2 points:
1) Apartheid WAS racist, and it wasn't only the UN that decided that. Basing "separate but equal" access to opportunities on race alone is rooted in the idea of race, as the Apartheid government freely demonstrated. The fact that there was little "equality" in what was available to people of different racial categories means that it was not just racialist, but racist.
2) A "thriving free democratic country" does not automatically disenfranchise 70% of its citizens because of the color of their skin. SA elections before 1994 were competitive but South Africans were not free to participate in them unless they belonged to the "correct" tribe -- the one in power.
It sure was, and the new government that was put in place is a hundred times more racist. Then UN sure fixed South Africa, but good. Now instead of ride in the back of the bus, you can get killed in the back of the bus. People have their lands taken from them because of the color of their skin, or raped, and or beaten to death in the police stations. Rape, murder, and racial killings are a hundred times worse, you take your life in your hands just walking some places.
But since it is whites at the bottom now, It is a success. Never mind that violence against blacks is also much worse, but it was never about Blacks was it?
South Africa, once the flower of Africa is now just a squashed cactus, once a the bread basket, now an importer. Property rights gone, justice gone, prosperity gone, peace gone, but hey, at least there is not Apartheid, just brewing Genocide.
South Africa is a disaster of Continental proportions for Leftists, so suddenly not news worthy anymore. Face it Apartheid would be one helluva step up from where it is now. By the way, I have never met a South African that was FOR Apartheid. What happened to South Africa was like shooting your neighbor because he had a broken wrist. He's so much better off now...
Further I don't see an individual's preference for associating with others like them as a crime or sin.
Like most people, I live in an area with people like myself. My friends are people like myself and I feel comfortable where I live and I like it. I choose not to live in an area where I have nothing in common with my neighbors and that goes beyond the colour of one's skin.