The White Slums Of South Africa (Poverty Documentary) | Real Stories

when you kind of compare it to other similar kind of access films about huge music stars that are made now is that it's got this incredible unmediated quality to it i mean essentially you can watch films about taylor swift now or whoever right and you know you can feel the hand of the pr in those films there is something by contrast incredibly raw and innocent and unmediated about that film [Music] south africa the continent's biggest success story and one of the most stunning countries in the world being a tourist don't judge me i'm way too cool for things like that but this country has a very dark past as a black man i wouldn't have even been allowed to set foot on this very beach just 20 years ago [Music] for over a century a white supremacist government controlled the nation and brutally oppressed black people they've got no education they've only come down from the trees this system of racial separation was called apartheid and was only abolished in 1994 when nelson mandela and the anc came to power today marks the dawn of our freedom there has been such extreme levels of segregation here and knowing that that ended only two decades ago i'm desperate to see how that has changed the lives of people just like me if at all poverty is rife here and today people talk of a new underclass emerging it's not black people that's the way to do it but why i can't imagine anything worse than waking up in there we are going to take that with years of hatred to overcome [Music] we're gonna and both sides still playing the race card most white people learned black people the things they know today i want to find out what life is like for the young white south africans some of them are very racist who think they are now bottom of the pile it's not a place to live fear not for the children if you are black you're better off if i was a white guy that would piss me off and discover whether the nation will ever move on from its tortured past stupid man we will never agree never that's why the world is a [ __ ] [Music] johannesburg south africa's biggest city 20 years on from apartheid some people claim that this country is still governed by racist policies only this time they say it's white people not black people being oppressed [Music] what the white experience of africa is for me is really really intriguing some people believe since the anc came into power there's been a flip because all of the opportunities have been afforded to the black people and the white people are now second classes and are being neglected but that can't be the case surely [Music] on the edge of the city lies a notorious camp called coronation park a place where some of the hardest hit white south africans have made their home coronation park fills me with a little bit of apprehension and that apprehension is based on the way that they may take me the way they may receive me and the way they may judge me straight away because i'm a privileged young black man it's made me a little bit more nervous thinking about it during apartheid coronation park was a picnic place for white middle-class families but it's become something very different oh this is it a permanent home for a white underclass it's a camp in the middle of a park they're living in a rough trailer park in the uk you sort of get used to seeing images of young black kids in poverty and i've never seen those same images but with white children outsiders aren't generally welcome all new arrivals need permission to be here from the camp leader irene who's lived here for eight years she's agreed to let me stay to see white people in south africa barefoot in a settlement in a park that's blowing my mind yeah because that is not what we see uh across you know across the board i mean we don't see that in europe what's the common thread what normally brings people here i don't know i think because they lost everything there's no jobs for the white people that understand me i'm not arrested or there's no jobs for our white people you won't pay check away from this place because something can happen to you and you will end up here the settlement sort of stretches all the way down can we have a little look do you mind taking me yeah i will take you around and you can check coronation park it's like a white squad camp it's like you can stay here and now we will look after you do they build their own shacks do they have to pay to be here no they don't fight to be here that's literally a shed is that someone living this in the back of it yeah wow how many people are there in coronation 287 hello we are running on generators we haven't got tower [Music] with no proper sanitation and dozens of stray animals roaming around health is a real concern the government has repeatedly tried to shut the camp down as new people arrive all the time how you doing i'm reggie what's your name jd jd hello 27 year old artist jd turned up last month with his mum two kids and pregnant wife that's absolutely beautiful that's what i do i travel the whole country painting and going all over the place so where have you come from originally from cape town how have you ended up here in coronation park i've been hit by like you know it to my knees you know it's difficult for white folks these days it really is we don't have the ball in our court anymore um we are not the chosen ones if you want to put it that way and it's the truth most white south africans are descended from dutch settlers and called afrikaans during apartheid they saw themselves as a superior race we cannot mix with the lower nations unless they are cultivated given the best jobs and education creating a super wealthy white elite in 1990 everything changed the leader of the black resistance nelson mandela was released from prison while over 50 of privately held assets here are still owned by the white minority [Music] africana charities believe a new underclass has formed with many living in settlements just like this one where should i put my tent where's a good place to picture something what do you mean there i'm gonna put it on the hash will you guys help me put on my tent yeah come on what are we doing there we go all right let's pick this up i've only stayed in the tent once before and um while i was making it i wasn't getting whipped in the ass by some uh some kid called winston when did you do