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Wednesday morning saw us getting a tour of Soweto Hospital, arguably the largest hospital on the continent with over 2,000 beds and many, many more outpatients. A sister of a friend of a friend - who is big in anti-racism charity Kick It Out - has worked there as a physio for a couple of years and took time out to show us around.

If I suggest that conditions there are approximately 100 years behind England, then you will start to form an impression of the place. This is basically a ‘free’ hospital and we did not see a single white patient; they can afford health insurance and those facilities, we’re told, are excellent. A new Accident And Emergency ward was opened about a year ago - a nice new building’ looking quite 21^st century. It had replaced an open-fronted, corrugated-iron out-patients area where people had queued for hours in the open, whatever the weather.

Our physio had a patient to see in one of the wards. The guy was about 30 and a straightforward problem with his leg had escalated with a serious infection and was badly swollen. In England it would be in a sling to ease the pain; here his leg was supported by an upturned hard-backed chair – I kid you not! Anyway she had to see him to discuss his future need for physiotherapy IF they do not amputate. His attitude was quite matter of fact - a ‘whatever will be, will be’ type philosophy.

There were about 20 beds in the ward and every one was occupied. A helper pushed a trolley round, dishing out dollops of what looked like mashed potato; a sink hung away from the wall; paint flaked off of the ceiling. This was not a sterile atmosphere.

Across the road from the hospital was a street market; mostly food but with some clothes. Most of the ‘stalls’ consisted of a single table, though some were just blankets spread on the dried earth. We were the only white people there and, from the stares we got, it was apparent that they didn’t get many.

In all of our travels it was obvious that, despite the end of apartheid, whites and blacks do not mix. We had a black guy in our group but ours was the only mixed group we saw while we were in South Africa. Coloured workers in cafes and restaurants took a while to get used to our mixed party of equals, even more so as we treated them as equals. But the reactions of the white guest-house owners to having to accept a black man into their houses as a guest was the most amusing. Well amusing for us whites anyway, though I think that Gary felt uncomfortable himself. As business people, they had to be polite but one felt that they would have rather he slept in the garage.

I fear for the future of this magnificent country. Although Nelson Mandela is no longer the leader, you still feel his presence and his authority has kept a lid on the tensions here. What will happen when he has gone is debatable. Never have I seen such a divided nation. All the workers are coloured; all the management are white. There is no apparent cross-over. The whites still own the businesses and make the decisions and it is difficult to imagine that changing in the foreseeable future.