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Well Fogle, the Children of Paradise, I know it's a quote from Nelson Mandela, the Big Man.

Why did you want to make this series?

30 years ago I was the BBC's Southern Africa correspondent

and witnessing the extraordinary transition from,

you know, a place where black and white were separated at every level where people

couldn't sit on the same park bench go on the same buses. Witnessing the move from

that to a morning where I saw black people voting for the first time. That was one of the foundational

experiences of my life. Now 30 years later I want to see what's become of the democracy that was

created on that day. In case anyone's interested, my name's John, I'm the producer of this series and the first episode

is centered around Gauteng, basically the Johannesburg region.

Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

I'm Fergalkeen.

Three decades ago, midnight in South Africa, I watched as the old apartheid flag was lowered and a new country was born.

And again as the anthem plays, God bless Africa, I can see black people running up the steps here.

People who have heard that clearly from a few blocks away are now running to be

here to be part of this moment and now the cheer of the crowd.

It was a time of extraordinary hope, felt most powerfully among the struggling millions of

black South Africans, like Cynthia and Tabe living in desperate conditions in a squatter camp outside Johannesburg.

I feel very shame. You can see yourself I ever want a place to sleep.

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