Britsh Journal of Photography: Twenty five years have passed since Nelson Mandela became president and apartheid was officially abolished. Ilvy Njiokiktjien’s decade-long project documents the opportunities and challenges faced by the children of the “rainbow nation”.
The swim team of Michaelhouse, a neighbouring boarding school to Hilton College, during a swimming match at boarding school Hilton College in Hilton, South Africa.
Innocent Moreku makes no attempt to sound modest when he introduces himself. “I am an artist, a fashion icon, social media personality, master of ceremony. Just to round it off, I’m a very influential creative.”
Still, the 22-year-old – who stays with his mother and siblings in Lotus Gardens, Pretoria – considers himself “lower class”, having grown up in a large family that would at times struggle to have proper food and clothes for everyone.
Kommandokorps in South Africa organizes camps during school holidays for young white Afrikaner teenagers, teaching them self-defence and how to combat a perceived black enemy. The group’s leader, self-proclaimed ‘Colonel’ Franz Jooste, served with the South African Defence Force under the old apartheid regime and eschews the vision of a multicultural nation
Wilmarie Deetlefs (24) together with her boyfriend Zakithi Buthelezi (27) on a night out in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The interior of a house in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
Jano van Zyl (13) on his bed at home in Klerksdorp. He was the youngest boy to attend the Kommandokorps camp. He lives with his mother Janomi in Klerksdorp, South Africa and also attends school there.
A teacher and her students at Brandwag Primary School in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Natalie de Wee (18) saved up money for several months together with her parents to be able to afford to buy the 220 euro dress. The upcoming years she will be renting out the dress to other girls graduating high school and having their proms.
People who did not get in on time to see Nelson Mandela lie in state were getting angry at the police, on the 11th of December 2013, six days after the passing of Nelson Mandela. They waited many hours to see the former president lie in state in Pretoria, but in the end they could not make it to the front of the line in time. After the lying in state the former South African president will be taken to Qunu, for the burial on Sunday.
Shane Veeran at a party in one of the student housings in Braamfontein, a student area in Johannesburg.
Members of the National Youth Orchestra, after they just played music on one of Cape Towns beaches. The orchestra will be rehearsing and performing in Cape Town, as part of a tour of South Africa’s National Youth Orchestra.
As Lauren-Lee Scheepers (nickname Lolla, 18) and her prom date walk out of the house everyone cheers them on. The whole neighborhood is standing beneath the rows of clotheslines that run between the two Joyce Court buildings. Everyone wants to see Lolla walk out of the house in her ball gown. She is the first one in the family to graduate.
Couple Ofentse Sean Lewis (l) and Sipho Lewis Maestro Azzuro (r) sitting on the Nelson Mandela bridge in Johannesburg.
People order drinks at the bar at the Pirates Bowls Club in Johannesburg. One of the bands playing that night is Desmond and the Tutus.
Members of the Anti Gang Unit, search boys for drugs and weapons in Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa.
Khayelitsha is a partially informal township in Western Cape, South Africa, located on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town. The name is Xhosa for Our New Home. It is reputed to be the largest and fastest growing township in South Africa.
Cape Town initially opposed implementing the Group Areas Act passed in 1950 and residential areas in the city remained unsegregated until the first Group Areas were declared in the city in 1957.[4] When Cape Town did start implementing the Group Areas Act, it did so more severely than any other major city; by the mid-1980s it became one of the most segregated cities in South Africa.
Friends and family take pictures of Jason Noah arriving at the club in Pretoria, where he will celebrate his 21st birthday.
When he drives his brand new BMW M4 through the city, the top open, girls as well as guys scream with excitement when they see him pass. “I never let it go to my head. Like I said: always be humble. But I won’t lie to you, it does feel nice.”
Students on their way to their first class in the morning at boarding school Hilton College in Hilton, South Africa.
Homeless Nonjabulo Ndzanibe (21) sits on the side walk on one of the rough areas of Durban, South Africa. To find shelter, she sometimes sleeps with men for money.
Piles of household goods lay on Jeppe street while Red Ants evict the residents of Monis place on mondaymorning.
