The economic base of rural South Africans is surprisingly low, because there is high inequality at a national level within and between racial groups. Although apartheid ended in 1994, the rural areas constituted as former 'Bantustans', remain home to the country's most socio-economically deprived populations. Migration patterns did not change radially and the manner expected when apartheid ended. Temporary migration, mostly for labour, has persisted as a migration stream linking rural and urban areas and mines.