It was a moment many South Africans never believed they'd live to see. On 10 May 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president of a democratic South Africa, ending the deadly and brutal white minority apartheid regime. 

To mark 30 years since South Africa's post-apartheid transition began, we're running a special three-part podcast series, What happened to Nelson Mandela's South Africa? In this first episode, two scholars who experienced the transition at first hand reflect to Thabo Leshilo, The Conversation's politics editor in Johannesburg, on the initial excitement around Mandela's election, the priorities of his African National Congress in the transition and the challenges that lay ahead for South Africa as it set out to define its post-apartheid future.

Featuring Steven Friedman, professor of political studies at the University of Johannesburg and Sandy Africa, associate professor of political sciences at the University of Pretoria.

This episode was written and produced by Mend Mariwany with assistance from Gary Oberholzer and Katie Flood. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Gemma Ware is the executive producer. Full credits available here. A transcript will be available shortly. Subscribe to a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

Further reading:

• What happened to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa? A new podcast series marks 30 years of post-apartheid democracy 
• South Africa’s election management body has done a good job for 30 years: here’s why