this nearly a third of all the people living here are under 16. i'm not sure how the future looks for teenagers like winston do you think you'll always live here i don't know do you want to move out of here why it's the people is only drinking and fighting kicking really so if you do move out here and people ask you where you grew up when you're older and you're my age are you going to say coronation park why there's some people's going to make fun of me [Music] i'm gonna look after me and give me some um sandwiches and tea before bed no i will give you some food can i help out after dark more young people flood into the camp as well as child benefits many residents survive on handouts including hot drinks and sandwiches given out three nights a week you always them how much coffee they want see roofio coffee coffee drinking drinking coffee of tears check that out hey evening i didn't think about what the rain would do here unemployment here is very high one person who does have a steady job is irene's son gerry he works as a welder hey teddy how are you i'm good thank you man i've not met you before i'm reggie hello hello lovely to meet you is that your wedding pictures i can see yeah you scrub up well don't he yeah so he looks good in the suit flowers from the wedding day yeah i don't want to go his wage isn't enough to cover rent for a proper house for his wife and three kids just how difficult is it to raise a small child in a place like this it is difficult because the generator is on but when you sleep at night and he wakes up the generator isn't on then you must struggle to get light and what whatsoever and there isn't always hot water because you must make fire to get hot water so yeah that's a problem do you worry about how um how healthy a situation it is for him because i'd imagine that it's probably quite easy for him to get ill it's dirty you know especially with the small one and zander they they get sick fast you know it's not a place to live here not for the children i can't live here anymore i tried my best from the start i was working since i was 16 you know um and from then i i just tried you know build up my education and and try to be what i am you look quite emotional yeah when you come to my kids and my wife you know what is it about your family that makes you so emotional uh i think it's because i know i try hard you know maybe i don't try hard enough i don't know but to to see them suffer like this it makes me do you think your children are suffering um well they don't have their life what i want for them you know and i i think that for them is suffering you know the harsh reality of being at the bottom of the ladder out here is that that can happen to you this is it for them yeah kind of keep you awake [Music] what's wrong with you like what's this come out and do what flick clicker play quickie [Music] what is that what i mean but come on i'll put the next one on for you you're going to chop off my fingers bro you don't need your fingers ah come on bro it's nothing like a saucy man bruh [Music] that's the way to do it you're going to go i'm smelling like smoker that i can live with that so long as i'm warm what was your first night like here terrible because it felt like there's a bunch of serial killers [Laughter] i'm really glad i asked you this question after my first night sleeping here as a grown man is one thing but in a few months jd will have a newborn baby to share his temp with how does it feel knowing that your newborn will be brought here i'm talking to irene and then they all know about the baby coming and i know in my heart it will be okay because they're gonna help us they will help us i've heard about it recently i've read in the papers that the people around here might qualify for government housing but why wouldn't you though i mean if there was anybody that needed help particularly with a baby on the way i would have thought that you'd be you'd be perfect for it to me government housing is a dream i don't quite um i don't i don't see myself qualifying for government over 2 million people are waiting for social housing in south africa so it's no surprise that jd doubts his chances of getting one the wider situation is even more complicated as race still plays a part in some opportunities here [Music] i've come to the center of joburg to meet an old mate of mine celebrity dj sisway to get a different perspective what's happening now for young black south africans oh rich what's up it's been years i'm well thanks i'm going with you i'm really good man i'm really good i'm glad to be in your neck of the woods as it were okay let's go to where you know take you where the girls are you're desperately trying to get me in trouble my god it's a good start sis way is what's known here as a black diamond a young black guy with a very healthy bank balance people refer to you as a black diamond i guess some people i'm a diamond in the rough i need some policy but people like sizzway are relatively rare most of the wealth here is still in the hands of the old white masters and they live in lavish gated communities is this one property yeah the houses they're just obscene there's a huge gap in the essay between those that have and those that don't is that why the walls are so high in the city that's right the walls are so high i mean look this is barbed wire yeah electronic fences yeah to try to rebalance wealth and opportunity the government has brought in a policy called affirmative action a.a for sure it's already transformed areas like the courtroom where over 60 percent of the most senior judges are now black and the dream is to repeat that across all walks of life in essay if you are black you're better off right now well why is that because it wasn't the case 20 years ago just because of everything man like the odds are stacked to your favor now affirmative action if i applied for a job right and a guy my age same education as me about the same position uh but he was white i'd get the job hands down i mean as if i was a white guy that would piss me off thank you brother you all right [Music] you talking to his way in the car you know one of the things that kept coming up was the um the swing of power and the white people feeling marginalized you know and feeling that they don't get the opportunities anymore reverse racism i guess it's a very different time now and if you're black you