South Africa, the continents biggest success story and one of the most stunning countries in the world, but this country has a very dark past. For over a century a white supremacist government controlled the nation and brutally oppressed black people. This system of racial separation was known as apartheid and was only abolished 1994 when Nelson Mandela and the AMC came to power. Poverty is still very much widespread here but today people are talking about a new underclass of people emerging, its not black people but white.
7.88
Rating: 7.88/10 based on 8 votes cast.
Advertisement
Join The Conversation
As a white South African (an Afrikaner) did I enjoy this documentary and found it informative. I found the commentator fair and non judgmental.
A couple of points though:South Africa is a complex situation in a complex continent. Even at the height of apartheid did black people streamed across it’s borders from countries north of SA, looking for work.The situation in SA was better than in their countries that never had apartheid and has been under black rule for several decades already.
This is not the first time that SA experienced poor whites. The years following the Anglo Boer War were very tough on the Afrikaner too. After the National Party came to power in 1948 did they make a concerted effort to lift the poor Afrikaner out of poverty mainly by employing them in the civil service.The ANC is now doing exactly the same with black people hence the so called Black Diamonds (black middle class) who are mostly employed in the civil service.Because of this very aggressive Affirmative Action did a lot of whites lost their jobs and now have a hard time keeping food on the table.
I feel sorry for the young whites in poverty,since they never enforced apartheid and did not benefit from it either. They are now paying the price.