Reducing income disparities in post-apartheid South Africa

Identifying Opportunities to Reduce Income Disparities in South Africa Today and In the Future

Despite the end of apartheid in the early 1990s, South Africa remains racially and economically segregated. The country is beset by persistent social inequality, poverty, unemployment, a heavy burden of disease and the inequitable quality of healthcare service provision. -- Katusha de Villiers (2021)

In 2019, the World Bank recognized South Africa as the most unequal country in the world, meaning that South Africa’s economy does not equally benefit all of its citizens. – Khanyi Mlaba (2020)

Chapter One: Introduction

The epigraphs above underscore the current plight of South Africa nearly 3 decades after apartheid was formally abolished and a democratically elected government assumed power. Like many sub-Saharan nations, South Africa has experienced its share of challenges over the past 2 centuries in overcoming the lingering effects of colonialism and then a draconian apartheid regime that severely polarized the South African people in ways that have left a challenging legacy to overcome. This legacy began in 1948 when apartheid was formally adopted by the South African government as a path towards the “separate development” of the nation’s races but which placed the black majority and other non-white groups at a disadvantage to the white minority (South Africa people, 2021).

Besides international boycotts, protests by national leaders such as Nelson Mandela who spent decades opposing apartheid, with many of them spending time in prison as a result, finally compelled the white-led South African government to negotiate a peaceful transition to a democratic government with equal representation for all citizens in 1994 (South Africa people, 2021). Since that time, South Africa has faced a number of social and economic development challenges, most especially with respect to the lingering vestiges of apartheid-era inequities in income, employment opportunities, housing, education, and healthcare services. An unstable political regime marred by corruption has further exacerbated the problems facing South Africa at present (South Africa economy, 2021).

Notwithstanding these challenges, though, and unlike a number of its sub-Saharan neighbors, South Africa also possesses multiple types of valuable natural resources as well as mature supply chain networks and financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors. In addition, South Africa is a financial hub for the region, boasting the largest stock exchange on the continent which is also ranked among the top 20 stock exchanges globally. Notwithstanding these numerous advantages and because its economy is inextricably connected to the international marketplace, the South African economy has suffered some serious downturns in recent years that have created an unemployment crisis that threatens the stability of the nation. Furthermore, the nation is also struggling to meet the needs of its population during the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic where South Africa has already recorded more than 1.5 million cases to date (South Africa Covid-19, 2021). These trends directly relate to the problem of interest to this study which are described further below.

Statement of the Problem

Despite an abundance of natural resources, a modern infrastructure, and increasingly aggressive efforts by the national government and support from multiple nongovernmental organizations since apartheid ended in 1994, more than half (about 55% or 30.3 million people) of the South Africa population still lives in poverty today and another 13.8 million South Africans do not have enough to eat each day (Poverty & equity brief 2021). Moreover, current economic development indicators show that the per capita annualized consumption growth rate of the bottom 40 percent of the South African population actually suffered a 1.34% decline during the 4-year period from 2010 through 2014 (the latest statistic available from The World Bank).

In addition, although attendance at educational institutions is nearly universal in South Africa, significant percentages of South African children (up to one-third in some provinces) still lack access to early childhood development programming (Measuring the progress of development in South Africa, 2021) and literacy rates are subpar. Moreover, the situation for the poorest people in South Africa is worsening and there are few new opportunities available on the short-term horizon that can help them achieve their full employment potential and realize the complete range of human right guarantees in the South African Freedom Charter, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the South African Constitution and the commitments made by the South African government most recently in February 2021 to “promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, employment, gender equity and access to social well-being and justice for all” (World Day of Justice, 2021, para. 2).