will get opportunities in a way that you never used to i've grown up thinking equality is about treating everyone the same but here things are different until the 90s on these very streets the ruling whites or boers treated black people as little better than animals i don't like apartheid because in apartheid europeans go up and africans go down [Music] they were forcibly removed from their homes to live together in massive ring fence compounds which later grew into townships everything was ruthlessly enforced by the white regime i want to find out what it was like living under white rule on these streets so i've come to meet 28 year old colin he grew up in alexandria a township still full of black people many living in poverty as a kid you were actually what i guess old enough at seven or eight to remember between that age yeah to remember some of the things that happened during apartheid what what sticks out in your mind during that era i remember when we called them the melo yellow events it was the police advance immediately you see that yellow van you knew you had to run to save your life because you never knew what would be predicted from the police or the state police because at times they would just literally stop to beat you up or not want you to congregate in the streets in groups and even today you know police are not the most likable people in the townships for example for that matter people see the police when they see their enemy in the mind of somebody like myself from the uk when we think of segregation the first thing that comes to mind is is the us in the 60s and the struggles of black people in america but this was going on in the 90s in the 90s years i mean it's so hard to get your head back i mean the last time happened it is 1994 which sounds like yesterday black people who broke the apartheid laws were sent to prisons like this one called the old fort nelson mandela was incarcerated here whilst awaiting trial the only time you would find white wardens in this section it is when they came to render humiliation towards the black prisoners they would perform a strip substance called the tauser dance strip search dance what was the dance the dance stipulated you strip naked you spread your legs you spread your arms clap the hands above the head leap in the air making a clicking sound stretch your legs like stretch your legs and if no objects had fallen down then the authorities would go in an extent of inserting a finger or a torch inside their rectums to see if there's nothing hidden it was alleged a torch men are women men and women yes wow the most severe punishments were reserved for those who fought to change the system these freedom fighters were kept in solitary confinement as a warning to others political leaders were sent here it was the most severe form of punishment lying down flat on the ground you feel like you're lying down in a grave so there weren't beds in here there weren't a desk there weren't chairs there wasn't there's no chairs they were locked up here for 23 hours and only released for an hour of the day [Music] i guess this is where prisoners were chained to it's amazing to think south africa has gone from official government brutality towards black people to affirmative action from just my parents generation to mine there's been so much injustice here that the anger is still so fresh and just putting my mom's face to this environment makes me hangry and that's just imagining it not living it on face value it's bang out of order that white people aren't being given the same opportunities as black people but when you think about how long it's been weighed in the favor of the minority you can understand why it's been put in place i'm not saying that i agree with it but what i am saying is i get why so many people are still angry and why they think that it is imperative that it's in place although black and white south africans now enjoy all the same freedoms statistics south africa claims that nearly 16 million black people still live in poverty here on that level extra help for them makes sense [Music] i'm holding about the right way it's a good start but i'm not sure where that leaves the squatters in coronation park i can't help wondering what people like irene make of it after being part of the privilege minority for years do you think that it's fair do you think it's right i think yeah you do you know what you know what if that's what i say and i say that today if our fathers and our fathers their fathers their fathers treated black people like normal people and they didn't um let them work like like slaves and treat them like dogs maybe it would have be different today that's that's the way it's live because it's time now for us to pay for what our fathers did and there's nothing you can do about that irene strikes me as being resigned to her fate but her son khedi is desperate to get his family out of here your mum said that she thinks it's almost a little bit like a balance now it's almost more fair for the black people do you agree with that or disagree i think that's [ __ ] 20 years ago i still had [ __ ] so now i've got nothing now they they think it's balanced out what happened years ago with with the black people and the white people was nothing to do with me i wasn't there i didn't fight the battles with the white people and the black people so you're saying your generation have done nothing to deserve this is that no no yeah that's how i feel most most white people learned black people the things they know today especially in my company as well and at the end they walk out get a better job with my knowledge and we sit in the shuttle where we are today but they feel marginalized they feel that they're still suffering from the people that that cause the apartheid you know the time when when it was like the buddha when they call themselves buddha had the country in their hands there was more food in our country more job opportunities also the apartheid though right when the ball was in charge yeah but they still still the black people had jobs and they were still they had no rights though yeah they didn't have rights but even though white people what rights do we have but then at that time it wasn't anything like now no it wasn't i can't say because i wasn't there it's a black government it's a black country they don't want want white people yeah that's what i think