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20 years on, Mandela’s party faces tough test in S.Africa

– Better off today –

The ANC’s continued popularity reflects the fact that life feels incomparably better for many South Africans than it did under the white minority’s racist apartheid system.

The government says it has built 3.7 million houses since the advent of democracy 20 years ago, giving millions of people their first modern homes, while some 15 million people receive government social grants.

Yet economic inequality persists and has seen poor South Africans take their anger to the streets, protesting over a lack of basic services like water, sanitation, electricity and housing.

A recent survey showed 46 percent of the population of 50 million living in poverty. Unemployment stands at around 25 percent, according to official statistics.

Racial divisions have proved hard to overcome. White South Africans – around 10 percent of the population – remain in the driving seat of the economy – dominating the high-end job market.

A study released in 2012 showed that blacks hold 21 percent of shares in the top 100 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Africa’s biggest bourse.

Ashwin Desai, a sociologist at the University of Johannesburg says democracy has failed South Africans because the majority are still “mired in poverty in the face of burgeoning wealth on the other side”.

“Democracy should mean more than freedom, it needs to translate to the improvement of lives,” he said.

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But Professor Steven Friedman, head of the Centre for the Study of Democracy at Rhodes University and the University of Johannesburg, told AFP: “Democracy has not failed. South Africa is more prosperous than 20 years ago.

“The majority of people are now free to live and work without restriction, a new black middle class has emerged and people are free to express themselves.

“Yes, corruption is a problem and government does not run as well as it could. But citizens know about corruption now because democracy ensures that a free media and opposition political parties can reveal it.”

Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index last year ranked South Africa at 72 out of 177 countries – tied with Brazil, just behind Italy at 69 and better than Greece at 80.

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