In sum, the ability of the nation’s leaders to take advantage of South Africa’s cornucopia of valuable natural resources has been limited in a number of ways that have directly affected the wellbeing of its citizens. While many of these constraints can be traced to the apartheid era, it is also clear that South Africa have failed to achieve the promise of the “miracle” that occurred in 1994 when apartheid was formally abolished and democratic elections were held for the first time in the country’s history. At present, some of South Africa’s more significant economic development challenges include the following:

· South Africa\\\\\\\'s economic policy has focused on controlling inflation while empowering a broader economic base; however, the country faces structural constraints that also limit economic growth, such as skills shortages, declining global competitiveness, and frequent work stoppages due to strike action.

· The government faces growing pressure from urban constituencies to improve the delivery of basic services to low-income areas, to increase job growth, and to provide university level-education at affordable prices.

· Political infighting among South Africa’s ruling party and the volatility of the rand risks economic growth. International investors are concerned about the country’s long-term economic stability; in late 2016, most major international credit ratings agencies downgraded South Africa’s international debt to junk bond status (South Africa government, 2021, p. 5).

More troubling still, corruption has a long history in South Africa that dates to the 17th century and it remains rampant throughout the public and private sectors. Indeed, Daley (2021, p. 3) emphasizes that, “Given this history, it is not surprising that corruption was a constant feature of the apartheid period. Black people were its chief victims, since they had no rights and so no way of protecting themselves against abuse. But they were not the only ones, as politicians and officials used government power for personal gain.” Unfortunately, this same pattern has been repeated countless times since 1994, and corruption remains one of the most important challenges facing South Africa today (Daley, 2021). Taken together, South Africa has an uphill road ahead as it seeks to address the multifaceted, complex and well-entrenched problems facing the nation today, an issue that directly relates to the purpose of this study which is described below.

Purpose of the Study

Although racial segregation has not been unique to South Africa, the country’s strict apartheid laws endured far longer than most, a reality that has translated into widespread inequalities that persist to this day. In some cases, these inequalities are readily apparent but in others, post-apartheid life for many blacks in South Africa is still controlling in insidious ways by the legacy of these racial segregation laws. Indeed, as noted above, South Africa is widely regarded as being the most unequal country in the world at present, an eventuality that dismays many stakeholders today who were highly optimistic about the nation’s potential for the future. In this regard, Pooley (2018, pp. 640-641) emphasizes that, “Inequality defines the post-apartheid condition. Years after South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, the nation has moved to radical levels of socioeconomic polarization. Poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunity are the consuming reality for millions of South Africans.” Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the lingering vestiges of apartheid that are most salient in maintaining existing institutionalized racism and income disparities among South Africa’s marginalized citizenry and examining ways they can be eliminated.

Research Questions

The study was guided by the following research questions:

1. What are the primary constraints to reducing inequalities and promoting social justice, conceptualized as the equitable distribution of wealth, opportunities and privileges, in South Africa today?

2. What evidence-based initiatives have been used by the private sector in other emerging nations to improve social justice and income equality through initiatives such as job creation and skills training?

3. How can the existing human and natural resources in South Africa be leveraged to their best advantage for future economic development in ways that promote social justice and income equality?

4. How can public-private partnerships be used to their best effect in a South African context to achieve greater prosperity for all?

Importance of the study

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is clear that South African policymakers as well as the international community must develop innovative solution which are targeted at not only alleviating the suffering of these impoverish individuals but pave the road for future economic development to ensure that everyone in South Africa that wants a job that pays a living wage can get one. Likewise, additional provisions must be made for the well-being of the people of South Africa who are unable to pursue gainful employment for whatever reason. To this end, developing new employment opportunities through public and private sectors partnerships represent timely and valuable potential solutions to these challenging problems.

Chapter Two: Review of the Literature

Following the elimination of apartheid and the conduct of the first multi-racial elections in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) headed a majority rule government that has sought to directly address the apartheid-era inequalities that continue to exist in all facets of South African society. One of the foundational documents that guided this process was the South African Freedom Charter, adopted by the ANC in 1955 to serve as a vision for a future South Africa that held equal opportunity for all. For example, according to Roberts (2020), “The Freedom Charter remained a programmatic vision for the ANC for more than 30 years, and continues to have a broad influence on the policies of government, such as those aimed at addressing past injustices and promoting equity” (p. 3).

