The whites in South Africa still enjoy a high standard of living. None are hungry and the streets are filled with shoppers. BMWs and Mercedes are common. The contemporary fashions, political outlook and disposable income make them peers, in many ways, with the citizens of Europe or North America.

Years of economic sanctions and the disruptions caused by political re-alignment have had an effect. The Rand’s value has drop to 15% of its relative value of 20 years ago, making foreign imports expensive. Due to whites leaving the country, real estate in most parts of the country has lost value. The only home loans available are adjusted annually and currently run around 20%.

Most blacks in South Africa have difficult lives. After generations of substandard health care, housing and education most are left to compete with one another for menial labor jobs. With unemployment running around 50% in most areas the competition is stiff and the wages low, around 40 Rand ( $8 ) / day.

Black cooks can make 30 Rand for a 12-hour day while the white waitress makes 200 Rand (including tips). In addition the blacks usually live outside the city and must pay for transportation.

Since the end of apartheid, not much has changed in the townships. Unemployment, low self esteem, lack of sanitation and a general feeling of hopelessness pervade these neglected shantytowns.

In some ways things are worse. Drugs are more common and gangsters are more violent. The dream that life would improve when blacks controlled their own government is giving way to the sober reality that things aren’t going to change in their lifetime.

Crime and violence is widespread. Almost everyone has a friend or family member that has been attacked or killed. A general unease pervades most cities. People are meticulous in the locking of doors and the barring of windows. Many homes have motion detectors inside. In the larger cities it is not uncommon to have barbed wire topping your perimeter fence. Some homes even have electric fences. With the rich and privileged no longer protected by a police state, the country is now awash with private security personnel. Most homes display posters advertising that they are protected by "Armed Response".

If you have a car worth stealing it will have an alarm, a physical deterrent like a steering wheel or stick shift lock, and an electronic tracking device if the vehicle is stolen.

A disturbing trend is that thieves are increasingly shooting or stabbing their victims, even when no resistance is offered. Senseless, so it seems.

There is a black generation that has grown up angry and uneducated due to riots and prolonged school closures. This represents millions of people that South Africa will have to somehow absorb.

There is also talk of a bloodletting? Civil war was narrowly avoided here. Some of the blacks seething anger and resentment is still working its way out. As Frantz Fanon has described, when the native dreams of liberation he does not envision competing with the white man, we wants to eject him. He does not dream of co-existence, he dreams of taking his farm.

This dream becomes part of the native's psyche and can simmer unsatisfied for years. This may be part of the problems currently surfacing in Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Last, but not least, is the simple inequitable distribution of wealth. Many people, especially the black politicians, see the rich vs. poor struggles in terms of race. I think it is also, if not mostly, a class struggle.

If you look at what families held most of the wealth in any western country 20 years ago, those same families are still rich. This is due to class, not race. In South Africa most of the rich families are still white. The blacks see the racial difference first and complain that racism is still alive in their county.

With all this said, I have felt safer walking around many cities in South Africa than I have in parts New Orleans in the United States. But this is not saying a whole lot.