Week 6: A few more things to know about South Africa

Curious to know what South Africa has been like since the end of the apartheid era, I made a little bit of research and stumbled upon a few interesting things.

I decided to google "South Africa" and see whatever it was that came up. I figured that if I made my search as broad as possible, I could narrow my search to the most popular topics currently happening in the region. I found a set of fairly recent news articles that focused on 1.) South Africa's "unfinished revolution," 2.) the countries high unemployment rate, and (on a lighter note) 3.) how South Africa is one of the "ultimate bucket list" places to visit.

According to journalist Anne Applebaum, South Africa has officially ended the apartheid, but it continues to struggle with certain "unfinished" businesses, sort of speak. She refers to these unfinished businesses as the inability of instituting a democracy that is a able to run government efficiently. Applebaum mentions that corruption and the ANC has deterred the country from continuing the upheaval its citizens had long hoped for. She mentions that today South Africa is in a sort of stalemate with itself and that unless democracy is "deepened," the country will continue to not move forward.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2013/03/south_africa_has_made_incredible_progress_since_apartheid_but_it_still_must.html

Another journalist (the CEO of the Corporate Council in South Africa), Stephen Hayes, mentions that South Africa is facing an economic crisis, just as severe as the apartheid of the previous century. Hayes provides data showing South Africa's rising unemployment rate, and blames the government for the lack of attention it has provided to the economy after ending the apartheid. He states that previously to the end of the apartheid, the economy was mostly ran by the white minority, and that after gaining power, the ANC has done little to change the economy patterns. Hayes mentions that the expectations where that wealth would eventually spread across the country disregarding race, but that unfortunately, that has not been the case.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2014/07/02/south-africas-major-problems-youth-unemployment-and-economic-inequality

On a very much lighter note, I also found another article that talked about South Africa's impressive landscapes and their famous safaris. Larry Olmsted describes South Africa as the "ultimate" place to visit, and that it should undoubtedly be in your bucket list. As Olmsted describes, South Africa has some of the biggest, most beautiful, safaris in the world filled with a distinct animal wildlife and simply amazing landscapes. He mentions that hiking up the Table Mountain is a must, and that walking along the Cape of Good Hope and the Cape Point is something that not most American know about but should definitely be looked into. The most surprising thing about South Africa, however, are their land penguins! South Africa is home to one of the only two homeland penguins in the world. Who knew those little guys enjoyed a good tan.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2013/03/18/ultimate-bucket-list-trip-south-africa/2/

So, in short, South Africa is a lot to talk about. In class we focused mostly on the country's apartheid, but as it turns out, there is much more about South Africa to this day. Only visiting the country will tell how real these stories are (especially that one about the land penguins), and how our research compares to our findings.