The Freedom Charter makes it clear that there was no room left in South African society for the apartheid-era inequalities that have characterized life for the vast majority of South Africans for the past half century and more, but the aspirations codified in the Charter have not come to fruition and in some cases have even worsened over the years. The preamble to the South African Freedom Charter reads as follows:

We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people; that our people have been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace by a form of government founded on injustice and inequality; that our country will never be prosperous or free until all our people live in brotherhood, enjoying equal rights and opportunities; that only a democratic state, based on the will of all the people, can secure to all their birthright without distinction of color, race, sex or belief; And therefore, we, the people of South Africa, black and white together - equals, countrymen and brothers - adopt this Freedom Charter. And we pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes here set out have been won.

The Freedom Charter also outlines 10 specific areas in which additional progress was needed to achieve this vision for South Africa’s future as set forth in Table __ below.

Table __

South Africa’s Freedom Charter commitments

Commitment

Description

The People Shall Govern!

Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and to stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws;

All people shall be entitled to take part in the administration of the country;

The rights of the people shall be the same, regardless of race, color or sex;

All bodies of minority rule, advisory boards, councils and authorities shall be replaced by democratic organs of self-government.

All National Groups Shall Have Equal Rights!

There shall be equal status in the bodies of state, in the courts and in the schools for all national groups and races;

All people shall have equal right to use their own languages, and to develop their own folk culture and customs;

All national groups shall be protected by law against insults to their race and national pride;

The preaching and practice of national, race or color discrimination and contempt shall be a punishable crime;

All apartheid laws and practices shall be set aside.

The People Shall Share in the Country’s Wealth!

The national wealth of our country, the heritage of all South Africans, shall be restored to the people;

The mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people as a whole;

All other industry and trade shall be controlled to assist the well-being of the people;

All people shall have equal rights to trade where they choose, to manufacture and to enter all trades, crafts and professions.

The Land Shall Be Shared Among Those Who Work It!

Restrictions of land ownership on a racial basis shall be ended, and all the land redivided amongst those who work it, to banish famine and land hunger;

The state shall help the peasants with implements, seed, tractors and dams to save the soil and assist the tillers;

Freedom of movement shall be guaranteed to all who work on the land;

All shall have the right to occupy land wherever they choose;

People shall not be robbed of their cattle, and forced labor and farm prisons shall be abolished.

All Shall Be Equal Before the Law!

No one shall be imprisoned, deported or restricted without a fair trial;

No one shall be condemned by the order of any Government official;

The courts shall be representative of all the people;

Imprisonment shall be only for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education, not vengeance;

The police force and army shall be open to all on an equal basis and shall be the helpers and protectors of the people;

All laws which discriminate on grounds of race, color or belief shall be repealed.

There Shall Be Work and Security!

All who work shall be free to form trade unions, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers;

The state shall recognize the right and duty of all to work, and to draw full unemployment benefits;

Men and women of all races shall receive equal pay for equal work;

There shall be a forty-hour working week, a national minimum wage, paid annual leave, and sick leave for all workers, and maternity leave on full pay for all working mothers;

Miners, domestic workers, farm workers and civil servants shall have the same rights as all others who work;

Child labor, compound labor, the tot system and contract labor shall be abolished.

The Doors of Learning and of Culture Shall Be Opened!

The government shall discover, develop and encourage national talent for the enhancement of our cultural life;

All the cultural treasures of mankind shall be open to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands;

The aim of education shall be to teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honor human brotherhood, liberty and peace;

Education shall be free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children;

Higher education and technical training shall be opened to all by means of state allowances and scholarships awarded on the basis of merit;

Adult illiteracy shall be ended by a mass state education plan;

Teachers shall have all the rights of other citizens;

The color bar in cultural life, in sport and in education shall be abolished.

There Shall Be Houses, Security and Comfort!

