One aspect of the new South Africa.

I wasn't going to add another entry tonight, but then I read a story in the Observer (of tomorrow thanks to the miracle of the Internet) , that struck me as more than merely interesting. One group in South Africa is losing out as a result of the abolition of apartheid, working-class Afrikaners. The 1948 electoral victory of the National Party in effect led to South Africa becoming a welfare state for poor Afrikaners. Now that they have to compete for jobs, and their whiteness is not a guarantee of employment or lifetime security, they are feeling marginalised, and they're demoralised and, it seems, incapable of regular work. The conclusion is worthy, apartheid has claimed a final victim, but a bit glib:

It is these working-class whites previously protected by apartheid and still clinging to past ideologies who are the least equipped to adapt to current conditions. They are the new victims of apartheid. Hope for this new society lies with their children, many of whom are learning to integrate. When assimilation is complete, for the whites of South Africa, the story of apartheid will finally be over.