South Africa

In South Africa I was visiting the squatter camps and folks trying to get some idea of the social changes since the elections here.
There's still apartheid, it's economic apartheid.
There are still large gaps between the rich and the poor.
Nelson Mandela needs more money than any Western government preceding him has ever had. He's appealing for money, Western countries are spending Billions of dollars on re-democratizing the old Soviet Union but when John Major was in S. Africa he promised £120,000 pounds which is peanuts and Nelson Mandela has to thank him.
There were concessions made to the white minority before the elections to ensure peaceful elections white control of the economy, plans for Nationalization were dropped. The world bank has joined privileged whites here to say that extra money for the poor must come through growth, which depends on South African Industry becoming more 'efficient' by paying lower wages to the already poor.

back to Road Diaries