DANIEL: Johannesburg, the throbbing heart of South Africa - in fact the engine of the continent. There are dramatic changes happening here and as a result, economic growth is running at close to six per cent.
Twelve years after the white rule era of apartheid, South Africas educated blacks are pushing ahead. Its estimated that one hundred thousand a year are entering the middle class.
On a Friday night, this is where many spend their time in Soweto, a township infamous for poverty and violence, where some are getting rich.
PAT MRASI: [MANAGER, BACKROOM BAR] Basically you know its people that are running their own companies. What weve created is a networking platform where they meet, exchange ideas you know over drinks. Though they spend much long, long, long hours and they spend a lot of money in the process, yeah.
DANIEL: South Africas changing social dynamic is not good for everyone. These Afrikaners who enjoyed social and economic privilege during apartheid, are now near the bottom of the pile.
BETSIE DREYER: We are fighting for our language. We are fighting for jobs so my feeling is that we are only fighting all the time to survive, to survive.
DANIEL: Thousands of white South Africans rely on charity to live. Betsie Dreyer has been running this community centre for eight years and shes almost run off her feet.
BETSIE DREYER: I think there must be much more job opportunities for the people, like my people, yeah. Lots more. And we must be aware that they mustnt be discriminating against them. It seems just to me that the thing is not in balance anymore.
DANIEL: Kiewet Wolfoordt was a public servant when whites ran South Africa. Now he and his wife Santa, who was also retrenched from a government job, have barely a thread left of their old lives. Only their creativity is keeping them going. In part, they blame government policies, which give black people priority in employment, set black quotas and favour black owned companies.
SANTA WOLFOORDT: I dont know really that much about racism but I was the first one to go out and then the others just followed.
DANIEL: Why do you think you were chosen to be retrenched?
SANTA WOLFOORDT: I think its, they tell us we are whites. They dont give us work so they give it to other people, other races also.
KIEWET WOLFOORDT: We dont have a chance. You can go and look for a job. They tell you theyll phone you back and you never hear again from them.
DANIEL: Millions of black South Africans still live in squatter camps. One third of the population has no electricity; running water and housing are limited. This was once an exclusively black domain but as new middle class blacks move into the wealthy white suburbs, the poor whites are joining poor blacks in poverty.
JOHAN DEVENAGE: Theres a lot of people struggling but its our (INAUDIBLE) .the blacks always had to struggle.
DANIEL: Johan Devenage lost his legs last year when he says he was pushed from a train. Now he cant get work. He gets a tiny pension but is forced to make up the difference collecting cans for recycling. Home is a squatter camp with fourteen others white and black. Its a big change from his once relatively comfortable life during apartheid.
JOHAN DEVENAGE: We had meat, we had money. There was no struggling. We didnt have problems. It was nice. It was [INAUDIBLE]. Now times are changing. Now its happening.
DANIEL: Four and a half million white South Africans make up about 10% of the population. Most whites are Afrikaaners, many from rural areas and theres said to be less entrepreneurials than British South Africans, partly because of their previously protected existence in the lower levels of the public service.
Its the Afrikaaners who are the worst affected by the governments determination to make the workforce better reflect the population.
Many are now being forced to rely on soup kitchens to survive. White unemployment has risen by almost 200% in five years. The Trade Union Solidarity is helping to feed the most desperate in the white population.
KALLIE KRIEL: [SOLIDARITY] We think unfortunately the situation is that the current government that we have has in the past said they fought for a non racial society, free of racial discrimination and what were seeing now is the same kind of system that we had in the past, its just being implemented by other people and it is a racially driven society we see more and more.
DANIEL: Solidarity was formed from the remnants of the Mine Workers Union, which campaigned hard to keep both low skilled Afrikaaners and black people out of the workforce during the apartheid years. Now, its lobbying against affirmative action.
Do you understand how ironic it sounds for white South Africans to complain about a government being racially motivated, considering the history here?
KALLIE KRIEL: Yeah well but from our side we also see it ironic that a government that fought against racial legislation is now doing exactly the same what they fought against.
DANIEL: The ANC, formerly a group of freedom fighters, came to power promising to create a non racial society but theres now declared discrimination on the basis of colour.
ESSOP PAHAD: [MINISTER] You cannot have transformation without pain. You cannot.
DANIEL: Isnt black economic empowerment though in itself a racist policy?
