{"loaderData":{"0-11":{"__typename":"IcpDossier","content":null,"excerpt":"","featuredImage":{"__typename":"NodeWithFeaturedImageToMediaItemConnectionEdge","node":{"__typename":"MediaItem","sourceUrl":"https://african.business/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ab_dossiercover_brandsa24.jpg","altText":"","mediaDetails":{"__typename":"MediaDetails","sizes":[{"__typename":"MediaSize","name":"medium","sourceUrl":"https://african.business/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ab_dossiercover_brandsa24-233x300.jpg","width":"233","height":"300"},{"__typename":"MediaSize","name":"thumbnail","sourceUrl":"https://african.business/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ab_dossiercover_brandsa24-150x150.jpg","width":"150","height":"150"},{"__typename":"MediaSize","name":"preview-post-two","sourceUrl":"https://african.business/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ab_dossiercover_brandsa24-400x514.jpg","width":"400","height":"514"},{"__typename":"MediaSize","name":"preview-post-three","sourceUrl":"https://african.business/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ab_dossiercover_brandsa24-300x386.jpg","width":"300","height":"386"},{"__typename":"MediaSize","name":"preview-post-seven","sourceUrl":"https://african.business/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ab_dossiercover_brandsa24-200x257.jpg","width":"200","height":"257"},{"__typename":"MediaSize","name":"feature-post-block","sourceUrl":"https://african.business/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ab_dossiercover_brandsa24-500x643.jpg","width":"500","height":"643"}]}}},"slug":"south-africa-30-years-of-democracy","title":"South Africa: 30 years of Freedom","dossierSettings":{"__typename":"DossierSettings","dossierFeatures":[{"__typename":"DossierSettingsDossierFeatures","dossierFeaturePost":{"__typename":"AcfContentNodeConnection","nodes":[{"__typename":"Post","id":"cG9zdDozNzg2Mg==","title":"Sweet spot for South Africa","slug":"sweet-spot-for-south-africa","date":"2024-05-31T06:43:34","excerpt":"

South Africa’s growing youth population has seen democracy grow over the 30 years since apartheid ended and the country opened up to the world. Along the way they have benefited from many education and training opportunities to position them for the world of work.

According to the census of 2023, the average age of an ordinary South African is 27. South Africa’s young people have experienced democracy unfold right before their eyes in the last 30 years.

The advent of democracy in South Africa allowed several large influential companies to shed their conglomerate status, with holdings across multiple sectors, and instead focus on pursuing global opportunities in a single sector, be it mining, brewing, telecoms, or financial services.

Charles Dickens opened his famous novel A Tale of Two Cities, with the memorable line “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief.” The economic history of South Africa since the first democratic election on 27 April 1994 can be split into two periods to which these words can equally be applied.

This Africa Month, celebrated against the backdrop of South Africa’s 30 years of democracy should remind us that Africans have always traded. The Mapungubwe Kingdom exported African goods from a thousand years ago.

South Africa’s entry into world trade as a democratic country after decades of isolation and sanctions, was preceded by its participation in the Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) in 1993, a year before the country became a democracy.

The passing of Dr Samuel Mokgethi Motsuenyane (pictured) has brought the development and progress of black business into perspective.

It is widely believed that it was the international sports boycott of South Africa from 1960s on that finally broke the back of the Apartheid regime and ushered in the new era of the truly democratic “rainbow nation”.

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South Africa: 30 years of Freedom

Sweet spot for South Africa

Young entrepreneurs stake their claim in SA’s democracy

30 years of SA business on the continent and around the world

South Africa’s economy in 30 years of democracy: a tale of two periods

Township economy growth presents opportunities for investors near and far

Cars and primary goods dominate the export sector in South Africa

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