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Democracy in South Africa
Finally, the elections arrived. Despite organisational glitches the elections were carried out peacefully. Millions waited patiently for hours to vote for the first time. Unsurprisingly, on May 2, President de Klerk conceded defeat to Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa.
Mandela inherited a country of roughly 50 million people, six million of whom were unemployed and nine million destitute. Over 10 million had no access to running water and 23 million had no electricity. 60% of adult blacks and fewer than 50% of black children under 14 attend school. The gap between the blacks and the whites also still remained. For example, infant mortality among Africans was 80 deaths per 1000 births but just seven among whites. South Africa is certainly still a society in transit.
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How
about societies like Russia and Japan?