South Africa is a beautiful country abundant in underground resources such as minerals. Table Mountain situated in South Africa is one of the oldest mountains in the world and there, the fossil skeleton of Homo Naledi dated nearly 300,000 years ago was found.

 The population is estimated to be at 54 million with 80% (black) Africans and the rest comprising Europeans, mixed-race people and Asians. Moreover it has three capital cities: Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative) and Bloemfontein (judicial) in the principle of separation of powers. It is the second richest country of in the African continent next to Nigeria (GDP averaged USD 280 million in 2016, 40th world ranking). It has such an abundance of mineral resources such as diamond, gold and special steel to empower its electricity and energy industries and not to mention, human resources with 10 Nobel Prize winners. As the world's largest diamond miner with 66% of the global diamond production, it took the lead in adopting the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, i.e. the process to manage the origin of each diamond and supply chain for the fair trade of diamond, in 2000 to eradicate conflict diamonds (also called blood diamond) mined and traded to fund conflicts in war-torn areas. If you want to learn more about blood diamonds, watch the movie Blood Diamond (2006) starring Leonardo DiCaprio about the brutality and viciousness in the war, exploitation of labor, human greed and obsession with diamonds.

 Back to the topic, South Africa has signed FTA with EU, the US, India and China and with its open economy and infrastructure, it has remained the leading FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) country in Africa. However, wealth is still concentrated in the hands of few whites making up only 10% of the total population. In fact, it is one of the most unequal countries in the world with the huge gap between rich and poor. Such an economic and social conflict between blacks and whites traces back to Apartheid, which lasted for 43 years in South Africa.

  I lived in South Africa when I was young and I still remember the picture of Nelson Mandela hanging on the wall in the living room of my black friend. I thought he was my friend's grandfather but when I asked, my friend described him as President and great leader of South Africa. Nelson Mandela is the first black President of South Africa and anti-apartheid revolutionary served 27 years in prison, and he is the most admired man in South Africa. He fought to abolish apartheid when the racial segregation was legally allowed and in recognition of his contribution to national reconciliation, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

 Apartheid is an Afrikaans word meaning separateness or the state of being apart and literally it is a social system of racial segregation and discrimination South Africa. From Portuguese in the Age of Exploration to the settlement of Dutch East India Company and Britain taking control of the Cape, the minority of whites ruled South Africa for a long time. The rift between whites and blacks grew further apart after the National Party formed by Afrikaners, the descendants of Dutch colonial settlers to South Africa took the power in 1948.

 How would you feel if your choice of place to live, person to love and job is limited because of your skin color? What if you are excluded from a lot of places such as restaurant and movie theater and even public places, and allowed to use only a certain means of transportation?

 These are only part of social restraints imposed on blacks in South Africa from 1846 to 1991. What's worse is that these restraints were legally enforced by the government under the white power. The land was divided into distinct residential zones and without the permission, blacks were not able to live and work in the white-only zones. Any personal contact and relationship between blacks and whites was kept under close watch and interracial marriage was forbidden. Public places, bus, restaurant, university, hospital, church and everything else were divided to keep blacks in their place away from whites. Blacks were not granted with political rights and only minimal education was given to avoid their rise up in the society.

 And such an action of the racist regime of South Africa drew condemnation from all around the world. Anti-apartheid activists continued to fight for the rights in South Africa and, in 1989, Frederik Willem de Klerk from the National Party took the first step to bring the end of apartheid after he was elected President (In recognition of his effort, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 together with Nelson Mandela).

 He began to repeal apartheid laws. In 1990, he lifted the 30-year ban on political movements led by blacks including ANC (African National Congress), PAC (Pan-African Congress) and SACP (SA Communist Party) and freed 375 black prisoners playing the leading role in the struggle for the rights of blacks. Nelson Mandela was one of them in his 27th year in the prison. He, as the leader of the ANC, opened negotiations between the white government and blacks for the ultimate purpose of bringing national reconciliation. Then, in the first multiracial election in South Africa in April 1994, Nelson Mandela became the first black President and brought an end to apartheid.

 Hidden Figures (2016) based on a true story is the most impressive and inspiring film I have watched this year. It's not the story of South Africa, but talks about racial discrimination through three mathematicians in Virginia, the United States in the 1960s after slavery was abolished. It shows how brilliant three black female mathematicians broke both racial and gender barriers and rose up in the ranks of NASA with nothing else, but only their talent. The film reminded me of how much blood, sweat and tears of our ancestors were paid to earn the dignity that's now taken as granted.

 Korean society still imposes barriers of age, gender, nationality, job, position and wealth. But, everyone has the right to be respected for their dignity. Now that we're going forward toward a multicultural society with the increasing number of international marriages, there must not be discrimination and affront to their dignity based on skin color.

 In conclusion, I'd like to share the video of the famous South African comedian Trevor Noah. He jokes about growing up as the son of a white father and a black South African mother in South Africa during apartheid and learning to speak Black-American.

 In the next column, I will share more about South Africa on a light note as I did last time about Kazakhstan. Enjoy your hot summer! See you next time.