Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504220005
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: G-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DONNA BRYSON ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
DATELINE: QUNU, SOUTH AFRICA LENGTH: Long
People in Qunu cannot waste water. Every drop they drink, pour or splash over their faces must be hauled in plastic buckets from a spring a 30-minute walk away.
A year after Mandela's African National Congress was voted into power and he became the country's first black president, most South Africans are still suffering the consequences of apartheid and awaiting concrete improvements in their lives.
``We need roads, we need schools,'' said Nowinoti Geldwane, who has lived all her 40 years in Qunu, a collection of about 100 round huts and concrete dwellings in Transkei, 600 miles south of Johannesburg. But in her next breath, she adds: ``It can't come in one day. ... We have enough patience to wait.''
These two factors - the people's great expectations and their reservoir of patience - are what will make or break the Mandela government.
When South Africans went to the polls in their first all-race election last April, anything seemed possible. The world marveled at the country's political miracle. Black and white voters shed tears of joy at seeing the burden of apartheid lifted without violence.
Euphoria has worn off, replaced by realization that enormous work remains to be done. But the commitment to transforming South Africa is evident.
For instance, the percentage of residents paying their bills in the Soweto black township outside Johannesburg jumped from 20 to 65 from November to February.
Rent and utility boycotts had become ingrained in black townships as anti-apartheid protests. Their decline in Soweto - though still the exception nationwide - could show that black South Africans are starting to see themselves as full-fledged members of a society becoming normal.
``The April vote was about a whole range of things. First of all, it's been about participation. Our people have to participate in democracy,'' said Sankie Mthembi-Nkondo, a former anti-apartheid activist who is minister of housing.
Hers is one of the most challenging government jobs - 20 percent of South Africans live in shacks or other homes barely worthy of the name.
Her ministry moved quickly to persuade lenders to help potential homeowners in the poor black townships that banks once shunned. Now, nearly 200 housing projects have been subsidized.
But progress still has been slow. The government's target was 1 million new houses within five years. After one year, it has 999,000 to go.
The main achievement of the first post-apartheid government's first year has been laying the groundwork for the changes to come, officials say.
``I believe we are well set on the road to sustainable development of all our people and communities,'' said Jay Naidoo, a former trade union leader appointed by Mandela to oversee the government's ambitious reconstruction and development plan.
The 1995-96 budget, the first entirely formulated by Mandela's government, allocated 5 billion rand ($1.4 billion) for the plan.
There are nagging questions about whether the new, black-led government is up to the challenge.
Winnie Mandela, the president's estranged wife, has led a small but vocal group of ANC militants complaining the government has ignored poor blacks who put it in power. In particular, they dislike Mandela's reconciliation with former white rulers, including his multiparty Cabinet that includes members of the former apartheid regime.
This month, amid police investigations of Mrs. Mandela's involvement in influence peddling - accusations she has denied - Mandela fired his wife as a deputy Cabinet minister, labeling her undisciplined. Mandela also has scolded strikers and rowdy students, saying labor turbulence and youthful anarchy will only scare off foreign investment.
Cobus Dowry, spokesman for the white-led National Party, said dissension within the ANC, as well as allegations of corruption that have swirled around Mrs. Mandela and others, show the party's weaknesses.
``I don't think the ANC is succeeding in meeting its promises,'' he said. ``They thought before the election there was a lot of money lying around. When they got into the situation where they were the majority party ... they discovered the cake is just that big, there's no more.''
Many South African whites assumed blacks were too simple to grasp fiscal realities. Such stereotypes, however, have been contradicted by the behavior of the bulk of the population. Opinion surveys show a high level of sophistication on the part of blacks and an understanding of the limits on government.
The country's most popular leader, on both sides of the color line, is Mandela. His response to populist demands echoes his campaign speeches last year. Improvement will come, he says, but only slowly and with hard work.
His pragmatism has reassured business people - America's Pepsi, Britain's Barclays bank and Germany's Commerzbank are among dozens of foreign investors that are returning to South Africa now that apartheid is dead.
South Africa is by far the continent's largest economic power and remains its best hope. Under Mandela, the economy has picked up, expanding 3 percent to 4 percent this year, and leading executives say double-digit growth is conceivable if sound fiscal policy is maintained.
Tourism has exploded, with everyone from Britain's Queen Elizabeth II to curious backpackers coming to see the new South Africa. Illegal immigrants also stream in, braving flooded rivers and lion-filled game reserves to cross the porous border in search of jobs in the new El Dorado.
For whites, the year has been good times without the guilt. But their great uncertainty is what happens after Mandela leaves office in 1999 and the National Party is no longer guaranteed a place in the Cabinet, as it was under the compromise that opened the way to last year's election. Could a militant like Mrs. Mandela catapult herself to power?
The huge gulf between black and white living standards was spelled out in a recent government-commissioned survey. It said 41 percent of blacks were unemployed, compared to 6.4 percent of whites. Nearly all white homes had electricity and running water, compared to only one-third of black homes.
Rural people, pushed by the former white minority government into ethnic ``homelands'' where they were at the mercy of underfinanced, inept and corrupt governments, were especially far behind.
But with the death of the old order, a self-help spirit has washed over Qunu, in the Xhosa ``homeland'' of Transkei.
Residents have pooled resources to lay the foundation for a clinic they hope the government will complete. They have persuaded teachers to volunteer for adult literacy classes until state funds can be found.
Cynthia Nondu brought out her sewing to show a visitor she was ready to work for a new South Africa. She is convinced that houses, plumbing, roads and schools are slowly on the way.
``We've wanted these things for a long time, but there was no one to talk to,'' she said. ``It's better now that Mandela is president, because he's someone we can talk to.''
by CNB