In April 1994, South Africa held its historic first democratic election. The African National Congress overwhelmingly triumphed and Nelson Mandela became the first president of a free and democratic South Africa. In this review, the situation of South Africa's young children under apartheid and the context of young children in South Africa in 2012 are described. A situation analysis of early childhood development (ECD) in South Africa was undertaken using South African government ECD policy and programme implementation reports, and the main challenges affecting children and the ECD sector in South Africa was investigated. There has been progress since 1994, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Children now have access to a Grade R year, government education and social development budgets have increased and a per capita subsidy is available to qualifying children at ECD centres nationally. More children are in provision and in better-quality provision than before. However, much still remains to be done before we can say with confidence that the needs of our youngest children are being met. This study identifies infrastructure, nutrition, ECD programmes, teacher training, institutional capacity and funding as the major gaps in ECD provision. (author abstract)