South Africa, between inequality and the increase in xenophobia ten years after Mandela’s death

2023-12-05 23:39:49

In 1994, the South African National Sports Council voted to remove the Springbok name and emblem. of the rugby team, the South African white-faced gazelle used as the national symbol of the apartheid government. When Nelson Mandela found out, he went there to prevent the change. Rugby, a symbol of oppression by Afrikaners towards the majority black population, became a weapon to reconcile whites and blacks for the country’s newly elected president. Its objective was achieved: in 1995, South Africa won its first Rugby World Cup as host and in 2023 it has become the most successful country with five titles.

But rugby is the only symbol of union. On the tenth anniversary of the death of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, the values ​​of racial reconciliation and unity are breaking down. 50% of South Africans interviewed in the 2021 Reconciliation Barometer from the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation They consider that racial division is a problem for the country, being the second biggest concern after the economic one between the rich and the poor.