Three decades after the end of apartheid, South Africa remains one of the world’s most unequal societies. While political power has shifted to the Black majority, economic power remains concentrated in the hands of the white minority. Modern office towers, largely owned by white South Africans, dominate the skyline of Johannesburg, while makeshift settlements sprawl below. According to official statistics, less than 10% of the population controls over 70% of private sector wealth — a glaring reminder of the enduring economic hierarchies rooted in apartheid, which have survived the formal end of that system.
This persistent inequality is a direct consequence of centuries of systemic oppression. From the 17th century, European settlers established a racial hierarchy that placed white Europeans at the top and Black Africans at the bottom. This system was formalized through laws like the Natives Land Act of 1913, which restricted Black South Africans to owning just 7% of the land, displacing them from ancestral territories and confining them to overcrowded reserves. Today, many still live in apartheid-era townships, with limited access to health care, education and economic opportunities.
The generational wealth and social networks built during apartheid continue to advantage the white minority, perpetuating the divide. But the loss of formal political control by whites has nonetheless generated bitterness and led to a desire for vengeance over the country’s shortcomings since apartheid. Popular right-wing narratives, often amplified by figures like Musk, portray South Africa as a failed state, blaming liberal policies and alleged antiwhite racism from its new rulers for its dysfunction, while ignoring the impact of entrenched economic inequality in the country.
Amid this maelstrom, news outlets catering to conservative Americans have in recent years begun highlighting the alleged targeting of the Afrikaner farming community, promoting a story that whites are now a besieged minority on the brink of being dispossessed by a vengeful and unworthy Black population. This narrative, rooted more in emotion than fact, obscures the complex realities of a nation still grappling with the legacy of its past, where white South Africans continue to enjoy a comfortable status, and numerous different visions for the future compete for primacy.