I'm not justifying anything what so ever.
I do however perceive that the only way in which "all men are equal" notion works is in the face of the law. And yes, in the US, up until 150 years ago slaves were considered unequal. But that is because they were slaves. Black people were slave owners too. There were very large slave owners of blacks who they themselves were black.
But that was the case all OVER the world until European colonial powers abolished slavery in all their colonies in the beginning of the XIXth century. In India, since the dawn of time, there was a caste system. It is not a British invention. Only the structure of the caste system changed. Hindu religion in fact is the creator of the caste system. SO there was always inequality there. In Africa, you had slavery for milleniums before the European colonial powers and had it even after in certain parts where European nations had little or no influence. In Asia, china was a slave state until the nationalist revolution in the beginning of the XXth century. Japan was a slave state until the Meiji revolution which only happened because of western influences.
Slavery and inequality in the face of the law was, and still is, the default status in the world. It is because of powerful nations who promoted the idea of equality in the face of the law that this sort of thing is rare in the world. This may give us the impression that it is how the world is by default, but it isn't.
And this is why it is upsetting in South Africa. Because although it is a nation who is part of the Commonwealth, although it is a nation who aspires to westernization and prosperity, it is a nation who actively opposes offering equal rights to all its citizen and equal protection under the law. It seems to be a cycle. Sure, 30years ago, until Apartheid ended, it was a white minority denying those things to a black majority. Note, that the africans there weren't slaves. They were just second class citizens. If you were white, and you killed a black man, you would get prosecuted. You may not get sentenced all that often, but you did suffer penality in the face of the law because murder was illegal. But now, there are thousands of crimes happening against whites, who are same class of citizens as the blacks in South Africa, and NOBODY is even bothered to prosecute those blacks who do the crimes.
That is the only point I'm making.