From Apartheid to Zaamheid

After a decade of democracy, Advocate Neville Melville assesses how the widening of the wealth-poverty divide, primarily along racial lines, threatens South Africa's young democracy. If this situation continues, asserts Melville, a social upheaval of greater magnitude than that occurring in Zimbabwe is probable. Doom is not, however, inevitable. If even a million South Africans of all races join together to work towards bettering the lot of their fellow citizens, there is every likelihood of the occurrence of a second miracle of even greater magnitude than the peaceful transition to democracy. The message of the book is that each person can make a difference. South Africans simply have to ensure that they don't leave it too late to build bridges between their many diverse communities! This book includes: a personal perspective on how and why many South Africans continue to build walls, both physical and metaphorical, to protect and separate their communities; insights into how these walls simply can't protect the interests of these 'fortified' communities in the long-term; inspiring accounts of the efforts and successes of a number of ordinary people who are striving to build bridges; and guidelines for other South Africans to begin, in any small way, to do the same.