In Vlakfontein, a squalid squatter camp on the outskirts of Johannesburg, hundreds of children crowd into a rundown building block. It’s a makeshift school, set up by local parent volunteers. They’ve been waiting for a proper school since 1997, but have finally got fed up with the government’s empty promises and taken matters into their own hands. It was black, not white, leaders who pledged to deliver basic rights like schools, jobs and housing to all South Africans. But, eight years on, it seems little has changed: “We have changed only the government, but the system has not been changed. Instead of changing it’s becoming worse,” complains one of the volunteer teachers. Yet Thabo Mbeki’s autocratic style of leadership has made it almost impossible to criticise, and is even earning him some unflattering comparisons with Robert Mugabe. The statistics speak for themselves: with almost one in two black South Africans unemployed, and the economy in danger of collapse, just how much longer can the ‘lion of Africa’ survive?

Produced by ABC Australia