To assess South African memories of apartheid, four commonly recognised historical truths about the nature of apartheid are proposed and respondents are asked whether they agree with these statements:

1. 1)  Apartheid was a crime against humanity.

2. 2)  In the past, the state committed terrible crimes against those struggling against apartheid.

3. 3)  The apartheid government wrongly oppressed the majority of South Africans.

4. 4)  Many black South Africans are still poor today because of the lasting effects of apartheid.

Statements 1 and 2 were asked from 2003, and statements 3 and 4 were included in 2012. Figure 18 summarises the results of the percentage of South Africans who agreed with these statements between 2003 and 2013.

Figure 18 demonstrates that, over the 11-year period, levels of agreement have declined by 10.1% from 86.5% of South Africans who agreed that apartheid was a crime against humanity to 76.4% who agreed with the statement in 2013. Similarly, the percentage of those who believe that the apartheid government committed terrible crimes against anti-apartheid activists decreased slightly by 5.2% from 77.3% in 2003 to 72.1% in 2013. In 2013, almost 8 in every 10 South Africans agreed with statement 1 and about 7 in every 10 South Africans agreed with statements 2, 3 and 4. 

Related Link  If Apartheid is not a crime against humanity, what is?