Mrs. Ntshadi M. Tsheole, South Africa’s High Commissioner to Cameroon and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Chad and the Central African Republic, talks on her country, 18 years after the advent of black majority rule.

It is now over than 18 years since the advent of black majority rule to South Africa. What would you say have been the achievements of various ANC governments?

Black majority rule has recorded a series of achievements. The first challenge was to draft a new constitution. It was done in two years and in 1996, it was adopted. The constitution is praised all over the world today as it is the first in Africa that emphasizes the significance of basic human rights.

The challenge of transition and reconciliation that took place in South Africa enabled the people to move forward and not concentrate on the bitterness, anger and the pain of the past. We were able to overcome the transitional challenges that saw a lot of black-on-black killings. This was as a result of our past. South Africans sailed over those difficult times to enter a new era where they can live together.

It was not easy with the economy because South Africa came from a background of sanctions under Apartheid. Though it looked at the time as if the economy was doing well, it was indeed ailing because it catered only for a small number of people. When the new ANC government took over, they realized that there was a lot of debt. They could not borrow from outside the country because of sanctions and so resorted to borrowing from South African companies!

They also embarked on belt-tightening from 1994 until 2009 when South Africa borrowed money from the World Bank for the reinforcement of electricity supply. Prior to this, everything was done within the budget from local resources. Another success was to ensure that every South African paid tax. This led to an annual budget surplus of 60 billion Rand (about FCFA 3,716 billion) each year. The money helped in building the economy.

Different service systems were integrated. About 14 departments that existed under the Apartheid government each for education, police, health, army, Public Service, etc were all brought together in the various ministries and services. The challenge with the economy was that the minority controlled it, with the majority of people who had never earned any salaries before 1994. The few wage earners were teachers, nurses, etc. Black economic empowerment was then introduced.

How much has black empowerment achieved?

Though the policy has not achieved much, today, there are a few black millionaires in South Africa. These people however are still to reach a level where they can create jobs for others. About 87 per cent of South Africa’s land belonged to the minority with the majority occupying only 13 per cent of it.

The land restitution policy was introduced, though it has been very slow in yielding results. The transfer of land has to be balanced with the need for food security. Government can’t just take land from those producing food to hand over to their rightful owners with no guarantee of continuous food production.

What about improvements in social standards of living?

A lot of progress has been made in education. Today, 90 per cent school enrolment has been achieved before the 2015 deadline for attaining that Millennium Development Goal. More girls now go to school than before. In the area of housing, about 2.5 million houses have built for the people since 1994. An additional five million households have potable water supply, giving a total of about 20 million people.

On electricity, about 11 million new households have been electrified since 1994, giving a total of about 24 million people. In order to alleviate poverty, government now provides support grants monthly to about 15 million people. The budget for social security can be the equivalent of one country’s annual budget in Africa! Many roads, stadiums and airports have also been constructed.

At the international level, South Africa was a pariah in 1994. But today, everybody knows where South Africa is. South Africa’s international emergence has seen it playing major roles in the African Union, in peace-building on the continent, the UN Security Council and through membership of the G-20 and BRICS nations. On the other hand, South Africa realized it cannot survive without the rest of Africa. Everything that South Africa does is to improve the image of the continent and to enable it play a more significant role on the world stage.

Like you admitted, South Africa has faced challenges since 1994. What are some of the key challenges?

Our major challenge is unemployment. The mechanization of industries means the replacement of human labour by machines. This has created unemployment in the country. Also, available jobs require skills that the majority doesn’t have. Given its Apartheid background, getting a constitution and new laws didn’t immediately change the mindset of the people; nor get them educated overnight.

Consequently, the current work force is largely made up of Apartheid-era black people who didn’t receive much education or have much skills. The high level of unemployment is a legacy, a generational thing. The future lies with those who were born after 1994 and who are being better trained with the right skills. But for now, majority of the people are products of Apartheid. People say Apartheid ended in 1994, but that was only on paper! Most of our problems are a result of the low level of education, lack of relevant skills and the resulting high level of unemployment.

The challenge now is the people’s mindset that is still in the past. Majority of black people think that since the minority government used to favour whites, ANC governments should do everything for them. This is not possible because the democratic government has to cater for all races, not just blacks. The people still have to learn to do things for themselves. On the contrary, people in the rest of Africa had long learnt to fend for themselves.

With South Africa’s prosperity, everyone in Africa wants to emigrate there and it is creating a big challenge for us. The 2008 riots were not because South Africans don’t like fellow Africans, but because most of them are not well educated and consequently do not possess the relevant skills. When foreigners come to South Africa and discover employment opportunities, they quickly make use of them. This is a normal human evolution element and a huge challenge for our people who are still to learn to fend for themselves.

When the country transited, everyone wanted to be like whites. There is therefore a very big gap between those who have and those who don’t. And so those who don’t have want to become equally rich, even without skills and education. But comparatively speaking, salaries in South Africa are better than in many parts of the world and Africa. Given the legacy of Apartheid where minority whites earned very good salaries, majority of South Africans today want to live like Europeans and Americans, not like those in the rest of Africa. These are therefore the disparities and challenges of the mindset. If the economies of Africa improve, there will be less emigration pressure on South Africa as only a few professionals will come.

With the recent killing of mine workers at Marikana by the police, some people say they have not changed in the last 18 years.

It is partly true and untrue. The mindset of the people definitely cannot be ruled out. With the human rights culture that was introduced in 1996, some people think they have rights where these don’t exist. The Marikana miners’ strike was illegal. In South Africa, people need to obtain permission to go on strike; the miners did not get any.

Though many South Africans still move around with traditional weapons like machetes, spears and axes, the law bans it. The strikers used these weapons to hack to death their colleagues who didn’t want to join in the strike. The police were only called in as a last resort to separate the two groups of miners. The striking miners are of the mindset that government must do everything they demand. And when, the police arrived, they killed some of them, including security guards. I put myself in the place of the police and ask what I could have done.

But the police could have used rubber bullets or tear gas to scare away the attacking miners.

The police first used tear gas but the miners ignored it because of their mindset. They then used rubber bullets, but it didn’t stop the miners. I don’t condone what happened, but I ask myself what else could these few helpless policemen do in the face of a mob of 100 or so threatening striking miners, all armed with traditional weapons?

I put myself in the police’s shoes and ask what I could have done; having seen the bodies of other policemen and mine workers killed by the same group. It was a huge tragedy, but to judge is very difficult. Both sides have to take responsibility – the people and government - and see how to avoid similar occurrences in future.

How do you envision South Africa, say, in the next 10 years?

The future of South Africa is very bright, I’m optimistic. There is a new crop of workers and leaders coming up – those who were born after 1994. Their mindset is different from our generation and others before us. We are products of a different era. These people are being equipped to occupy senior positions. I’m optimistic that together with the rest of Africa, South Africa will go far.