All people shall have the right to live where they choose, to be decently housed, and to bring up their families in comfort and security;

Unused housing space to be made available to the people;

Rent and prices shall be lowered, food plentiful and no one shall go hungry;

A preventive health scheme shall be run by the state;

Free medical care and hospitalization shall be provided for all, with special care for mothers and young children;

Slums shall be demolished, and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, creches and social centers;

The aged, the orphans, the disabled and the sick shall be cared for by the state;

Rest, leisure and recreation shall be the right of all;

Fenced locations and ghettoes shall be abolished, and laws which break up families shall be repealed.

There Shall be Peace and Friendship!

South Africa shall be a fully independent state, which respects the rights and sovereignty of all nations;

South Africa shall strive to maintain world peace and the settlement of all international disputes by negotiation-not war;

Peace and friendship amongst all our people shall be secured by upholding the equal rights, opportunities and status of all;

The people of the protectorates-Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland-shall be free to decide for themselves their own future;

The right of all the peoples of Africa to independence and self-government shall be recognized and shall be the basis of close co-operation.

Let all who love their people and their country now say, as we say here:

\\\\\\\'THESE FREEDOMS WE WILL FIGHT FOR, SIDE BY SIDE, THROUGHOUT OUR LIVES, UNTIL WE HAVE WON OUR LIBERTY.\\\\\\\'

Adopted at the Congress of the People, Kliptown, South Africa, on 26 June 1955 (emphases in original document).

An examination of how well South Africa has achieved these reasonable civil rights goals is provided as a “scorecard” in the data analysis chapter that follow below, but it is clear that the “chicken in every pot”-type goals outline in the Freedom Charter have not been fully realized for a majority of the nation’s population. While many people in the world during the mid-20th century simply took the fundamental civil rights outlined in the South African Freedom Charter for granted, this proclamation was historic for South Africa and served to set the stage for the eradication of apartheid and its associated laws that marginalized a majority of the country’s population as well as the actions that would be required thereafter to achieve these ambitious objectives for all South African people. As the research that follows below will clearly demonstrate, though, the people and government of South Africa have multiple and serious challenges that are arrayed against them that have constrained their ability to achieve these laudable outcomes.

Today, South Africa is classified as a middle-income nation that enjoys abundant natural resources, a mature legal and financial network as well as a comparatively modern telecommunications and transportation infrastructure (South Africa economy 2021). In addition, South Africa has the 17th largest stock exchange in the world and a population of 57 million people with a strong work ethic and sense of nationhood. Although South Africa experienced sustained economic growth during the early years of the 21st century, the global economic downturn in 2009 had a devastating effect on the country’s macroeconomic stability from which it has still not fully recovered (South Africa economy 2021).

The per capita GDP for South Africa has resembled a roller coaster on the downside of a precipitous drop in recent years as depicted in Figure __ below.

Figure 1. Per capita GDP for South Africa: 1960 to date

Source: South Africa GDP Per Capita 1960-2021 (2021) at https://www.macrotrends. net/countries/ZAF/south-africa/gdp-per-capita

Further compounding the problems facing South Africa at present has been an energy crisis that began in 2007 which has resulted in rolling blackouts for many residents of major cities which have adversely affected virtually all facets of economic life in the country. In addition, despite significant progress otherwise, there are still severe problems lingering from the nation’s apartheid era that have created limited employment opportunities for many demographic groups (South Africa economy 2020). The net result of this perfect storm of existential threats arrayed against South Africa has been an increase in the level of income inequality which defy easy solutions (Kavya and Santhakumar 2020).

The combination of a lack of ongoing investments in infrastructure and growing unemployment rates has further exacerbated South Africa’s efforts to recover to its pre-recession levels, and the country has one of the world’s highest Covid-19 infection rates at present with 1.5 million confirmed cases and a new variant of the virus that threatens to further disrupt the country’s economic stability going forward (Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center 2021). Taken together, the foregoing trends and issues make it clear that the political leaders and people of South Africa have a number of challenges ahead, making the need to determine the best path forward at this point in time to reduce income inequalities an especially timely and valuable enterprise.