some of the stuff that he said in my blood boil i don't agree with his views but he wants a better life for his son and he feels that the way things are that's just not going to happen being in this and this being your world in its entirety i understand why you might feel that way it may sit uncomfortably but at least part of the reason hedy is stuck here could be because of affirmative action and if it continues i worry that coronation park could keep growing creating more race resentment for young people in south africa mad how different this place is in the dark isn't it you think it's a bit more intimidating because you just don't know where you are what's around and then what you're walking into you know definitely is a different vibe here hey guys but you're turning into a camp experience you have to sit in the stump there's a very dangerous spider around you know afrikaans you call it a suck spinach that thing could kill you why are you saying that before i sit down on the stomach i don't want a sucks pinnacle getting in my bum the way things are set up here there are so many hurdles for you to get back to where you were there are things in the way that aren't your fault and that just makes me angry i can't really say it's not my fault i ended up here for a reason nobody comes in here just because the country screwed up nobody comes in here like that they come in here because they screwed up i can't blame everything on the system no that's the first time i've heard ownership since happening it's the first time i've heard ownership even a rich guy could find himself here in two weeks ask me i've lost everything i lived a dream i was a rock star oh in my aid i still have i used to sign boobs for 11 years and i had a selfish lot but i lived the dream and everything that went along with it i had and i lost a couple of days just a few years ago jd was living in his own house with a pool but since his music career ended he struggled to find his feet in modern south africa and has been moving with his mum from place to place this camp is full of people who've left their homes but don't know where they'll end up coronation park isn't the only place that poor whites are squatting local newspapers report there are now over 80 camps dotted around pretoria this was once the spiritual homeland of the africana nation but in modern south africa the idea of a nation where white people are in charge clearly has no future it's not like a block of flats in its most traditional sense but it definitely looks run down it seems to be both black and white here as well this settlement is an abandoned care home as well as the poor afrikaners it's home to lots of recent black immigrants from all over the continent black or white this place really does feel like the end of the line hello hello hi hi can i come in and talk to you guys okay all right hey how's it going i'm i'm reggie hello nice to meet you hello can we come in is that all right yeah hello hey how you doing i'm i'm reggie nice to meet you this is your little one is that your is that your youngstown yeah oh wow congratulations so is this your family in here then yeah yeah how old are you guys i'm 20 and he's 24. how long have you guys lived here there we've lived here for basically four years now who else lives in here because there's doors all the way down the corridor and they're all sealed it's only white it's only white no black in those rooms there's three or four other buildings here do the blacks sort of keep to themselves yeah most of the time some of them are very racist and inside yeah they're also very racist yeah most of the people if they do know you and they do have respect for you they actually just intend to leave you alone you leave them alone and will leave you alone the only other place where i've heard someone speak like that is prison that's the only other place where i've heard people speak about it looking after yourself is that how you see this there's always works here do you know what i'd love to see the um the rest of this building is it possible for you to show me around can i see some more it's a bit darker yeah no kidding my grandmother's staying here well vivian's grandmother actually wow since the whole family all in this yeah well it's no one just here it's the grandmother and vivian's mother that actually got us yeah so so what's this through here is this shed everything's shared but unfortunately not everything works either the toilets they permanently plant these tubs they don't work at all they got water but i need cold water yeah showers look at that needles drugs so that's everywhere now yeah too many drug dealers moved in too many junkies moved in we all know that it's not safe for the kids yeah crime is rife here but that's not the only danger these buildings are so old if these roots catch fire it's over it's done two months ago a resident built a fire in their room to keep warm unfortunately it got out of control and tore through an entire building this is awful do people actually live in here still people still actually live here there's at least a roof over their heads i can't imagine anything worse than waking up in there i think in what 20 minutes it was the whole wing this is the hardest i think i've seen it in south africa you know so what's the future look like for your little girl then in south africa i wouldn't say too good hardest nor vivian have a legitimate job to get by they run an unlicensed shop out of their window it's difficult for us to get work in south africa especially me when i just moved into victoria 2010 i had 60 cvs that i actually gave out resumes that i gave out to places and it's difficult to find work in south africa not even one says i'm gonna call you back nothing why do you think it's so hard working places are racist as well not racist you need more black employment than whites yeah so that's how they work if you if your skin color is not correct unfortunately you're not going to get it and this is a quotation with no job the family lives hand to mouth so tonight's dinner depends on the little money the shop makes which today was nothing unfortunately there's not money to buy anything tonight but i've still got some macaroni left and soup so that's what we'll be eating tonight macaroni and soup that's what you have here yeah that's what i have here for now [Music] i want to see judgment just it almost