Mzimkulu Ntakana (21) during his Mgidi. He stands in the kraal, a place where only man can be in traditionally. Friends and family gather at his parents house to celebrate his Mgidi in Centane, South Africa. A Mgidi is the celebration of boys becoming men in Xhosa culture.
Children of Manenberg play in front of a wall that has painted: ‘I want to play free’ and ‘Enough is Enough’ on it. The wall stands in gang ridden neighbourhood Manenberg, Cape Town, South Africa.
Students of Tom Naud High School in Polokwane, walking from one classroom to the other in between classes.
A model gets make up on during SA Fashion show in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The backyard of Hans Duyenhage (55) has become a small slum, filled with sheds, caravans and shacks made of planks and tin sheets. After his wife died, Hans struggled with being alone. That’s when he decided to let over fifty poor families stay on his property, Eagle’s Nest. The majority of them is white. Prior to 1994 poor whites were rare. Now they are no longer favored, and black South Africans get preferential treatment, they lose the competition for jobs more often.
Children and young boys are smoking drugs in one of the squatter areas of Durban, where street kids sleep.
André Venter helps at his father’s garage in Polokwane. Andre attended the Kommandokorps camp.
Kevin du Plessis (28) at the Gay Pride in Johannesburg, South Africa. Where he is spending time with De Wet.
An undercover member of the Anti Gang Unit in Manenberg searches a boy for tattoos. Every gang in Manenberg has its own tattoos, and when people claim not to be part of a gang, the Anti Gang Unit searches them for tattoos.
Elihle Dudula (21) in a taxi together with her boyfriend Paul (right), on their way from Samora Machel, one of Cape Towns townships, to the clinic where she gets check ups for her pregnancy.
The funeral of Afrikaner Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) resistance leader, Eugene Terre’Blanche takes place in Ventersdorp, South Africa on April 9 2010. Terre’Blanche was murdered on his farm by two of his workers on Easter Day. In South Africa, until his death, Terre’Blanche was the founder and leader of the AWB (Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging) which, in English is Afrikaner Resistance Movement, a separatist neo-Nazi organization dedicated to the creation of an independent Boer-Africaner organization. According to several sources, 7% of South Africa still supports this separatist organization.
Friends and family take pictures of Jason Noah arriving at the club in Pretoria, where he will celebrate his 21st birthday.
The Van der Poel family in their house in Cullinan, South Africa. This Dutch family moved to South Africa in 1994 and have since then worked as farmers. They are now part of the Suidlanders, a group of Afrikaners, white South Africans of mainly Dutch descent, the country is nearing an anarchy, or as some say a war.
They distrust the government and the public service system of the ‘new’ South Africa. With the high crime rates in the country their fear is strengthened almost on a daily basis. They think that whites will become targets of the violence during this anarchy, which in their eyes might start when former president Nelson Mandela dies.
When the violence starts, the Suidlanders will flee and seek safety in the vast and empty backlands of the country.
Boys get ready in the morning in their dorms at boarding school Hilton College in Hilton, South Africa.
Men work out at a gym, under a tin roof in Kayamandi, South Africa.
Kayamandi is the township of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, South Africa. Kayamandi is one of the developing townships situated in Stellenbosch.
The name means “nice home” in the Xhosa language, from khaya meaning “home” and mnandi meaning “nice”. It was founded in the early 1950s as part of the increased segregation during the apartheid regime.[2] It was originally built to house exclusively black migrant male labourers employed on the farms in the Stellenbosch area. In 1966, the nine largest employers in the Stellenbosch district including Stellenbosch University, the town administration, several vineyards and a fruit packing company united to erect 38 ready-made homes, so called hostels.
Tanya Grobler’s family does not know the name of their domestic help, who has been coming every day (except Sundays) for years to clean the house and wash their clothing. When they need her they just call her by saying: ‘Tss tss’.
People on the way to the train station of Khayelitsha.
Students of Isolomzi Senior Secondary School in Centane during a ceremony which celebrates their matric results. The school has been one of the highest performing schools in the area. The town, situated in Eastern Cape province, is one of the poorest communities of the country.