There are a number of different ways available that can be used to determine the antecedents of current income inequality levels in South Africa. For example, the country currently suffers from one of the highest income inequality levels in the world as measured by the commonly used Gini index (South Africa’s inequality, 2020). For example, according to one economist, “The Gini index is a measure of the distribution of income across a population. It is often used as a gauge of economic inequality, measuring income distribution or, less commonly, wealth distribution among a population” (Gini index, 2021).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) applied the Gini index to South Africa’s current situation and determined that income inequalities in the country have continued to remain at inordinately high levels. In fact, beginning in the 1990s when South Africa already suffered from a high inequality level due to the apartheid laws that prevented large segments of the population from securing improved employment opportunities, the Gini index for South Africa (63.0 at present) has continued to increase in severity. In this regard and as depicted in Figure 1 below, the IMF emphasizes that, “South Africa’s Gini—an index that measures inequality—has increased further in the early 2000s and has remained high ever since. Meanwhile, its peers have been able to make inroads in reducing inequality” (South Africa’s inequality, 2020, p. 2).

Figure __. Increasing inequality in South Africa: 1993-2017

Besides the dismal Gini index ratings for South Africa, the country’s income distribution levels also remain severely skewed in ways that reflect significant income inequalities. Although such skewed income distribution levels are not unique to South Africa, this measure does underscore the significant disparities between the country’s richest and poorest citizens. For instance, the top 20% of the South African population possesses more than two-thirds of the nation’s income (68%) versus a median rate of 47% for comparable emerging nations (South Africa’s inequality, 2020) as shown in Figure __ below.

In addition, the bottom 40% of the South African population holds 7% of the nation’s income versus 16% for similarly situated emerging economies) and comparable trends can be discerned from an application of other economic measures including the top 1%’s share of South Africa’s income (South Africa’s inequality, 2020).

Figure __. Wealth concentration in South Africa

As noted above, economists and social science researchers can draw on a number of different measures to assess income inequalities in a given country, including any significant regional inequities. In the case of South Africa, there are significant disparities across multiple regions of the country. For instance, slightly more than two-thirds (67.4%) of the country’s population live in urbanized areas where per capita income levels are highest, meaning rural regions suffer from severe income inequalities by comparison (South Africa people, 2021). The IMF also cites these regional disparities as evidence of the income inequalities in South Africa. In this regard, the IMF refers to Figure __ below and notes that, “Significant disparities remain across regions. Income per capita in Gauteng—the main economic province that comprises large cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria — is almost twice the levels as that found in the mostly rural provinces like Limpopo and Eastern Cape [and] being close to the economic centers increases job and income prospects” (South Africa’s inequality, 2020 p. 5).

Figure __. Regional divide in South Africa

Perhaps one of the more glaring challenges that current face policymakers in South Africa is the fundamental lack of employment opportunities for the nation’s youth. Indeed, South Africa is a comparatively young nation, with 27.94% of the population aged 0-14 years, 16.8% aged 15 to 24 years and 42.37% aged 24 to 54 years; just 6.8% of the South African population is aged 55 to 64 years and even fewer (6.09%) are aged 65 years and over as depicted in the population pyramid shown in Figure __ below.

Figure __. Population pyramid for South Africa

Source: CIA World Factbook at https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/static/b494e6e2b5 1b0db23fde0acc285a4085/596f3/SF_popgraph2021.jpg

Although many nations that are suffering from declining populations due to a negative growth rate and would envy South Africa’s burgeoning youthful population, there are simply not enough jobs at present for the current cohort of young people and more aspiring workers are being added to the mix every day. In fact, South Africa ranks the third highest in the entire world in terms of its unemployment rates for youth ages 15 to 24 years with a staggering 53.4% unemployment rate (males 49.2% and females 58.8%) (South Africa people, 2021). Moreover, these unemployment rates may be underestimated and precise figures are difficult to come by so these rates may be much higher in reality. For example, according to Martins (2017), a great deal has changed in South Africa since apartheid was formally outlawed, but the promises of the past have not materialized for the vast majority of impoverished South Africans. In this regard, Martins (2017, p. 17) advises that:

