More South Africa

As long as I am dealing with South Africa, I ran across this 2004 article yesterday when I was going through one of my many accumulated piles of stuff. "Decade of Democracy Fills Gaps in South Africa" approaches the situation on the ground through two protagonists, one black, one white, each trying to deal with the New South Africa in as positive a way as possible. It seems to me that this is precisely how most South Africans are approaching their still new democracy. Even 22 months hence, the Times article sems to get at fundamental truths about the realities of life in a country trying to move forward but still hamstrung by the legacies of the past.

Here are the latest updates from the municipal elections, the results of which will not be fully clear for another day or so. At the bottom of the article is a series of links to other articles. I don't think I am serving as a shill for Mbeki when I say that he has a point when he entreats to his fellow South Africans (and to the country's journalists) "Don't focus on Khutsong only," referring to one of the communities that has been riven by strife and occasional violence as a result of being shifted from Gauteng's penumbra to that of the North West Province.