The article describes political changes, unstable economic development and the difficult social situation in the country after the fall of the apartheid regime. South Africa’s raw materials orientation in the international division of labor and the weak development of manufacturing industries due to the narrow domestic market and lack of investment are shown. The factors that reduce economic growth rates have been identified: low investment activity in the country, declining volumes of foreign investment, a backward structure of industrial production in which extractive industries dominate, rising unemployment, low levels of education, and health care. The characteristic of the catastrophic stratification of South African society, the position of the white minority is given. The place of the country in the international division of labor is shown. Considered the main sectors of the economy of South Africa, among them: industry, agriculture, financial sector and transport network. After the abolition of the apartheid regime, South Africa retained in its foreign trade an emphasis on the export of mineral raw materials, coal and metallurgy products. Today, South Africa faces a number of serious socio-economic problems, generated both by the legacy of apartheid and by the influence of modern factors, both internal and external, that directly affect the country's economy and mutually aggravate each other. Second, a low level of education is a major socio-economic problem in South Africa. It takes a countdown from the days of apartheid, when the broad masses of a non-full population were either completely illiterate or received an education of poor quality. Thirdly, a serious problem is the glaring level of social stratification and poverty, which has been preserved since the days of apartheid.