ESSOP PAHAD: Why?
DANIEL: Well because its about race. The entire policy is race based.
ESSOP PAHAD: Is that so? I dont know. Why dont you look at our Constitution?
DANIEL: Well the very phrase black economic empowerment implies that its race based.
ESSOP PAHAD: No.
DANIEL: Are you saying its not?
ESSOP PAHAD: We had an apartheid policy that was declared a crime against humanity. Now either we produce apartheid or we move and we change and we change to a non racial society but to move to a non racial society youve got to empower those who for more than three hundred and fifty years had been systematically disempowered, systematically oppressed, systematically repressed, systemically deprived of every single possibility to grow. Now how are you going to do that without taking a position?
DANIEL: Actually some dont need the help. Kabelo Sekoati has worked his way into the middle class without being directly assisted by the government. Hes a qualified engineer. His wife Busi has an MBA from the United States. Theyre focused on the future and getting a private school education for their children.
The Sekoatis are the only black family in this complex, which is secure behind walls that usually represent white affluence in South Africa.
KABELO SEKOATI: I think one of the benefits of being a black man at this stage in our history, is that the opportunities that never existed, that were not exposed to black people are now exposed to black people and new black middle class is coming up because now we can earn what we are qualified for.
DANIEL: Busi and Kabelo are running a home interior business, trying to tap into the disposable income of the growing middle class. Theyve had no preferential treatment from the government for being black.
BUSI SEKOATI: We rely on the feet that walk around here to come in and buy which are basically a challenge that each and every business is facing.
DANIEL: But they understand and agree with black economic empowerment.
KABELO SEKOATI: The number of black people companies in the stock exchange in South Africa is less than 3% and its not growing. The economy is still in the hands of a few and the land is still in the hands of the few. The few controls the media. The few controls everything.
DANIEL: Living in South Africa you get use to the walls, which have become a symbol of affluence. Behind them mostly are well off whites who are still much more likely to have well paying jobs than black people here. Many of them still have black domestic workers like cooks and gardeners, but even so, 60% of black people remain unemployed.
KABELO SEKOATI: I dont feel that people are anti white but I feel that white people have put themselves in a corner where theyve failed to mingle with African people because they look at themselves as a different class as a whole, whereas in a normal society class would be defined by income and education but in South Africa your class is defined by the colour of your skin.
KALLIE KRIEL: We are not saying we are blind towards the imbalances in our society. Theres huge imbalances at the moment. You have a rich grouping but then the poor they are getting poorer by the day and what we say if you want to eradicate these imbalances, dont focus on race, focus on poverty.
ESSOP PAHAD: If affirmative action is not based on socio-economic conditions, what do you think its based on?
DANIEL: White people who are poor are not covered under the BEE are they?
ESSOP PAHAD: What do you understand by socio-economic conditions?
DANIEL: Well Im talking about people living in poverty clearly.
ESSOP PAHAD: Yes and wheres the overwhelming majority of people?
DANIEL: Look Im well aware that
ESSOP PAHAD: No Im asking!
DANIEL: No Im well aware most
ESSOP PAHAD: You see because your questions
DANIEL: poor people in South Africa are black.
ESSOP PAHAD: No look
DANIEL: What Im asking is
ESSOP PAHAD: I dont want to fight with you but your questions are wrong.
DANIEL: economic..
ESSOP PAHAD: Because all youre doing
DANIEL: Theyre questions. They cant be wrong!
ESSOP PAHAD: No but all youre sitting here
DANIEL: Theyre questions.
ESSOP PAHAD: and youre sitting here and worried about whites. I mean no, man sorry. Sorry. Our real fundamental concerns must be the millions of our people who are living under conditions of poverty and under development and they are Africans.
DANIEL: Some of whom are white.
ESSOP PAHAD: Yes but the overwhelming majority 80/90% are Africans living in rural areas, living in the townships here. Youre sitting here and all your questions is about the whites. Sorry, I, you know I mean you may use it. You dont want to use it its up to you. I dont find it acceptable.
DANIEL: Being told that you ask politically incorrect questions goes with the territory here. The South African media rarely challenges the government. Its clear that a group of people who were protected by the system no longer are in the so-called Rainbow Nation.
WHITE SQUATTER: Now its turned around. Not its all blacks and not the whites. It is the colour of our skin - its not right.
