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The Documentary: The children of paradise

Young boy dressed as a superhero in Khayelitsha, South Africa

13/12/2023 GMT

The children of paradise

BBC World Service - The Documentary, The children of paradise

What’s happened to South Africa's hope and promises of a better nation since apartheid?

Thirty years after South Africa's transition from apartheid to a democracy, what has happened to the hope and promises of a better nation?

Three decades after the momentous transition from apartheid to a democratic South Africa, Fergal Keane returns to see what happened to the hopes and promises of a better nation.

In a famous speech 30 years ago, as he collected the Nobel Peace Prize, Nelson Mandela spoke of a “common humanity” in which all South Africans would live “like the children of paradise.” 

As the BBC’s South Africa correspondent at the time, Fergal Keane, along with his colleague and friend Milton Nkosi, lived through some of the country’s most desperate times. It was a period of extreme violence and loss, but also of great hope. Now Fergal and Milton travel through the country, revisiting some of the places and people they encountered in the lead up to the end of Apartheid. They will explore how and why paradise was lost.

(Photo: Young boy dressed as a superhero in Khayelitsha, South Africa. Credit: RichVintage/Getty Images)

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