South Africa 30 years after apartheid ended

Explainer Thirty years after the end of apartheid, equality eludes South Africa Nelson Mandela's African National Congress promised South Africans "A Better Life For All" when it swept to power in the country's first democratic election in 1994, marking the end of white minority rule and apartheid. After 30 years of ANC government, many South Africans are frustrated about persistent poverty and inequality, and the party risks losing its parliamentary majority for the first time in a May 29 election, according to opinion polls. The World Bank reported in 2022 that South Africa was the most unequal country in the world, based on the Gini metric, a statistical distribution of welfare indicators commonly used to measure inequality. The following data shows that while strides have been made in delivering education, housing and welfare benefits to a wider share of society, South Africa has yet to overcome the legacy of apartheid and deliver a better life for all. UNEMPLOYMENT South Africa's joblessness rate, among the highest in the world, is the number one concern for many voters, though the problem is far more acute for the Black majority than for the white minority. The rates for other ethnic groups fall in