feels like this season this isn't alive [Applause] like anyone i find it hard to witness poverty but here in south africa it is very common their institute of race relations claims a staggering 45 percent of black south africans also live below the bread line but that doesn't make the plight of poor whites any easier to stomach i can hear some music playing who's playing that music uh all the rich people did the uh rich guys come around here and park up their cars play music and yeah i heard joel you know when i was like these people i was exactly the same way can you believe it's two different worlds can you believe it see can i can i be completely honest with you yes when you spoke about rich people in my head i have white people yeah not at all eh they're all they're all black guys they're black guys look at those people there most of them are young people so they're getting what they deserve now fainus is this fair their moms and dads wasn't treated this way they wouldn't have been allowed to come in yet so them enjoying their freedom there's nothing wrong with that you should go and ask them what they think about coronation and you'll get your answer i'm gonna do that now hello guys how you doing hello where have you guys come from tonight [Applause] soweto yeah so you guys are from the township yeah nice and you come here to enjoy yourself south africa has come a long way some middle-class black people live in soweto now with cars jobs and money whilst it's strange to think this party wouldn't have even been allowed 20 years ago it's even stranger that it is happening right next to the tents and shacks of hundreds of impoverished afrikaners there's a group of people living just over there permanently living there or what you didn't you didn't know that they were there no i didn't know anything because this is a park hmm i'm living in that squad camp tonight you won't get white people here i understand because you won't get white people living in the park yawned well if you prove something i'm standing tonight and there's a lot there's like okay why are people there hello what are people that are living there they're three days and then they're going home no yes no you're lying you don't believe that there could be that many white people living that way over there i don't believe why not i'm telling you straight you're lying no i came over this hill expecting sort of arrogant rich white kids it was quite the opposite white families still earn six times more than black ones on average so i can understand the stereotypes i hold them too but if black people can't even accept white poverty i can't see a way out for jd hardest and heli i'm on my way back to see hardest i'm surprised to hear he's been given a last minute job interview it could be good news but i'm finding it hard to be positive i see his kids walking around barefoot and i see used needles in the car and drug dealers hanging out seconds from his open doorway it just really gets you down it just makes you think jesus that's interesting they're a police wow lots of please i'm gonna find out what's going on [Music] excuse me officer if you get inside that side in that building all the people is inside rape is there something happening in that building i don't know if something's happening with all the main people okay well thank you something's going on [Music] hey hardest what's up you're all right mom yeah so what's up what's up what are you dookies they're busy doing a raid for drug dealer drugs um cigarettes if you've got a shop if they find any cigarettes on you they're gonna confiscate it are you guys there well luckily i'm a smoker so i'm just gonna start smoking uh vivian i noticed that your uh your shop signs come down so if they'd seen the sign what would have happened they will search the room if i find anything they will look me up or they will give me a fine vivian and hardis have been lucky but escaping a rest isn't how i choose to prepare for a job interview it's going to look like the rainbow nation today oh really why is that shoes with black crazy colors yeah do you not have any blacks and whites no there we go that work it's funny about where you are in the world there's wives still dressing their husbands [Music] heartless is interviewing for a door-to-door sales job looking sharp hello look at you all right let's go do this it's a massive opportunity that doesn't come around very often i applied for this job two years ago wow two years ago and they finally um yeah this is a good 30 minute drive from your place how are you going to get here should you get the job it's going to be a long walk isn't it get those nerves so what's the situation with um aaa i'm hoping that there's no no such thing in this opportunity even if there is i'm still hoping that um i get con i converts them to actually giving the chance this is the first time i've actually seen him appear unsure about something you know in any scenario you'd sort of understand but in this one there's so much more on his shoulders you know it's not just someone trying to get a job to earn some money to pay for their satellite subscription i really hope hardest can get his dream job but competition is tough this is just the first of three interviews he'll have to ace to stand a chance even if he does succeed his ultimate goal is not just to leave his home but to take his family out of south africa [Music] like many afrikaners i've spoken to he's fearful for the future [Music] i've come to a rally for a popular movement called eff that's taking south africa's poor black youth by storm [Music] the red berets think affirmative action hasn't gone far enough they're demanding more extreme measures to help black people out of poverty like taking back farmland and nationalizing lucrative minds we are going to take that belongs to us they've become controversial for singing an apartheid rebellion song shoot the bua kill the farmer from old women to little kids they're all screaming just because there's now a black government doesn't mean poor black africans aren't still suffering or angry we're going on 20 years of so-called independence i'm only free to sit next to a white person on the bus but i've got no income i got no money i cannot buy anything for my children my children just watched life going back talking to people like hardis you sort of get an idea that he feels like he's not part