The conditions for democracy in South Africa cannot be taken for granted. The problem is not simply a question of inclusion in the democratic process and the distribution of resources. Despite the 'miracle' of 1994, the vast majority of South African citizens remain on the margins, outside the formal democratic system. The South African state is struggling to fulfill its responsibilities to provide housing, jobs and economic security. These limits to liberation have become catalysts for a dramatic expansion of new forms of associational life and moral communities, including religious and occult movements, women's saving associations, pyramid schemes and the consolidation of communitarian, clan and ethnic solidarities. The conditions have also been created for the growth of the violent economies: drug trafficking, sex work, informal taxi organizations and criminal syndicates. Another serious obstacle to the liberal democratic project is the emergence of additional forms of inequality. These include new types of social-spatial segregation whereby (predominantly white) middle-class citizens have retreated even further into the gated communities and fortified enclaves of shopping malls
