South Africa Since Apartheid Essay

This essay is both a current—as well as historical—analysis of South Africa’s political framework that focuses mainly on its economy, economic policy, and enforcement of human rights, particularly since apartheid. This is not an opinion piece, nor is it an in-depth focus on one particular factor, but rather a factual research paper that attempts to understand a number of political issues. Since the apartheid movement, South Africa has undergone a massive restructuring of government. This transition from apartheid to democracy left South Africa in an unstable state, yet somehow it has managed to re-establish itself as an emerging nation. Inevitably, apartheid left a long-lasting impression that still greatly affects many aspects of the economy, population, and the nation as a whole.
Apartheid was the racial segregation movement in South Africa that deemed a white supremacy. This included the removal of approximately 3.5 million black citizens from various regions to maintain “white-only” areas, leaving the majority of blacks in slums and without homes, as well as the elimination of black persons from the common voters’ roll. During the reign of the National Party (NP), by law, the population was divided into four separate categories: Africans, whites, coloureds and Asians. These ethnic barriers are still observed by the people. From 1948 until 1991 the NP held a strong grasp upon the nation, and that grasp is still visible today: apartheid left the country in a state of permanent devastation, unrest and segregation.
In 1994, apartheid was abolished when the influential black African National Congress (ANC) won the vote and surpassed the National Party into power. With the ANC still in power today, the South African government is now a parliamentary democracy. The President, Jacob Zuma, is the head of state, but the constitutional power is shared between the president and Parliament. The economic policy within South Africa has followed a course of many ups and...