of what's happening in south africa he's no different to the people here you know they feel just as marginalized let's not listen to as him people here want change and there's a militancy in the air when their commander in chief julius malema turns up he gets a welcome that david cameron could only dream of [Music] now the whole time i've been here i've heard about this song clearly malema's become hip to that because you know it's something that's really sensitive to the afrikaans population out here he's now changed the words of the song to kiss the bruh the funny thing is that's quickly followed by uh people going pow-pow different words pretty much the same meaning i've never seen any politician that britain do was sing with the people and sing traditional songs and he sang there the kill the boy song but he changed the words to kiss the boy yes no do you think it's a king we are kissing the knowledge we do not want to fight we want to fight spiritually not physically we don't want to fight with guns and whatever we have to fight knowledgeable knowledgeably and we have to fight with knowledge [Music] i don't want to believe that everyone here wants to take violent revenge on white people but chanting a hate song isn't building any bridges a few years ago julius malema was tipped as a future president but he's not someone many people in coronation park would vote for why do you think that so many black people in townships are supporting of melanoma because they want to kill us the shotgun i definitely don't agree he says kill the bull kill the whites and kill the bird kill the white one they're gonna kill us they're gonna kill us as soon as heath comes in we're gonna be killed our fathers before our fathers treated black people very bad they did and i think julius malema wants to just turn it around but it's wrong it's wrong so why do you want to treat us like that because what happened that time of year it was a long time ago but it's not that long ago the fact that people are still alive who remember apartheid is a problem the fact that there are still people who are holding on to feelings from that era is a problem and that is why there are some people not all people some people who feel a level of resentment and why there is anger between blacks and whites [Music] bloody blood inflation just leave it there are lessons in what happened and i think the only way that you move forward is learning from what happened as opposed to forgetting oh it's stupid man the people in this world that's why the world is like it is because they can't forgive and forget what happened in their lives that's why the world is a [ __ ] up straight talking breaking no friendship that's why the world is [ __ ] up but to forget what's happened will be completely responsible because then you can't learn from what went wrong and that is why hear me don't you know what i think about the life yeah i told you anything i know everything that i know everything i want to say to you and that's that we're not going to agree we will never agree never let actually see my friend we will live again figuring and forgetting is um it's not the way i live my life i mean i've got a tattoo on my arm that says never regret never forget you know um i think it's important that you don't forget it's definitely important that you forgiven that's the only way that things are going to change here if people forgive but you must never forget because if you forget what the hell are you going to learn there is no quick fix for the divisions and inequality in south africa the poor afrikaners i've met are undoubtedly getting a rough deal now but if there is a price to pay for decades of oppression perhaps this is the least worst option in pretoria hardis has asked me to meet him after making it through to the final interview for his sales job okay so today was the big day got some bad news and some good news okay bad news first i need to wake up early tomorrow morning best news i get to start working on my birthday which is tomorrow oh my god that's incredible that's unbelievable congratulations what a birthday present yeah it is it's i really didn't expect this what does this mean for you and your family then better life which is what i've been hoping for what i've been dreaming for yeah there's vivian though yeah no that's not quite foreseeably obvious congratulations we're good big news what's the first thing you want to do just get out of this guys move to sleep or something i can't make them grow up beyond this place when i got the yes after i left the office it was it just it felt like i was taking a huge load of stuff just off my shoulders so it's a big change for me i'm still going to make it i'm still going to do it it's been a pleasure meeting you take care best of luck okay okay thank you take care see you later little man monkey goodbye i'm really pleased that hardest at least has made a positive change i'd come here hoping to see a rainbow nation but there's clearly some way to go integration is happening but only in pockets and i'm surprised it's the poor afrikaners who feel they don't belong in south africa anymore essentially black and white people are victims of apartheid and they're still feeling the effects of it it's a problem that's affected poor rich white and black do you think that you're a victim of apartheid still definitely my generation paying a price paying a price for our forefathers south africa's past is still haunting it but it won't be like that always change takes time it really does happy very happy i look 10 years younger it's amazing nice work [Music] guys always look to the trees into the sky remember us then it's a bit weird um seeing them react the way that they have to me and it's a if i'm going to be really honest i feel a bit strange leaving i mean not that i want to stay here but you know i'm going home and i know what i'm going home to and um they're staying here i mean staying here in this this is how kids play here this is a reality for them here and good people really good people my time in coronation park and joburg has come to an end the people i've been living with are in a very difficult position but they still have made me very welcome and that's important thank you so much okay take care okay during the years of apartheid i wouldn't have even been allowed to step foot in this park and that is progress at least for me

