'Things were better in the bad old days' (South Africa)

Most South Africans, both black and white, believe the country was better run under apartheid and say unemployment and crime are the government's top challenges, according to two new polls released this week.

The polls, part of the "Afrobarometer" series of public opinion surveys, found South Africans had generally positive assessments of how their country was governed, and were growing increasingly optimistic about the future.

But they also revealed a growing sense of "apartheid nostalgia" as South Africa grapples with high crime rates, increasing corruption and rising joblessness following the end of white rule in 1994.

'They moan and grumble about all its faults' "It's not that they want to return to apartheid, but in retrospect it was a time when trains ran on time," said poll director Robert Mattes on Wednesday.

Overall, the polls showed that about 60 percent of South Africans felt the country was better run under apartheid, with both blacks and whites rating the current government less trustworthy, more corrupt, less able to enforce the law and less able to deliver government services than its white predecessor.

The surveys also found respondents giving more positive assessment of apartheid-era policies.

Whites had the highest levels of nostalgia, with 65 percent now identifying positive elements to whites-only rule compared with 59 percent in 2000 and 39 percent in 1995.

But black respondents were also beginning to wax nostalgic, with 20 percent now giving a positive rating to certain aspects of life under the apartheid regime, compared with 17 percent in 2000 and eight percent in 1995.

"This suggests that as time has passed and memories of what life was really like then become dim, people tend to positively emphasise the things that they do not see under the present system and de-emphasise the more harsh aspect," said one poll.

Mattes said the rise in pro-apartheid sentiments among blacks could reflect both the growing income inequalities within South Africa's black community - where many have actually grown poorer since the end of apartheid - as well as difficulties in dealing with government bureaucracy.

Despite growing nostalgia for the past, the poll found South Africans becoming more positive about their government and its direction for the future - although they rate unemployment, poverty, crime and Aids as serious challenges.

A total of 54 percent gave positive marks to the country's current system of government, up 18 points from 1995.

Among whites, 46 percent gave the current government positive ratings, compared with just 12 percent in 1995.

Seventy-four percent of respondents expressed optimism about how the country's political system would develop over the next 10 years, with long-term optimism among whites rising to 44 percent from 24 percent in 1995.

"As people, especially racial minorities, become more accustomed to the new order, they seem to be coming to terms with it, even as they moan and grumble about all its faults," said the poll.

The Afrobarometer polls are conducted as a collaboration between the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, the Centre for Democracy and Development in Ghana and Michigan State University.

The latest South African polls, which interviewed a racially representative sample of 2 400 South Africans in September and October, had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.

For Many, It's Worse Than the Colonial Era ***"The idea was noble because the people could not afford the commodities. However soon after the introduction of the price controls the commodities ceased to exist on the shelves, giving rise to the thriving informal market," said Chisi.***

'I thought my boss was a devil. Not now, He was my saviour. '*** Charles Mushambati had always regarded Thom Martin as being among those "devil" Zimbabwean white farmers who grossly underpaid their workers and kept them in squalor. With hindsight, he now believes he was wrong. More than 60 white farmers had been arrested around Zimbabwe by yesterday as President Robert Mugabe cracked down on 1,800 farmers who were refusing to leave their land. His confiscation policy is supposedly aimed at helping people such as Mr Mushambati, but the 59-year-old labourer, like most of the 80,000 farm workers who have found themselves unemployed and homeless after their bosses went out of business, has lost his illusions.

Mr Mushambati had often quarrelled with Mr Martin over his wages, and was elated when he attended a rally before the 2000 parliamentary elections at which Mr Mugabe promised "land to my people". The labourer applied for a piece of land, but officials asked him for a Zanu-PF card, demonstrating membership of Mr Mugabe's ruling party, to attach to the application. He didn't have one. "They made it clear that no one would get land without a party card," he said. Mr Mushambati returned to work for Mr Martin, who paid him 4,000 Zimbabwe dollars (£50) a month. His wife also worked for the white farmer and they received free produce from Mr Martin, and sent their children to a school he built for his employees. "I used to think the boss was a devil, but with hindsight he was not. He was my saviour," said Mr Mushambati.

This is the future now facing Mr Mushambati - a plight often forgotten in the international attention devoted to the white farmers. Mr Martin told his workers last week he had given up the fight for his land and was emigrating to New Zealand. Mr Mushambati asked his employer to take him too. "Unfortunately, the boss said he will not own a farm any more. He is going to work in a hotel in New Zealand," said his employee of 20 years. He broke down. "I am finished. I have no future."***

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