Perspectives on Brown THE SOUTH AFRICAN EXPERIENCE

It is no mistake that our Constitution uses the phrase "achievement of equality." The tremendous indignity and political oppression that characterized the years of apartheid was coupled with the systemic entrenchment of economic disadvantage for millions of South Africans. The vast majority of this country's wealth remained then and remains still, as a consequence of the entrenched disadvantage, in the hands of a minority. The use of the phrase 'achievement of equality' therefore recognizes that the creation of democracy and equal treatment before the law are not enough to foster substantive equality.