Was Apartheid Good or Bad?

Asked on Quora. My Answer.

I grew up in South Africa during the Apartheid era and despite the fact that it benefited me personally, as someone who was classified as White, there is no doubt that the system was bad.

The greatest evil of Apartheid was that it made it made Identity politics its central maxim. In so doing it sacrificed the right of the individual for that of the group. This runs completely against the foundations of authentic liberalism, that has served as the bedrock for our Western democracies.

Now some have claimed that the policy brought regional stability, and indeed an argument has been made that South Africa is in better shape today (economically and technically) compared to its continental neighbors as a result of Apartheid era policies, however I don’t believe this to be the case.

South African success is a function of a number of factors that include a large mineral wealth base (gold, diamonds, chrome, platinum, uranium etc), a dynamic but small free market economy, an educated elite with ties to Europe, a large labor market and an infrastructure that was largely developed prior to Apartheid. If anything Apartheid limited rather than extended many of these benefits to the majority of the country. South Africa only looks good when you juxtapose the country against nations that were all too often taken over by corrupt demagogues, who pilfered the local wealth, and established autocracies that restricted both individual and economic freedoms in their respective countries.

Apartheid for all intent of purpose was inherently an unstable system as seen by the Sharpeville massacre, the Rivonia trial, the Biko affair, the Soweto riots and the mass protests in the 1980s.

The system was only sustained by a strong police and military presence that created an illusion of stability. At the core, from inception in 1948, it began the slow but soon to be accelerated rot.

Once the political structure was undercut by economic sanctions, political isolation and a further demographic power imbalance it was only a matter of time before it would collapse.South Africa is better for the demise of Apartheid.

The great tragedy now though is the unfortunate reality that the leadership that has succeeded in its wake appears set in making the same errors of governance in power that has afflicted the rest of the continent. This may prove to be another evil.