On April 27, 1994, the apartheid system of South Africa officially came to an end. However, its infamy still lingers and affects modern South Africa, as apartheid is one of the key factors in the country’s shockingly high rate of unemployment.
Over the last 10 years, South Africa’s unemployment rate has risen by an astonishing 4.6% ("South Africa: Unemployment”). It is the biggest modern unemployment crisis in the world - a crisis that started in the 1970s with apartheid policies that restricted people of color from education and jobs and continues today (Hyman).
South African natives were viewed as intellectually inferior during apartheid. As a result, their school system was significantly under-resourced compared to the system for white people, which was free and compulsory. Vimal Ranchhod, the Chief Research Officer at the University of Cape Town’s Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, mentions how this lack of proper education, which still takes place today, leaves natives unable to acquire jobs that require skill and high levels of knowledge, both of which the modern world and economy are in increasing demand for (Ranchhod).
Apartheid also greatly restricted where black people could live to mostly rural areas that were far from cities. According to Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam’s Department of Political Science, there are no job opportunities in those areas, and thus, people have to travel long distances, using all of their savings for things like train tickets in hopes of getting a job (Alenda-Demoutiez). However, a lack of money forces many to make the choice between the search for a job and basic necessities, such as food. As it is human nature to put survival above all else, the majority of people in these areas are unable to take a chance to better their lives ("South Africa: The Cost”).
Though there has recently been an increase in attention towards this issue worldwide, not much has been done to help South Africa’s deteriorating economy. A high-quality education system, made accessible to everyone, must be put in place so that people have the tools necessary to get jobs. Poverty, which limits human development, must be addressed, and a dynamic, innovative economy where people are appropriately rewarded for taking risks is necessary (Ranchhod). By doing this, South Africa, and the world as a whole, will get closer to escaping from the ubitiquous legacy of racism and apartheid.
Works Cited
Alenda-Demoutiez, Juliette, and Daniel Mügge. “The Lure of Ill-Fitting Unemployment
Statistics: How South Africa's Discouraged Work Seekers Disappeared From the Unemployment Rate.” Taylor & Francis. 14 May 2019. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2019.1613355.
Hyman, Aron. “SA Faced with 'Politically Unpopular Decisions' to Boost Employment.”
TimesLIVE. TimesLIVE. 6 Mar. 2020. www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-03-06-sa-faced-with-politically-unpopular-decisions-to-boost-employment/.
Ranchhod, Vimal. “GroundUp: Why Is South Africa's Unemployment Rate so High?”
Daily Maverick. 14 Feb. 2019. www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-02-14-why-is-south-africas-unemployment-rate-so-high/.
"South Africa: The Cost of Looking for a Job." allAfrica.com. 24 Feb. 2020, p. NA. Gale
In Context: Global Issues. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A615013810/GIC?u=los42754&sid=GIC&xid=e0f65a75.
"South Africa: Unemployment Rises to 29.1 Percent in Third Quarter." allAfrica.com. 29
Oct. 2019. p. NA. Gale In Context: Global Issues. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A604101384/GIC?u=los42754&sid=GIC&xid=bf8bb53b.
I like how you decided to follow up on Apartheid in South Africa, I found the article very interesting because we did not really touch upon the consequences of Apartheid as much. My favorite part of the article was your use of evidence because you incorporated it very smoothly and gave a concise yet informative description. I was surprised that the poverty level is the high in South Africa. Has the government made any recent strides to alleviate this?
ReplyDeleteNice article! My favorite part of the article is when you mentioned that South Africa is facing an unemployment crisis as of right now which I thought was pretty cool since that was also a big part of my article issue too. I think that the main takeaway of the article is that Apartheid has some lingering affects and that is what is affecting South Africa's economy. What inspired you to go with this issue for the article research project?
ReplyDeleteGreat read. I really liked your argument throughout the article as it flows well and has sufficient, relevant evidence to back it up. I was pretty surprised about the high unemployment rates, but even more surprised by its connection to the apartheid. How has the education system changed since the apartheid was abolished?
ReplyDelete