Exactly my sentiment!

Yet blacks in South Africa had a higher living standard than anywhere in Sub-Saharan Africa during Apartheid. The total wealth of South African blacks exceeded that of other Sub-Saharan countries combined.

Charles Hoffman is right in wanting proper perspective. (Funny how ideologues and fascists of both the Left and the Right like to "contexualise" things)



Ignoring - for the sake of argument - the moral issues:-

Imagine if, instead of just uplifting poor white Afrikaners, the Nats had uplifted everybody; or at least not held others back (e.g. banning night schools).

Imagine if all the money spent on forced removals and enforcing apartheid had been spent on infrastructure or industry.

Imagine if the police had focussed on fighting crime (e.g. the Cape Flats gangs go back to before 1994 instead of probing people's sex lives (Immorality Act [sic]) and monitoring legitimate opposition to minority rule.

Imagine if people had been left to live where they wanted to (driven by economic forces, such as jobs) - how much did devastating District 6 cost? We still need to over the effects of spatial apartheid, something the ANC has not found the will to tackle.

Imagine if the money spent on arms and dodging sanctions had been spent wisely.

Imagine if those universities who wanted to had been allowed to educate anyone.
Imagine if all the kids with talent -whether sporting, performing, academic or whatever had been nurtured and allowed to reach their full potential.
How does one mention the lost wealth all the "non-white" ones would have created?

Imagine if every South African felt loyalty to a rainbow nation and went about productively and honestly. How much is apartheid still costing the country in lost opportunities, crime, poorly educated masses and inter-race hostility?



And putting the growth achieved by apartheid in perspective, as Zac de Beer (a former leader of the Progs/DA) put it, he was approached by a woman whose child was a mere infant when the Nats came to power, and after 18 years, he was a strapping young man - which minister should she thank?

If you say blacks had a higher standard of living during apartheid without comparing with their white counterparts shows the lack of knowledge that that most white south africans have about blacks south africans. Blacks were deprived so whites could have more more and more.
I grew up in Pretoria a place called Wallmansthal most households were more or less self sufficient and very few people needed to work until the government decided it was a white area and we were taken to all the now sorrounding townships Ga-rankuwa, Mabopane, Hammanskraal to name a few, if that was not traumatic enough we had to sell cattle, sheep
at loss, as some resisted moving for some time and were removed by force. The houses we moved to were small we are all familiar with the matchbox expression which was meant to describe the kind of accomdation, and crown it all most people had to look for work 100km away to commute everday to work, that meant paying for transport and leaving at 4am only to arrive at 10pm in the night never to see your kids except at weekends sometimes.
Like most it was easy the best option for my dad to only come at the weekends.
I had to apply for an equivalent of a 'visa' to work in Joburg even as a citizen and that is something even today i marvel at how it went on for so long, That me and so many spend nights in jail simply because you did not have your dompass with you when you are stoppe on the streets of Joburg, Today we have allowed Illegal immigrants rule the city which is a huge shame. It should be about getting the balance right. If apartheid was cruel BEE is bad
They both make good people better and bad people worse, the one good thing apartheid
did was to make black people realise that only hard work will get you to where you want to be and that is where education came into the picture pity our leaders now do not see the importance of providing quality education to our children.
However I'm not the one to sit and lament about the past which is gone we should all be looking forward to the future and put our heads together so we can make even S.A a even
more prosperous country.

The Europeans did not go into Africa to take slaves because of the harshness of Africa. They bought them from Africans, it was a trade. Had it not been for Europeans, we would probably be fighting ethnic and tribal wars in South Africa. They brought us a common language which helped sped the process of nation building. They taught us the written letter whose benefits cannot be over-emphisised. There is no perfect system in the world. It is not the colour but accumulation.
We must start looking at things not according to race but class if we are to find a way out of injustice in the world. South Africa is the best positioned country in the world to lead the fight against injustice and inequality because we are the only country which practices legislated racism, we know what it is. We have to look forwards and not backwards. There is not single country in the world where there is no discrimination and racial animosity. At least the rulers in South Africa we open about it that is the difference. Why don't we learn from that past and build a future.
We are tired of being reminded of racial Apartheid when we are in an even worse form of discrimination where even more of the people belong to have nots who have no say in this country. The new discrimination of those who have no wealth by those who have it. They can afford the best schools, hospitals, foreign shopping while we struggle to put food on the table for our hungry children.
The poor of all races must unite against the rich of all races who are pitting us against each other. Not all whites wrote the Apartheid laws. Some whites died in the struggle against Apartheid. The contradiction is class based and not race based.

