Freedom in the World 1999 - South Africa

1999 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Civil Liberties: 2
Political Rights: 1

Overview

South Africa embarked upon the next phase of its remarkable democratic consolidation process in 1999, with the retirement of Nelson Mandela and the second set of national elections since the end of apartheid. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) won a sweeping victory, just barely missing a two-thirds majority in parliament, which would have enabled it to unilaterally amend most of the constitution, including the bill of rights. Voter participation was approximately 85 percent of the 18.2 million eligible voters. Thabo Mbeki, Mandela's former deputy, assumed the presidency. He enjoys broad support and legitimacy, attributes he will need in addressing South Africa's internal and external challenges.

South Africa faces myriad and intractable problems of economic development and group relations, but its democratic political culture appears to be gaining hold. Consolidation of South Africa's democratic transition continued under the new constitution that took effect in February 1997. The country's independent judiciary and other institutions that protect and promote basic rights are growing stronger. The durability of these democratic structures, however, is uncertain in a country deeply divided by ethnicity and class and plagued by rising crime and corruption. Political violence continues in the Zulu areas of KwaZulu/Natal Province. Crime rates have reached endemic proportions.

The ANC leadership typically blames the former white supremacist regime, which ruled the country from 1948 until the 1994 election, for many of the nation's ills, which also include serious economic hardship and a rocketing AIDS infection rate.

This argument held particular currency in the first years after the regime change, but loses much of its potency as time passes.

South Africa's regional relations are highly sensitive and complicated. Angola continues to suffer from a civil war, and Zimbabwe has become increasingly unstable. Strife in the Great Lakes region, including the Congo, also poses a threat to economic and political progress in the region. Former president Mandela is attempting to mediate a peaceful resolution to Burundi's ongoing crisis.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

The new South African constitution is one of the most liberal in the world. It includes a sweeping bill of rights, and it forbids discrimination on grounds, among others, of race, gender, religion, marital status, or sexual orientation. Parliament has passed more than 500 laws relating to the constitution, revamping the apartheid-era legal system.

South Africans has experienced two successful national elections since the end of apartheid. Elections for the 400-seat national assembly and 90-seat National Council of Provinces are by proportional representation based on party lists. The national assembly elects the president to serve concurrently with its five-year term. Local council elections in 1995 and 1996 brought nonracial local governance for the first time. In general, the electoral process, including extensive civic and voter education, balanced state media coverage, and reliable balloting and vote counting, has worked properly. An exception is in KwaZulu/Natal, where political violence and credible allegations of vote rigging have devalued the process.

Despite the predominance of the ANC, other political parties are active and could conceivably challenge the ANC for power in future elections. These include, among others, the Democratic Party, the New National Party, and the United Democratic Movement.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission has sought to heal divisions created by the apartheid regime through a series of open hearings. From 1996 to 1998, the commission received more than 20,000 submissions from victims and nearly 8,000 applications for amnesty from perpetrators. In 1998 the commission released a report on human rights abuses during the apartheid years that largely focused on atrocities by the white-minority government, but which also criticized the ANC.

The constitutionally mandated Human Rights Commission is appointed by parliament to "promote the observance of, respect for, and the protection of fundamental rights" and "develop an awareness of fundamental rights among all people of the republic." A constitutional court has been created to enforce the rules of the new democracy. The 11-member court has functioned quite effectively and has demonstrated considerable independence. Lower courts generally respect legal provisions regarding arrest and detention, although courts remains understaffed. Efforts to end torture and other abuses by the national police force have been implemented.

An estimated four million illegal firearms circulate in South Africa, thereby contributing to increased, and more violent, crime. A similar number of licensed weapons also increases chances of gun violence.

Free expression in media and public discourse is generally respected. An array of newspapers and magazines publish reportage, analysis, and opinion sharply critical of the government, political parties, and other societal actors. Radio broadcasting has been dramatically liberalized, with scores of small community radio stations now operating. The state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation is today far more independent than during apartheid, but still suffers from self-censorship.

Equal rights for women are guaranteed by the constitution and promoted by a constitutionally mandated Commission on Gender Equality. Legislation such as the Maintenance Act and the Domestic Violence Act are designed to protect women in financially inequitable and abusive relationships, and other areas of social inequity.

These laws, though a step in the right direction, do not provide the infrastructure for their implementation. Discriminatory practices in customary law remain prevalent. In addition, the past several years have been marked by an increase in violence against women. It is estimated that every 26 seconds a woman is raped in South Africa. Violence against children is also reportedly widespread.

Crime rates have soared. Rural and urban South Africans alike have fallen victim to crimes ranging from murder, rape, robbery, and assault to racism, exploitation, theft, and corruption, which have clogged the country's judicial system and compounded the problem of overcrowded prisons.

White farmers on isolated homesteads have been particular targets in what some people claim is an organized campaign to drive whites from the land. More than 300 farmers have died violently in the past five years. Some 13,000 cars have been hijacked yearly during the same period.

Labor rights codified under the 1995 Labor Relations Act (LRA) are respected, and there are more than 250 trade unions. The right to strike can be exercised after reconciliation efforts. The LRA allows employers to hire replacement workers. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the country's largest union federation, is formally linked to both the ANC and the South African Communist Party and was among the leaders of the anti-apartheid struggle. It maintained its ties to the government in 1998, despite growing unease with the ANC's economic direction. More radical unions are demanding quick redistribution of the national wealth.

Since its initial election in 1994, the ANC government has succeeded in some important achievements, including significantly increasing health care, school feeding programs, the number of households with electricity, and access to clean water.

South Africa faces other serious problems, however. It has one of the fastest-growing AIDS infection rates in the world. The quality of schooling is extremely uneven. More than three-quarters of South Africa's people are black, but they share less than a third of the country's total income. The white minority retains most economic power. Corruption is a serious and growing problem. Unemployment stands at about 40 percent among blacks and 4 percent among whites, coupled with the loss of an estimated 500,000 private sector jobs since 1994. Half of the population of 41 million lives below the poverty line.