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Developments:
Compared to those in India, South African villages, towns and cities are bleak and lifeless places. The pavements are mostly empty, commerce is confined to shopping malls and those who do brave the streets are normally hurrying to get off them. Crime is one reason for this, but the absence of a sense of community among black South Africans is perhaps more to blame. The effects of apartheid, which deliberately tore apart black families and communities, endure in their low rates of marriage, high rates of migration and lack of concern for fellow community members. Men therefore prefer to risk transmitting HIV than protect their partners by wearing condoms. Workers in an organisation I visited last week prefer that nobody receive any medical benefits than that some get antiretroviral treatment for AIDS. And taxi drivers prefer to shoot rivals who steal rides from them than come up with a sensible queuing system.
Under apartheid, the struggle against a repressive regime helped unite black communities. Now, however, there is nothing to fight for. A few black South Africans have grown rich and moved into white suburbs, many others languish in long-term unemployment. The depression and apathy of individuals, meanwhile, has spread to society as a whole.
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