Thirty years into democracy, South Africa shows measurable progress, but to what extent have people’s daily lives improved? The HSRC engaged residents in Sweetwaters, KwaZulu-Natal, to find out how they perceived the improvements and persistent challenges in their communities. By Zaynab Essack, Ayanda Tshazi, Jessie-Lee Smith and Nompumelelo Zungu
Before 1994
Gun shootings and fights.
Forced to leave school sneaking and going home.
I was around 5 years my sister, I had recently started school.
There were those that attended in the morning up
until 12h00 and those that attended during the day up until
14h00.
We stayed in a township.
People were fighting and shooting at each other.
Political parties.
We never thought of moving. That year I did not study.
I dropped out in the middle of the year.
This found poem, by Zimasa Tshwane, titled Before 1994, was recently performed in Sweetwaters, KwaZulu-Natal, at an HSRC event to launch the local results of a nationwide project entitled Democracy@30. The project aimed to amplify the voices of South African citizens by asking communities to reflect on the progress achieved since the country’s first democratic election in 1994 and the challenges that persisted 30 years later. Participatory methodologies, combining group discussions, and art or photovoice approaches, were used to collect the data. Major themes from participant narratives and visual data were education, healthcare, housing, safety, and social cohesion.
Education, safe infrastructure and technology: a ticket to a better future
According to participants, notable progress was evident in educational infrastructure and access. One participant noted, “Education opens doors that once were closed…The education system has improved because we used to learn outside and did not have classes [sic], but now we do, and we also have chalkboards now.”
However, these significant shifts had been tempered by persistent challenges. Overcrowded classrooms, limited digital resources, and poor infrastructure undermine education quality, particularly in rural areas like Sweetwaters. One participant said, “Some learners do not have places to sit in classrooms, and they cannot learn properly because they are squashed.” Another highlighted resource scarcity in the community, “We don’t have access to libraries. We can’t even access books online because we don’t have Wi-Fi or some textbooks.”
Another participant, while highlighting a lack of access to technology, explained how Covid-19 lockdowns forced many students to fall behind as they could not attend school.
Using photovoice, one participant highlighted continuing issues with infrastructure in the school within the community. Using a photo of a broken chair, accompanied by a hand-written sentence stating, “Democracy must intervene in education” and a drawing of a sad face, as seen in Figure 1, the participant offered a powerful plea for the progress yet to be made in educational infrastructure.
Figure 1. Photographs depicting education after 30 years, highlighting infrastructure problems in school
A better healthcare for the people
Improved access to healthcare was also a significant theme that emerged in the project. One participant said, “Now, we can get the medicine we need without paying. This change has saved many lives.” Another noted, “The mobile truck brings our treatment to us, rain or shine, and we don’t have to face long queues.” These improvements were punctuated by a participant’s drawing of a clinic and patients (Figure 2), who expressed that “Previously, sick patients were brought into the clinic in wheelbarrows, but now there are wheelchairs.”
Figure 2. A drawing of a clinic in Sweetwaters equipped with a toilet, a resuscitation room, gas cylinders, beds and cupboards
The drawing in Figure 2 also highlighted persistent issues with healthcare access for residents of Sweetwaters. The artist wrote that “shortage of staff, shortage of medication, shortage of resources” continue to be a problem. Clinics face high demand with limited staff, leading to burnout and long waiting times. Participants also raised safety concerns. One healthcare worker noted, “Lately, clinics are being robbed. This was not happening before; it started recently, and we are worried about our safety, as you cannot go to work with money as you are scared that you might be robbed.” Barriers to accessing clinics also remained a problem. For example, costs for transportation and stigma around certain treatments (e.g. HIV treatment) continued to affect healthcare access and adherence.
Housing that elevates people’s dignity
In 1994, Nelson Mandela introduced the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP), which aimed to provide subsidised housing to low-income households. One participant said, “The houses that were built while we were growing up were mud houses and did not elevate people’s dignity. With the RDPs, we saw change in the community; a lot of poor people benefited from this.”
The improvements made to housing can be seen in a participant’s drawing (Figure 3), which compares past and current housing and infrastructure in the community. In the first image, a student walks to school on a grass path from their mud house with their school books. In the second image, a school bus is driving on a dirt road after picking students up from an RDP house.
A participant’s drawing depicting three versions of community housing and infrastructure, past, present and what they hope for the future
Still, infrastructure issues like inconsistent water and power supply remained a challenge. The desire for improvements to housing and infrastructure can be seen in the third part of the drawing, where a tar road leads up to a large house, in front of which a student stands with a laptop.
Community members emphasised the need to improve housing quality, ensure fair access to government housing and maintain infrastructure to support equitable development. One participant said, “The walls are not straight, the painting is vanishing, and some walls are falling due to heavy rains, in a way that one can see that it was raining because of the water inside the house.”
Social cohesion, migration and the perceived intersection between drug use and unemployment
In Sweetwaters, persistent economic disparities along racial lines, historical mistrust, and deeply ingrained stereotypes all contribute to ongoing social divides. Economic competition over limited jobs and resources adds another layer of mistrust and fosters xenophobic attitudes. Mistrust of foreigners was captured in a participant’s drawing. In the drawing (Figure 4), two South African men are smoking drugs, and a man with yellow skin is seemingly carrying drugs.
Figure 4. Drawing of drug users (brown) and a drug dealer (yellow)
The image separated the drug users from those supplying them, and comments from participants punctuated the perceptions of immigrants. One participant said, “We have a problem with foreigners selling drugs. The kingpins responsible for drug operations are the foreigners.” Another said, “I often notice that South Africans are the ones who smoke what is sold by the foreigners, but they [the foreigners] do not use it themselves.”
Sweetwaters 30 years after democracy
Democracy has been experienced differently across various contexts and population groups. In this semi-rural setting, progress has been seen in areas such as access to housing, education, social grants and healthcare. However, these services remain inadequate, the infrastructure is of poor quality, and access to basic services is inconsistent. As a result, the participants in Sweetwaters have developed a sense of apathy and disillusionment. Despite these challenges, there remains a sense of hope. Democracy feels as though it is balancing on a tightrope.
The vision for Sweetwaters is one where democratic values translate into tangible benefits for all, creating a community where prosperity, opportunity and safety are not privileges but rights accessible to every resident.
Research contacts:
Dr Zaynab Essack, a chief research specialist, and Ayanda Tshazi, a qualitative research manager, in the HSRC’s Public Health Societies and Belonging Division
