The Start of a Miracle
In 1994, South Africa experienced a miracle. Apartheid officially ended, but the meaning of apartheid in Afrikaans, “apartness”, still lingers today. Apartheid was a government policy that favored the white minority in South Africa, sanctioned racial segregation, and politically and economically discriminated against the nonwhite majority. [1]
This week’s readings each had their own unique contribution, but together offered a powerful narrative on South Africa.
In her book, Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa, Patti Waldmeir interviews key players to reconstruct the factors that made the deconstruction of apartheid possible. [2] While no single hero exists in ending apartheid, there was a complex web of social, economic, political, psychological, and moral dynamics that all played significant roles. One of the central moral arguments that contributed to the destruction of apartheid was the obvious contradictions in the “separate but equal” claims.
While Waldmeir meticulously documents the end of apartheid, her account ends with the presidential inauguration of Mandela in 1994. As a result, Anatomy of a Miracle is unable to assess the long-term consequences of post-apartheid and the “apartness” and inequalities that continued and failed to bring about institutional change.
In his book, After Mandela: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa, Alec Russell shows that while the end of apartheid was monumental, it was just the beginning of an even more difficult struggle. [3] Although legal and political liberation were achieved in 1994, Russell examines the persistence of inequality, corruption, poverty, and social injustice in the post-apartheid period, which he calls the “second struggle”. While After Mandela was written in 2010 and provides a post-apartheid perspective, events have continued to unfold over the last 15 years, so there is still much to learn and consider.
Looking at both texts together, we can see that the miracle of apartheid’s deconstruction was a starting point, much more than an endpoint. While legal changes allowed for greater equity, racism, segregation, and disparity do not automatically cease to exist (or even decrease much).
I used ChatGPT to provide some additional information and statistics on where South Africa is today. [4]
| Indicator | Value | Details / Context |
| Unemployment (official, Q2 2025) | 33.2% | This is the share of the labour force without formal jobs. (Statistics South Africa) |
| Expanded Unemployment Rate | ≈ 42.9% | Includes discouraged work-seekers etc. (Statistics South Africa) |
| Youth Unemployment (15-34 years, Q2 2025) | 46.1% | A very large portion of younger South Africans are jobless. (Statistics South Africa) |
| Number Unemployed | ≈ 8.4 million | As of Q2 2025. (Statistics South Africa) |
| Poverty (National Upper Poverty Line, ~2020/15 data) | ~ 55.5% of population | Measured using national upper poverty line in earlier years (~2014/15), showing that over half the population was living in poverty by that metric. (Databank) |
| Food Poverty | ~ 25% | The share of the population living in food poverty (~strictest baseline) in ~2014/15. (Databank) |
| Income Inequality (Gini coefficient) | ~ 0.63 (i.e. 63 on a 0-100 scale) | One of the highest in the world. (FRED) |
| Inflation (headline, August 2025) | 3.3% year-on-year | Down from 3.5% the previous month. (Reuters) |
These are sobering statistics that just give a glimpse into the challenges South Africa faces today. As I head to Cape Town, I am reminded to pray for world leaders who face the most complex challenges on the globe. President Cyril Ramaphosa is in my prayers today.
References
[1] The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “apartheid.” Encyclopedia Britannica, September 17, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/topic/apartheid.
[2] Patti Waldmeir, Anatomy of a Miracle: The End of Apartheid and the Birth of the New South Africa, 1st ed (W.W. Norton & Co, 1997).
[3] Russell, Alec, ed. After Mandela: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa. Windmill books, 2010.
[4] ChatGPT. September 17, 2025. https://chatgpt.com/.
About the Author
Christy
7 responses to “The Start of a Miracle”
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Christy,
Thanks for the insight into the current realities. In light of this reading, what is one thing you hope to learn more of when we get to Cape Town?
Christy, in recognizing the disparities that remain in South Africa, who are the stakeholders that are doing well, and why?
Christy,
Thanks for the statistics. They are startling and probably correlate well with the violence being reported throughout the country and the fear and anxiety that I discussed in my post. Do you have any thoughts on how the United States backing away from some of their support for South Africa (such as the end of USAID) will impact the country?
Hey Christy,
Thank you for sharing the statistics. I’ve been reading so many of these numbers for Mauritania as part of my project portfolio, and honestly, they can feel daunting at times. One thing that does give me hope, even in the face of such disparities, is seeing how some African countries have been willing to acknowledge the wounds of their tragic pasts—South Africa and Rwanda come to mind. Of course, no country is perfect, but it’s sobering that there are still so many governments that won’t even recognize the painful histories their people have lived through. That feels scary to me. At the same time, I believe there’s an infinite amount of potential on this continent, and so much important work still to be done. In your travels around the world, what have you seen that gives you hope and vision when the numbers themselves seem to tell a different story?
Christy, like the others, I appreciate you including these statistics. It helps put things into perspective. If you were a leader in South Africa, what social issue would you want to focus on, and what is the importance to you?
great post Christy. Facts are our friends. Things are not as they should be. What questions do you have to take with you into Cape Town to learn more about its current state and potential futures?
Thank you, Christy, for sharing these data.
What role should leadership—both political and spiritual—play in addressing the persistent inequalities that remain decades after apartheid’s end?