Archbishop Desmond Tutu has, in the course of his Irish visit, pointed with some justification to South Africa's successes in making its transition to democracy. The strife in former Yugoslavia, the stalled peace talks in the Middle East and the vulnerability and fragility of the Belfast Agreement should, he has suggested, increase our appreciation of South Africa's successes. And successes there have been. Racial integration within the schools system has proceeded quickly and smoothly, giving great hope for the country's future and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has dealt swiftly with corruption inside its own ranks. These positive achievements in the short years since the country's first democratic elections are not only to be welcomed but, as Archbishop Tutu suggests, can truly be set up as examples to other countries.
But South Africa does have its problems. Its recent botched intervention in Lesotho, however legally justified, served at least in its initial stages to exacerbate rather than calm a troubled situation. Good military intelligence and organisational skills were missing when they were needed. Archbishop Tutu's praise for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) activities was to be expected given that he is chairman of that organisation. His views that the TRC has brought genuine reconciliation to a wide range of people will be shared by the ANC but disputed by almost all other political strands in South Africa. Even President Mandela, the most justifiably revered political leader of his era, has made his own mistakes. Lending his name to a campaign to raise money for the ANC's former leader in the Western Cape, Rev Alan Boesak, has been one of them.
South Africa's current economic plight may be due in great part to the troubles which have beset emerging economies in Russia and Asia but it should be noted that the decline in the value of the rand began before the Russo-Asian economic crisis manifested itself. Difficulties in industrial-relations are acute. Crime remains a major problem and legislation being introduced to fight criminality may give the state as much power over its citizens under democracy and the ANC as it did under apartheid and the National Party. In a country which had been governed on racial principles for such a long time, it is hardly surprising that from time to time race consciousness has flared into racial hostility on the part of blacks as well as whites. The success of integration within the educational system should, in time, reduce this problem considerably.
All in all the generosity of South Africa's black majority to the considerable white minority has helped ensure that even the mere hankering after the old antidemocratic ways has been eliminated in all but the most extremist elements. A similar broad-minded approach is needed in addressing the serious difficulties which remain.