DANIEL: And thats the way its going to be as long as the overwhelming majority of people are poor and black.
Twelve years after the white rule era of apartheid, South Africas educated blacks are pushing ahead. Its estimated that one hundred thousand a year are entering the middle class.
On a Friday night, this is where many spend their time in Soweto, a township infamous for poverty and violence, where some are getting rich.
PAT MRASI: [MANAGER, BACKROOM BAR] Basically you know its people that are running their own companies. What weve created is a networking platform where they meet, exchange ideas you know over drinks. Though they spend much long, long, long hours and they spend a lot of money in the process, yeah.
DANIEL: South Africas changing social dynamic is not good for everyone. These Afrikaners who enjoyed social and economic privilege during apartheid, are now near the bottom of the pile.
BETSIE DREYER: We are fighting for our language. We are fighting for jobs so my feeling is that we are only fighting all the time to survive, to survive.
DANIEL: Thousands of white South Africans rely on charity to live. Betsie Dreyer has been running this community centre for eight years and shes almost run off her feet.
BETSIE DREYER: I think there must be much more job opportunities for the people, like my people, yeah. Lots more. And we must be aware that they mustnt be discriminating against them. It seems just to me that the thing is not in balance anymore.
DANIEL: Kiewet Wolfoordt was a public servant when whites ran South Africa. Now he and his wife Santa, who was also retrenched from a government job, have barely a thread left of their old lives. Only their creativity is keeping them going. In part, they blame government policies, which give black people priority in employment, set black quotas and favour black owned companies.
SANTA WOLFOORDT: I dont know really that much about racism but I was the first one to go out and then the others just followed.
DANIEL: Why do you think you were chosen to be retrenched?
SANTA WOLFOORDT: I think its, they tell us we are whites. They dont give us work so they give it to other people, other races also.
KIEWET WOLFOORDT: We dont have a chance. You can go and look for a job. They tell you theyll phone you back and you never hear again from them.
DANIEL: Millions of black South Africans still live in squatter camps. One third of the population has no electricity; running water and housing are limited. This was once an exclusively black domain but as new middle class blacks move into the wealthy white suburbs, the poor whites are joining poor blacks in poverty.
JOHAN DEVENAGE: Theres a lot of people struggling but its our (INAUDIBLE) .the blacks always had to struggle.
DANIEL: Johan Devenage lost his legs last year when he says he was pushed from a train. Now he cant get work. He gets a tiny pension but is forced to make up the difference collecting cans for recycling. Home is a squatter camp with fourteen others white and black. Its a big change from his once relatively comfortable life during apartheid.
JOHAN DEVENAGE: We had meat, we had money. There was no struggling. We didnt have problems. It was nice. It was [INAUDIBLE]. Now times are changing. Now its happening.
DANIEL: Four and a half million white South Africans make up about 10% of the population. Most whites are Afrikaaners, many from rural areas and theres said to be less entrepreneurials than British South Africans, partly because of their previously protected existence in the lower levels of the public service.
Its the Afrikaaners who are the worst affected by the governments determination to make the workforce better reflect the population.
Many are now being forced to rely on soup kitchens to survive. White unemployment has risen by almost 200% in five years. The Trade Union Solidarity is helping to feed the most desperate in the white population.
KALLIE KRIEL: [SOLIDARITY] We think unfortunately the situation is that the current government that we have has in the past said they fought for a non racial society, free of racial discrimination and what were seeing now is the same kind of system that we had in the past, its just being implemented by other people and it is a racially driven society we see more and more.
DANIEL: Solidarity was formed from the remnants of the Mine Workers Union, which campaigned hard to keep both low skilled Afrikaaners and black people out of the workforce during the apartheid years. Now, its lobbying against affirmative action.
Do you understand how ironic it sounds for white South Africans to complain about a government being racially motivated, considering the history here?
KALLIE KRIEL: Yeah well but from our side we also see it ironic that a government that fought against racial legislation is now doing exactly the same what they fought against.
DANIEL: The ANC, formerly a group of freedom fighters, came to power promising to create a non racial society but theres now declared discrimination on the basis of colour.
ESSOP PAHAD: [MINISTER] You cannot have transformation without pain. You cannot.
DANIEL: Isnt black economic empowerment though in itself a racist policy?
ESSOP PAHAD: Why?
DANIEL: Well because its about race. The entire policy is race based.
