South Africa- state situated in the geographical region with the same name

 

South Africa- state situated in the geographical region with the same name between the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, considered nowadays the richest and most developed African country.

This state was for 52 (1945-1992) years the target of political and economical embargos because of the black racial segregation policy called apartheid.

Beginning in 1948, the political and social situation of the black majority aggravates as Prime Minister Daniel F. Malan comes into power. He accentuates the racist policy of the young state.

The discriminated part of the people, being in a state of modern slavery, group around the African National Congress organized and lead by Albert John Luthuli and Nelson Mandela and fight using all means to obtain equalitarian rights and fundamental liberties.

These living conditions that alter the south African social environment generate tensions between ethnic groups. The ones with the bloodiest outcomes took place around the 90’s when adepts of the African National Congress lead by Nelson Mandela of Bantu origin (other Bantu groups: Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, Tsonga) were pitted against Inkatha followers of Zulu origin (this being the most numerous ethnicity) with its subgroups consisting of kwazulu, gazankulu, kwandbele and lebowa lead by Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

Although they are in power today, the black population still suffers from poverty and lack of education even 20 years after the fall of the white authoritarian regime. The last white president want Frederik W. de Klerk to whom the Nobel Prize for peace has been awarded in 1993 along with Nelson Mandela for their efforts to democratize and diminish the effects of the apartheid.

The absurdity of that political system went as far as to dictate which side of the street a black man was allowed to walk on or to areas where they were forbidden to go. The exploitation of the discriminated race lead to countless tragedies in the gold, coal or uranium mines for whom no one ever answered just like no one was ever held accountable for the murdered people in Johannesburg’s, Durban’s or Pretoria’s ghettos who were striving for access to the education and medical system and for voting rights. For example, the highest AIDS infection rate were recorded in the 80’s in the great African cities suburbs.

The extermination of the Khoikhoi population and Bushmens tribes (indigenous people in the desert areas of South Africa) by the Afrikaner is also worth mentioning.