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Article: The Bear's Lair: No sunshine in S. Africa.
- Article from:
- United Press International
- Article date:
- May 5, 2003
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 United Press International. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WASHINGTON, May 05, 2003 (United Press International via COMTEX)
A country with a heavy natural resource base, a basic illiteracy rate of 15 percent, higher than the Latin American average, a GINI (inequality) coefficient of 0.59, equal to Brazil's, and corruption equal to that of Belarus is unlikely to be a success story. Add in a race-based government motivated by retribution, and one of the world's worst AIDS problems, and you have South Africa today.
Economically speaking, South Africa has never been a well-run country. Nineteenth century Transvaal president Paul Kruger's attitude to the opening up of the country following the discovery of the ...