Why South Africa is still so segregated

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How centuries of division built one of the most unequal countries on earth.

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For decades, South Africa was under apartheid: a series of laws that divided people by race. Then, in the 1990s, those laws were dismantled. But many of the barriers they created continue to divide South Africans by skin color – which in turn determines their quality of life, access to jobs, and wealth. Racial division was built into the fabric of cities throughout South Africa, and it still hasn’t been uprooted.

That’s partly because, while apartheid was the culmination of South Africa’s racial divisions, it wasn’t the beginning of them. That story starts closer to the 1800s, when the British built a network of railroads that transformed the region’s economy into one that excluded most Black people — and then made that exclusion the law.

Sources and further reading:

If you want to learn more about the railroads and how they impacted Cape Colony’s economy, check out this paper by Johan Fourie and Alonso Herranz Loncan:
https://academic.oup.com/ereh/article-abstract/22/1/73/3930943?redirectedFrom=fulltext

To understand segregation in South Africa’s major urban centers, take a look at this paper about segregation and inequality:
https://www.seri-sa.org/images/SERI_Edged_out_report_Final.pdf

For more information on post-Apartheid cities, you can read this paper by Edgar Pieterse (who we feature in the video):
https://www.africancentreforcities.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/post-apartheid_geographies_pieterse_15dec09.pdf

To explore the history and legacy of District Six, visit the District Six Museum website:
https://www.districtsix.co.za/

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43 COMMENTS

  1. rrgrgrgrgr i want to be mad at history, but i can't- history is history and the people living today are not the people that made these decisions. it's sad, though, because it seems like so many heinous acts that have happened in the past seem to have gone unfixed. it's just kind of shocking seeing what atrocities that humans have done in the past, and how we need to learn from our mistakes, and try to prevent these events from happening again (though history is bound to repeat itself, we can try to stop it from happening to such a horrible degree).

    also frustrating how so many people refuse to ask themselves the question 'what if this happened to me,' though humans are annoyingly complicated

  2. No matter how much the west tries to bring tribes together this is exactly how it will happen. We will pile into areas and it'll become ghetto Vs ghetto. They then have a much easier time controlling the multiple warring weak factions instead of a United front. Communism spreading. They don't want another Germany, another country that protects itself and it's population over all else.

  3. the present south african government has made the poor poorer and what sbout all the corruption and " black diamonds" with exorbant lifestyles that noone talks about. this is propoganda

  4. unfortuanetly this is not just a south african situation, and it is not a colour thing.
    In countries all over the world the gap bw rich and poor is getting wider.

  5. This is what apartheid has done you sow what you reap. Inequality to people. If everyone was treated equally with dignity & respect we would have had a beautiful country.

  6. First time i've experienced racism i was 22 in the U.S on vacation, i grew up in a 95% black country and lived opposite to a guest house where as a kid tourists from all over the world visit there and we would interact with them and everything was cool but i never knew people would just hate someone just because of their skin colour

  7. The best way to make an educational video is to start with a table of contents detailing the sections so as to let one's mind be able to ponder beforehand which preps one to move from section to section. Everything all in one straight shot won't sink in, and no one wants to rewatch a video over and over. This is the same for reading material. One needs to skim through it first, bring to mind what one already knows and point to one's self what one doesn't, then restart from the beginning having that prep work already having trained the mind to know what to do when the time comes. It's the same for a paragraph in writing. The first sentence is the synopsis of what is to come, the middle the explanation, the end the summary.

  8. This is painful to watch, my Lord. I thought being black in America was hard, this is shocking, to say the least. I wanted to visit the country the continent, this makes me feel uncomfortable. As a black person, it’s hard to settle with being made to feel like your unwelcome everywhere, even in the country/continent of your own ancestors.

  9. The irony of South African government telling the Israeli government how to protect their living families and ancestors against genocide…….. It’s rich, I guess……

  10. There is a very little divide the real divide is the goverment that creates the real divide… You don't know what you're talking about! Most of the best paid jobs in South Africa are in the position of the black and coloured community.

    The govermental policy of BEE has removed experience for skin colour.

    You know nothing of South Africa or its people but just have read Wikipedia and made a video.

  11. ትግራይ ናይ መቋመሪ ዛዕጎል እያ። እቲ አቋመሪ ክአ ህዉሐት እዩ። እቲ ነቲ አቋመሪ ዝክፈል ገንዘብ ክአ ናይ ዛህር ይብሀል

    እቶም ተቋመርቲ ክአ፤

    ሰልጠነ ግርማይ TEFETAWI SHOW

    ኤልሳ ጩሩም

    ኤሪ ሳት

    ዬሴፍ ገ/ሂወት J Studio

    ኤሪ ፕረስ

    ወዲ ብጫ

    አሰና

    ሬዶ ኤረና

    ረድኢ መሐሪ

    ጸልማት መጻኢ

    ይአክል

    ቲኤም ኤች

    ሚስታት ቤትና

    ባይቶ ሠራየ

    ብርጌድ ንከብድ

    ትግራይ ኦን ላይን

    ወዘተን እዬም

    ቁማር ሕማም እዩ። ተቋማራይ መታለሊ፣ ሐሳዊ፤ ሰራቂ እዩ። ዝለመዶ ምስ ስአነ ንብረቱ ይሸይጥ ሀገሩ ይሸይጥ ዋላ እታ ናይ ጸባ ናይ ደቁ ካይተረፈ የጥፍእ።

    ስፖንሠር ሽፕ ናይ ተቋመርቲ ክአ

    እዞም ብዘይ ፍላጥ አንጻር ጥቅሞም ዝቃለሱ ዔዖ ግመሎ ሲሚንቶ እንዳወልወሉ ዝኮነ ከምቲ ኩላህና ንፈልጦ ከቢድ ስራሕ እንዳሰርሑ ከምኡዉን ካብቲ ናይ ሬዲኤት ዝወሃቦም ካይተረፈ $20, $10, $100 እንዳሀቡ አብዚ ደረጃ በጺሕና። ነደካ ግን ናይ ቡን ሰዲድካ አይቲፈልጥን።

  12. Maybe one group avoids another group, because that second group not only does not bring anything of value to the first group, but also brings crime and death. So the group A avoids group B as you would fire and disease. Do you want to be forced to spend ALL your life with group B?

  13. 30 years The Black Government running this country — you not showing any corruption – just want blame other for your chaos country destroyed by you and your people

Comments are closed.