The Roots of South Africa’s Death

When South Africa was established in 1910, it was held together by two main forces: the mine-to-port economy and the Anglo-Afrikaans as key decision-makers.

However, as we sit here in 2025 the mine-to-port economy has collapsed and Anglo-Afrikaans are no longer the key decision-makers and their numbers are declining. This prompts a key question: what collapsed both of these pillars? In other words, what are the roots of South Africa’s death?

The ANC

Soon after taking power, the ANC initiated the “cadre deployment” policy, filling the civil service with party loyalists rather than competent professionals. This system laid the groundwork for widespread looting, mismanagement, and what many see as a deliberate side-lining of Anglo and Afrikaner professionals.

There is no need at this point to provide examples of these three elements, since they are now in full view for everyone to see. However for cadre deployment and looting I refer you to the book The President’s Keeper by Jacques Pauw as well as other work done by reliable journalists.

The systematic exclusion of Anglos and Afrikaners from governance and the economy is evident in policies such as Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Employment Equity (EE), as well as high-profile cases like the removal of experienced white engineers from Eskom under the banner of transformation.

This combination of corruption, incompetence, and purging has hollowed out South Africa’s institutions, collapsing South Africa.

The end of Britain

Another less acknowledged, but no less significant factor, is the collapse of the British peoples (the Anglos). In The Abolition of Britain, Peter Hitchens describes how Britain entered a deep moral and cultural decline following the First World War and the sexual revolution in the 1960s. Conservative Britain was lost to liberal Britain and with that, the end of Britain.

These forces also impacted the Anglo diaspora. In South Africa, this decline has been seen in the unravelling of family structures, the erosion of Christian values, and a plummeting birth rate among younger Anglo generations, Millennials as an example. Low marriage rates and cultural atomization have made the Anglo-African population almost invisible today. As South Africa was originally an Anglo project, it is fair to say: when the Anglos fade, so too does the South African state.

Yet not all was lost, at least not immediately. The Afrikaners, less culturally tied to Britain and generally more conservative, have resisted some of the cultural erosion. Although liberalism and modernity have touched them as well. In general, conservative Afrikaner communities have maintained higher birth rates and stronger family structures. But remember, South Africa was never an Afrikaans creation.

To a large extent, their resilience has prolonged the functioning of South Africa beyond what might otherwise have been possible. However, as some Afrikaners consider emigration, the outlook becomes even more grim for the remaining minorities. Their departure would likely accelerate the decline and further isolate those who remain.

In such an environment, the way forward is to look to God first and foremost. To return to Christianity and build strong churches. In addition, we need to find ways of building strong small communities who move towards a more sustainable dispensation for Southern Africa. Thankfully, this is what Lex Liberates is doing.