ExtractIt has become popular in SA government circles to talk of “reversing the legacies of apartheid”. These are factors which continue to limit black people’s access to jobs and economic opportunities. The lofty and noble ambitions for a post-apartheid future raise two important questions.
The first is: do policymakers really understand the complex system that gave rise to apartheid’s legacies? Not the monolithic idea of apartheid, but the inner workings. The second question is: do South Africans and their leaders know what the alternative outcome is that would replace the status quo? Can the country envisage its own good society? If the answer to these questions is no, the country won’t progress. These questions raise a third question that is critical to the success of eradicating apartheid’s legacies. It is whether South Africans understand the positive systemic dynamics they would have to create, and how to go about creating them, to deliver on the promise of democracy. S...
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