ESSOP PAHAD: Is that so? I dont know. Why dont you look at our Constitution?
DANIEL: Well the very phrase black economic empowerment implies that its race based.
ESSOP PAHAD: No.
DANIEL: Are you saying its not?
ESSOP PAHAD: We had an apartheid policy that was declared a crime against humanity. Now either we produce apartheid or we move and we change and we change to a non racial society but to move to a non racial society youve got to empower those who for more than three hundred and fifty years had been systematically disempowered, systematically oppressed, systematically repressed, systemically deprived of every single possibility to grow. Now how are you going to do that without taking a position?
DANIEL: Actually some dont need the help. Kabelo Sekoati has worked his way into the middle class without being directly assisted by the government. Hes a qualified engineer. His wife Busi has an MBA from the United States. Theyre focused on the future and getting a private school education for their children.
The Sekoatis are the only black family in this complex, which is secure behind walls that usually represent white affluence in South Africa.
KABELO SEKOATI: I think one of the benefits of being a black man at this stage in our history, is that the opportunities that never existed, that were not exposed to black people are now exposed to black people and new black middle class is coming up because now we can earn what we are qualified for.
DANIEL: Busi and Kabelo are running a home interior business, trying to tap into the disposable income of the growing middle class. Theyve had no preferential treatment from the government for being black.
BUSI SEKOATI: We rely on the feet that walk around here to come in and buy which are basically a challenge that each and every business is facing.
DANIEL: But they understand and agree with black economic empowerment.
KABELO SEKOATI: The number of black people companies in the stock exchange in South Africa is less than 3% and its not growing. The economy is still in the hands of a few and the land is still in the hands of the few. The few controls the media. The few controls everything.
DANIEL: Living in South Africa you get use to the walls, which have become a symbol of affluence. Behind them mostly are well off whites who are still much more likely to have well paying jobs than black people here. Many of them still have black domestic workers like cooks and gardeners, but even so, 60% of black people remain unemployed.
KABELO SEKOATI: I dont feel that people are anti white but I feel that white people have put themselves in a corner where theyve failed to mingle with African people because they look at themselves as a different class as a whole, whereas in a normal society class would be defined by income and education but in South Africa your class is defined by the colour of your skin.
KALLIE KRIEL: We are not saying we are blind towards the imbalances in our society. Theres huge imbalances at the moment. You have a rich grouping but then the poor they are getting poorer by the day and what we say if you want to eradicate these imbalances, dont focus on race, focus on poverty.
ESSOP PAHAD: If affirmative action is not based on socio-economic conditions, what do you think its based on?
DANIEL: White people who are poor are not covered under the BEE are they?
ESSOP PAHAD: What do you understand by socio-economic conditions?
DANIEL: Well Im talking about people living in poverty clearly.
ESSOP PAHAD: Yes and wheres the overwhelming majority of people?
DANIEL: Look Im well aware that
ESSOP PAHAD: No Im asking!
DANIEL: No Im well aware most
ESSOP PAHAD: You see because your questions
DANIEL: poor people in South Africa are black.
ESSOP PAHAD: No look
DANIEL: What Im asking is
ESSOP PAHAD: I dont want to fight with you but your questions are wrong.
DANIEL: economic..
ESSOP PAHAD: Because all youre doing
DANIEL: Theyre questions. They cant be wrong!
ESSOP PAHAD: No but all youre sitting here
DANIEL: Theyre questions.
ESSOP PAHAD: and youre sitting here and worried about whites. I mean no, man sorry. Sorry. Our real fundamental concerns must be the millions of our people who are living under conditions of poverty and under development and they are Africans.
DANIEL: Some of whom are white.
ESSOP PAHAD: Yes but the overwhelming majority 80/90% are Africans living in rural areas, living in the townships here. Youre sitting here and all your questions is about the whites. Sorry, I, you know I mean you may use it. You dont want to use it its up to you. I dont find it acceptable.
DANIEL: Being told that you ask politically incorrect questions goes with the territory here. The South African media rarely challenges the government. Its clear that a group of people who were protected by the system no longer are in the so-called Rainbow Nation.
WHITE SQUATTER: Now its turned around. Not its all blacks and not the whites. It is the colour of our skin - its not right.
DANIEL: And thats the way its going to be as long as the overwhelming majority of people are poor and black.