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History of Apartheid Podcast

Legacies of apartheid and legacies of the settlement

By 28 March 2023December 13th, 2023No Comments
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About the episode

In this podcast Ciara McCombe speaks to Professor Jeremy Seekings about the legacies of apartheid and the negotiated settlement. Together they discuss what has been achieved since the 1994 democratic elections, whether the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was successful, and how Nelson Mandela should be remembered.

Podcast length: 59 min 26 sec

Use the Drop-down menu below to view the Questions posed by Ciara McCombe to Prof. Jeremy Seekings in this episode.

Questions and Podcast Timings

00:00 Introduction 

02:00 What was the significance of the 1994 election?

06:00 How significant was the freedom charter in shaping the electoral promises of the ANC?

07:20 What were the promises made by the ANC and did they stay true to those promises?

11:26 What did the ANC have to sacrifice and how has that affected the capacity to transform South Africa?

16:52 Why was there no backlash from Trade Unions and Civil Society regarding the lack of investment in the poorest part of South Africa?

22:05 How is it that the new South Africa attempted to reconcile with its history and heal from its past?

25:31 In your view, what is the legacy of apartheid?

31:13 Is there any realistic chance that inequality in South Africa can change or is it something that becomes integrated into society?

34:40 How has the ANC responded to the AIDS pandemic?

36:53 Has the ANC made any strides to improve health inequality in South Africa?

40:32 Who are the key opposition groups to the ANC?

44:23 How is Nelson Mandela seen inside South Africa and what is the global memory of him?

49:01 Would Mandela be pleased to be painted as a liberal icon by the international community?

52:10 What is South Africa’s standing in the world today and what is its relationship with other states?

56:02 How and why does China have an increasing influence on South Africa?

”If somebody was to say to me, ‘is a glass half full or is a glass half empty? Or more than half full? More than a half empty? I wouldn't know how to answer that question. Is it a harmonious rainbow nation? No, it hasn't got there. But on the other hand, it's also not a violent, brutal, disgusting cesspit either.”

Jeremy Seekings
A woman reads the newspaper with the headline "Freedom in our Lifetime"

A woman reads the newspaper with the headline “Freedom in our Lifetime,” as she and others of Soweto, Johannesburg, queue to vote at a polling station on April 27, 1994. REUTERS/Corinne Dufka AS

REUTERS / Alamy Stock Photo

Biography of Historians

Jeremy Seekings has a joint appointment as Professor of Political Studies and Sociology at the University of Cape Town. He is also Director of the Social Surveys Unit in the Centre for Social Science Research at UCT. He is the author of Heroes or Villains: Youth Politics in the 1980s (Ravan Press, 1993) and co-author of From Race to Class: The Changing Nature of Inequality in South Africa (Yale University Press, 2006).

Further reading

  1. Akala, Why do White People love Mandela? in Natives: Race and Class in the ruins of Empire (Two Roads: 2019)
  2. Peter Hain, The Rhino Conspiracy (Muswell Press: 2020) 
  3. Jeremy Seekings and Nicoli Nattrass, Policy, Politics and Poverty in South Africa (Houndsmills, Palgrave Macmillan: 2015)
  4. Colin Bundy, Poverty in South Africa: Past and present (Jacana Media: 2018)
  5. Crispian Olver, How to Steal a City: The Battle for Nelson Mandela Bay: An Inside Account  (Jonathan Ball Publishing 2017)
  6. Redi Tlhabi, Khwezi: The remarkable story of Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo (Jonathan Ball: 2017)

General further reading

  1. William Beinart, Twentieth-Century South Africa (Oxford University Press: 2001)
  2. William Beinart and Edward Teversham, ‘South Africa, 1948-1994: From Apartheid State to Rainbow Nation’ in Edexcel AS/A-Level History Textbook, Searching for Rights and Freedoms in the Twentieth-Century (Pearson Education: 2015) 
  3. Steve Biko, I Write What I Like (Harper & Row: 1979)
  4. David Goldblattt, Fifty-one Years (ActarD inc: 2001) 
  5. Connie Field, Have You Heard From Johannesburg (Clarity Films: 2010) Documentary Series 
  6. Peter Hain, Sing the Beloved Country (Pluto Press: 1996)
  7. Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom (Black Bay Books: 1995)
  8. Thula Simpson, History of South Africa from 1902 to the Present (C. Hurst & Co: 2022)
  9. Leonard Thompson and Lynn Berat, A History of South Africa (Yale University Press: 2014)
  10. Nigel Worden, The Making of Modern South Africa: Conquest, Apartheid, Democracy (Wiley-Blackwell: 2011)
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