The South African Economy: Coping with the Legacy of Apartheid

Despite some success in poverty alleviation, the fact that the economic disparity between the population groups was expected to persist for many years to come, led many analysts to blame the government's shift in policy as the reason behind the slow change.

Meanwhile, the government had been unable to contend with the growing menace of HIV/AIDS, with an estimated 5.5 million⁵ South Africans infected with the deadly virus.

The high crime rate was another issue that required immediate attention.

In 1485, Batholemeu Dias, a Portuguese explorer who was trying to find a sea route to India, circumnavigated the South African cape. He named it Cabo do Boa Esperanca or Cape of Good Hope. The Dutch East India Company⁶ set up a provision station in Table Bay (Cape Town) for passing ships in 1652. Beginning in 1657, the company authorities alloted arable lands in the region around Cape Town (also referred to as Cape colony) to some of its employees who were freed from service to pursue farming. In this period, slaves were brought from Benin and Sulaweisi (Indonesia) to work on the farms. By the 1700s, the Dutch farmers (referred to as trekboers) began spreading to the interior regions of South Africa. As a result, the natives were ousted from their lands...