A democratic government has come to power; social grants, (including those specifically for children) have been rolled out across the country and policies to generate jobs have been at the heart of state attempts to overcome poverty for more than 20 years. But the harsh reality remains. In 1993, the level of unemployment (including those who wanted work but were too discouraged to continue looking for it) for all South Africans averaged 33%, while for black African youth (aged 16–24 years) it was 65%. By 2014 the levels had not fallen. One-third of all South Africans who wanted work could not find it, while for young black people, the average was still nearly two-thirds. At the same time, while poverty has been slightly reduced, it remains widespread and the level of inequality has deepened.

It is likely extremely difficult for people in affluent countries to fully understand the impact that poverty can have on individual lifestyles, but the problem clearly transcend just money and extends to virtually all aspects of life in South Africa today. Furthermore, these troubling unemployment rates have remained stagnated or have even worsened over the past decade or so because the South African economy has not been able to create enough new jobs to accommodate existing and new entrants into the job market as shown in Figure __ below. These trends underscore the need for greater economic investments in enterprises that can generate additional low-skilled jobs for existing and new market entrants to reduce income inequalities (South Africa’s inequality, 2020).

Figure __. Income per capita index: 1993-2018

The IMF acknowledges that South Africa’s high unemployment rate represents a major challenge to reducing the per capita income inequality levels shown in Figure __ above, but the country’s unemployment rate, especially for young people, is even much higher than in other emerging economies as shown in Figure __ below.

Figure __. Youth unemployment in South Africa

It is essential to point out, however, that unemployment in South Africa is not the only source of income inequality. For example, according to Kollamparambil (2017, p. 3), “Wage inequality also contributes substantially to inequality. Thus, being employed is not sufficient to eliminate inequality as a household is likely to continue in the lower deciles of the household income distribution with an earner with unskilled employment.” These trends mean that increasing inequalities in wage earnings represents the most significant source of income inequality in South Africa at present (Kollamparambil, 2017).

Besides greater investment in private sector enterprises that can generate new low-skilled jobs for the nation’s youth, particularly in rural regions of the country where poverty levels are highest, employment opportunities can also be enhanced through improvements in the country’s educational system (South Africa’s inequality, 2021). Here again, though, there are some notable gender-related differences that are involved as well. For example, although the literacy rate for the total South African population is 87%, 87.7% of males are literate compared to 86.5% of females (South African people, 2021). In addition, improving the quality of education can also be enhanced by creating additional affordable transportation services from outlying regions to major job centers (South Africa’s inequality, 2020)

It is important to note, however, that there are a number of evidentiary indicators that also reflect income inequities in a given country, including skewed income distribution levels, regional disparities and unequal access to employment opportunities. In the case of South Africa, persistently low growth levels combined with increasing unemployment rates, especially among youth, have exacerbated income inequality levels in both rural and urbanized regions of the country (South Africa’s inequality, 2020). Nevertheless, employment opportunities, especially for young people, are even more scarce in rural regions of the country, a reality that drives many desperate job-seekers to urban areas where their chances of findings a meaningful job are only slightly better.

The stagnated employment opportunities that are available to South Africans have not only been a significant symptom of chronic inequalities, they have also adversely affected growth in other economic indicators. To its credit, the South African government has recognized the need for addressing the income inequalities that continue to hamper the country’s economic growth, including various progressive fiscal redistribution initiatives. By and large, though, the majority of the South African government’s efforts to address inequalities across the country have concentrated primarily on additional social spending, targeted transfers of government monies, and affirmative action initiatives that are intended to diversify the accumulated of wealth from a few individuals in order to promote entrepreneurship and small business growth (South Africa’s inequality, 2020).

