nized and moved towards a democracy in 1980. The previous government had been controlled by whites resulting in an uneven distribution of economic resources in the country (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1). In addition, the emerging government had to deal with a 46% inflation rate and a sharp fall in both national and foreign investment following the elections of 1980 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1). Many countries feared the “unstable economic policies” and as result withdrew their investments leading to a decrease in the amount of available jobs and a considerable slow down of the economy (“Equity Growth or Both?” 1). The new government’s attempt at fixing the problems the previous government had left behind lead to increased spending on social provisions such as education and health and increased the countries deficit to an almost uncontrollable level. As a result inflation continued to rise and large external debts began to accumulate (“Equity Growth or Both?” 1). “Social hardship and unemployment among certain groups in urban areas that have been hard hit by the demand-damping repercussions of the reforms and redundancies in the public sector, have given rise to considerable political censure” (Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1). In a time when the government was just establishing itself it began to encounter criticism and considerable resistance. According to Thomas Bvuma the government was not capable of pursuing “apparently incompatible objectives, democracy and national development,” and thus would have to handle the economic problems prior to shifting its efforts towards a true democracy (Bvuma 1). Another problem that South Africa was facing during its transition to a multi-racial democracy was poor public education. During the years of apartheid adequate schooling was not provided for black South African’s resulting in a large population of formally uneducate...