Dream on, this is my land you came here uninvited. Long before you came here I was here and as they say will be here long after you've left.

To me South Africa is like burnt pap, the few can scap the "rich" top and the rest can make do with the inedible bottom.

Indeed, past attrocities such as the Bloukrans murder of children by blacks, the relentless attacks on whites on the Eastern Border (one of the main causes of the Great Trek) etc. were fuel for the Afrikaner's desire for a sovreign homeland.

Dear Ettiene,

You can try to justify Apartheid all you want but it was pure racism and greed. Nothing that "the blacks" did before the Great Trek would justify something that was instituted 1958. Between the Great Trek and 1958 "the blacks" were nothing more than a scared servant labor class. Maybe take a note from "the blacks" and move on. In a decade and a half "the blacks" have brought truth and reconciliation. They have embraced the idea of an inclusive society. Join in Ettiene. Don't be so angry, its over and "the blacks" won without keeping "the whites" in pure terror.

So the Mfecane, the systematic genocide of 250,000 or more members of other tribes; innocent men, women and children, by Shaka's Zulus in the 1800's was totally acceptable and presumably just a minor blip?

The author above is dead right, however. Ethiopia was never a colony except for a brief period of Italian rule, and like most African countries became a poverty-stricken dump. Singapore, on the other hand, was a British colony, was invaded by Japan, but today is one of the richest countries on earth. Zambia and South Korea were equally poor in 1960, but today there is no comparison. Africans need to stop their denialism and ask themselves what is wrong with this loser continent - why could the Koreans elevate themselves but Africans can only plunder other people's wealth and apparently only follow a parasitic model?

"Apartheid made South Africa the rich country it is".....

....What made the leaders then to believe their miracle was going to last forever end ever?...That the wheels of history were going to stop for them??

As good visionaries, couldn't they envisage the situation of their country 10-20 years down the road??

"""Everything present is to some extent as a result of the past."""

.....Everything future is to a big extent the result of today's present.......

What makes the 'leathers' of today think their bonanza is going to last forever and ever, "until Jesus comes" ?????????.....
..Do they have any capacity of envisaging what is going to happen with this country 5-10 years down the road??....
...What makes them so stupid to believe that history wheels will stop for them???...Do they see what is happening around us in the continent and in the world and still believe like yesterday, they will remain untouched???...........

So an economic growth of 6% and more during the 60's, before sanctions started to cripple South Africa, hailed as an economic miracle, did not contribute to South Africa's stability which is quickly going down the drain ?

Bollocks. See my comment above - Zambia and South Korea were equally poor in 1960. Today Korea is one of the richest countries on earth. Singapore was also a British colony. The problem is NOT colonialism, it is Africans themselves. They seem to be consumers and destroyers of wealth, whereas other nations create wealth.

'most well-rounded and comprehensive constitutions in the world' really? What is BEE? A bad a racist joke. 'I would NEVER attribute any of our achievements to that era.' what about the first heart transplant?

"an economic growth of 6% and more during the 60's" Of course that meant nothing!!!! It was gained by exploiting the masses!! Our local economy suffered, people were starved and conditioned to keep the elite rich!!! Do i have to explain this concept to you??? Today, this still exists in sweatshops as modern-day slavery where Multi-Nationals exacerbate their profits in the same manner.

Sigh. @ commenter @2,i didn't fault with the concept of colonialism, i feel it aided the era of globalization (a whole other topic) however, the way in which the colonialists conducted their business which was unethical (to say the least!!) How dare you stereotype 'Africans' as you say?? Are you not African? If not, leave this country with your pre-1994 stereotypes!!

And lastly, would i contribute the achievements that cropped out of the Apartheid era as a success of the Government?? I would never attribute any of our present legends with our present government. Google 'the bang bang club' or go watch that movie, heck, google South Africa during Apartheid, and see that you are of the ONLY with such views.

I knew that i would be opening myself up to racism when i commented first, but the extent of your comments is MOST PROFOUND!!! Go watch Oprah!

What do you know about apartheid except what your parents told you?
If you condone apartheid pre94 why not condone apartheid post94?
The 'well-rounded and comprehensive constitution' is not worth the paper it is written on. It is based on the communist Freedom Charter which has not succeeded in any other country in the world.

For your second comment on this website: congratulation!
You write wise words. Your eyes are focussed to the front of your head. You are a sensible peace keeper and ... you deserve respect from all corners of this divided society.