
Successes: The entrenchment of a democratic system with an excellent constitution, a strong bill of rights and an effectively functioning free market economy, underpinned by remarkable goodwill between our diverse society.
Failures: The continuing poverty of more than half the population caused by the loss of more than half a million jobs in the formal sector and poor service delivery — together with the government's inability to come to grips with the enormity of the AIDS pandemic. There is no quick fix for these problems, but there is room for a more more focused and better managed approach.
Challenges: To maintain, protect and strengthen the constitution and the rights and democratic institutions that it guarantees and to tackle the economic and social transformation of South Africa in a fair and effective manner.
Helen Suzman Retired liberal politician:
Successes: The peaceful transition from an authoritarian state to a government of democracy. I can't bear to think what it could have been like. The new South African inherited a country with a good infrastructure, good roads and communications. But [the A.N.C] could have carried out their Freedom Charter and nationalized the lot. They didn't. We whites in South Africa are undoubtedly a very privileged lot. We live in a heavenly world.
Failures: We have failed to combat corruption and failed to take measures that will attract investors. We have stupid things like rigid labor laws, low productivity, affirmative action. You only have to look at places like Taiwan to see how stupid these measures are. Here, instead of bringing people into the country and the economy as managers, teachers, skill trainers, we're driving them out. We've failed to stem the tide of unemployment that presages an alarmingly high crime rate. That's all pretty disappointing because we had hoped for something so much better. Of course poverty exacerbates everything. But there's the failure to initiate the antiretrovirals against AIDS. AIDS is a virus whether they [the A.N.C government] like it or not.
Challenges: To reduce poverty. We still have 7 million people living in shacks. And the poverty gap is widening. And to push ahead with education and skills training. We can't undo the evils of Bantu education (as it was known in the apartheid era) in ten years. We'll need two generations to do that. But we can try to close the gap as quickly as possible.
Gabriel Tokyo Sexwale Former Robben island inmate with Mandela, now one of the country's leading black businessmen:
Successes: The change to a democratic society in South Africa. It could have gone horribly, horribly wrong. Here we were freed from prison to take part, in our own lifetime, in a remarkable, miraculous transition, with all the dangers and complexities that it contained, into a democratic society. And there we were, daggers drawn, ready to bury this country. And when you look elsewhere, at Europe, at Bosnia, Haiti, Sierra Leone, we know we're an example before the world that people can do it. They can make the transition peacefully. And, hey, no-one had to step in and mediate for us. We did it all by ourselves. That says a lot for our democracy.
Failures: I don't see failures. I see difficulties. One, we could have handled the employment situation better. Our unemployment figures are unacceptable. Two, we could have attracted more greenfield direct investment. Three, we've been less than successful in attracting foreign investment. Problem is, the world is still waiting for us, watching us, assessing us.
Challenges: To convert the political freedom we have achieved into meaningful economic freedom for all. To bring those people on the periphery into the center stage of the economy. The foundations have been laid for the next decade of political democracy. Now the challenge is to convert that to economic freedom.
Roelofse "Pik" Botha Long-serving foreign minister before 1994, retired as Minister of Mines and Energy in Mandela's government:
Successes: Getting rid of apartheid. Realizing that otherwise we were doomed. And doing it together. I'm not aware of any similar transfer of power that took place like this in recent history. Specifically as a government, the success lies in the maintenance of a successful monetary, financial policy. Now, for the first time in our history, economic growth is larger than our population growth. We export more manufactured goods than minerals. Put these facts together and, believe me, we have a future that looks decidedly bright.
Failures: In unemployment, crime and AIDS. And ignoring the dangers of environmental pollution. And the fact that the race factor is still a determining factor in South African life. We have to get back to a society based on merit, not on race, not on affirmative-action measures. We're now dealing with a new generation, a young society which has never been a part of apartheid. We mustn't punish them for the past.
Challenges: To come to terms with these failures. To face up to them and work together to make the dream of the rainbow nation come true.
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