THE DILEMMA OF JUSTICE IN A MULTI-RACIAL SOCIETY: THE SOUTH AFRICA EXAMPLE

Abstract

South Africa boasts the unique credential of being the only country in the world where apartheid, the most extreme form of racism, has ever existed. Apartheid engendered deep divisions among the two major races in the country---- blacks and whites. Although it formally ended twenty years ago with the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the first fully democratically-elected president, the historical racial divisions it created still run deep and, by being sharpened from time to time by the glaring inequalities in the economic conditions of the races, challenge the genius of the country’s political leadership. These inequalities, which have not perceptibly contracted in the first two decades of majority rule, cast brooding shadows upon the country's future. The blacks who make up the majority of the population have been demanding reforms that will radically integrate them into the mainstream of the economy, which, to their dismay, is still predominantly “white.” This paper looks at the dilemma in attempting to enforce the blacks’ right to distributive/restorative/transitional justice for the economic marginalization they suffered under apartheid. Towards achieving a balanced study, this paper deploys both quantitative and qualitative methods, not overlooking several primary and secondary sources of information. While positing for an equity-based socio-economic transformation in domestic South Africa, credible minds should help the country’s transformation by dissuading misinformation.