8 Ways The Ugly Remnants of Apartheid Still Exist in South Africa

By Curtis Bunn | Published on February 2, 2015

Comments (4) Add ABS as a preferred source on Google i

When Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first Black president in 1994, his ascent was celebrated worldwide and represented a change in the country’s hateful apartheid system that rendered Black South Africans segregated and less than human. Perhaps Mandela’s biggest challenge was to bring reconciliation to a country that, since 1652, had been white-ruled and Black-oppressed. The rural, white-run towns around the major cities would be the hardest to change. Twenty-one years after Mandela’s victory, while South Africa as a whole is a dynamic place that boasts some of the most beautiful territory on Earth, remnants of apartheid still exist in numerous ways.

The ABS Newsletter — Stories that matter, in your inbox.

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way