AFRIKANER VALUES IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: AN ...

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which – with the establishment of the New South Africa (post-1994) – they forfeited all
these powers and advantages in the process of democratisation and normalisation.
The process of restructuring and transformation of the broader South African society
which has been in full force since 1994 has brought about radical changes for the
Afrikaner. In an egalitarian post-apartheid milieu, coupled with the irresistible 21 st -
century forces of globalisation and market alignment, the essential attributes of the
Afrikaner character are being engulfed for the sake of transformation, the New South
Africa and nation-building; and the identity of the Afrikaner is being irrevocably
redefined, and possibly even eroded.
In terms of their numbers, Afrikaners have always been in the minority in their locality
(South Africa). During the apartheid years, Afrikaners were the dominant role-players in
South Africa, and they created rigid legislation that was stringently prescriptive towards
the other groups that inhabited South Africa alongside of them (Slabbert 1999:61-63). In
many respects, this legislation was discriminatory and degrading (Du Preez 2000:20). In
post-apartheid South Africa, Afrikaners have lost their dominance in government; and
their status was diminished, virtually overnight, to that of a minority group within their
locality (Slabbert 1999:104). Afrikaners were thus necessarily constrained to make
certain adjustments very rapidly in a post-apartheid South Africa. Now that they have a
full-blown minority status in the new South Africa, Afrikaners are being confronted with
the realities of nation-building and transformation.
Apart from the importance of the context, read together with the use of specific
definitions, as pointed out in the above discussion, it is also necessary to say something
about the empirical data that were collected, and which comprise the fundamental basis
of the five articles in this study. These empirical data are presented in annexure 2. The
informants’ own perceptions and experiences in respect of the New South Africa are
described in this annexure. These perceptions and experiences of the informants in
relation to the world in which they currently find themselves, are thematically discussed.
On the basis of the information in annexure 2, those elements of the broader South
African society that have a direct impact on the identity and value judgements of
Afrikaners today, as well as the way Afrikaners think and feel about these elements, will
become clear to the reader.