Channel: Real Stories

Views: 2,943,061

Rating: 4.7185173 out of 5

Keywords: Real Stories, Real Stories Full Documentary, Real Stories Documentary, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, full documentary, full episode, south africa, reggie yates, crime documentary, south africa documentary, white people, poor whites, reggie yates documentary, reggie yates extreme south africa, reggie yates south africa, white slums, white south africans

Id: Ba3E-Ha5Efc

Length: 49min 57sec (2997 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/BattleCougarGo]

The narrator keeps going on about how shocked he is to see white people living in these conditions, and all I can think about as someone that lives in the Appalachian region of the U.S. is how I see all of this regularly.

[u/surfcurse38]

The camp looks identical to rural and even non rural parts of the US and I find it shocking that he can’t wrap his head around this, even being from the UK. Camp looks identical to many parts of rural Missouri.

[u/SmashedHimBro]

Alot came to NZ, we have a few suburbs full of them. Generally nice folks also. Great for our Rugby/cricket teams.

[u/YoWassupFresh]

Lol narrator never been to west va

[u/Gravix-Gotcha]

I should make a documentary of white people living in poverty here in the southeastern U. S.

[u/HonestDeath]

Not available in my country r/Australia

[u/HelenEk7]

Many of these people used to belong to the working class. Plumbers, electricians, builders.. Meaning they were not able to leave the country when things got tough. Other white people with high education did however leave (around 800,000). My mum has a co-worker (medical doctor) from South Africa who is now living in Norway. My brother in law emigrated to Australia. (He has a bachelor degree, but had to study an extra year to be eligible to get a visa in Australia). But most I believe went to UK, US and Canada. Those without higher education however had to stay behind, and have a hard time finding a job because of affirmative action.. Correcting past discrimination is a very difficult process. And adding corruption on government level is not helping the situation.

[u/Andrenachrome]

Known a few who fled this poverty and also those that fled the violence of farm raids.

Brutal stuff.

[u/R011_5af3_yeah]

You know poverty doesn't care what colour a person is. These are humans living in poverty, the colour of their skin is not relevant.