While these initiatives are widely regarded as a good start, most observers concede that far public and private sector interventions to encourage private investments, job creation and inclusive growth are required in order to make a substantive difference today and in the future (South Arica’s inequality, 2020). Some of the recommendations that have been made by the IMF to assist South Africa in reducing its chronic income inequalities include the following:

· Creating a business environment more conducive to private investment and job creation;

· Improved governance;

· Reducing the cost of doing business;

· Making goods and services markets more open to competition;

· Allowing firms to compensate workers in line with their skills and productivity;

· Making state-owned service providers more efficient; and,

· Policies will also be needed to create opportunities to support the marginalized population through improved quality of education, health, and transportation (South Africa’s inequality, 2020, p. 19).

These recommendations are congruent with the most glaring inequalities that were identified in a report by Mlaba (2020) which summarized a recent Oxfam report identified five main reasons for South Africa’s current income inequalities as follows:

1. The average white, male CEO earns the same as 461 Black women in the bottom 10% of earners. While just over 30% of Black women in South Africa are employed (compared to 70% of white men) most of them work in low-paying care positions or occupy precarious jobs, such as call center operators or housekeepers. The average monthly income of a Black woman doing precarious work is just R2,500, which, compared to a white woman in the same position who on average earns R10,000, is very low. South African women work longer hours and are more dedicated to their employment.

2. Nine out of 10 Black households do not have medical insurance. Most Black households have to pay out of pocket for health care services, and cannot afford medical aid. Just 10% of households are headed by a Black person who can afford medical aid. This compared to 70% of white-headed households under the same circumstances.

3. Qualified Black women earn 24% less than qualified white women. Black women between the ages of 18 and 34 with a university degree have an average monthly income of R13,000, compared to a white woman under the same circumstances earning R17,000 on average. More than this, white people who have not completed their high school education and do not have a matric certificate, tend to earn more than Black people who do have a matric certificate.

4. Black women providing care work are unpaid or underpaid for their services. Black women are more likely to work in underpaid service positions such as housework, education, childcare, and community services. These positions are essential for a functioning economy even though they pay the least. Women, mainly Black women, are a lot more likely to take on care work — the work done out of love, commitment, or duty. This kind of work is not included in the calculations on the economy or its growth and very often goes unpaid. The value of women’s unpaid care work is around R352 billion annually, which is roughly 14% of South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product. Unfairly, the wealthiest 10% actually depend on this free or underpaid work as it consists of menial time-consuming work that contributes to a functioning household, examples of these would be child care and cleaning services.

5. Black women-owned properties are less valuable than white-owned properties. Although it was recently established that young Black women are becoming strong forces in the property market — with many of those in their late 20s and early 30s owning at least one property — Black female-owned properties are worth less than white-owned properties. Property valued at less than R50,000 is most likely to be owned and headed by a Black woman, whereas property valued at more than R1 million is most likely owned by a white man (Mlaba, 2020, pp. 4-6).

The foregoing aspects of South Africa’s current income inequalities make it clear that the problem is severe and the stakes are high, but there are a number of other factors that are involved in this calculus that must be taken into account in order to achieve optimal outcomes using scarce taxpayer resources and these are examined further below.

? The Gini coefficient

of expenditures was 0.56, making South Africa one of the most unequal countries in the world. The country also inherited vast inequalities in education, health, and basic infrastructure, such as access to safe water, sanitation,

and housing. For instance, while only a quarter of Africans had access to piped water in their houses, Asians and whites had universal access.

? Apartheid in South Africa officially came to an end with the democratically held elections in 1994, leaving in its wake a population with vast inequalities

across racial groups.

? Many other aspects of the South African economy also pose difficult challenges. Crime is so prevalent that it leads to emigration of South African professionals of all population groups, possibly also discouraging investment and stifling growth.

? The broad unemployment rate is estimated to be 30%–40% and has been steadily increasing since 1995, making South Africa’s unemployment rate one of the highest in the world.

Oldfield and Tucker (2019

? Any analysis of South African gendered performances, identities and inequalities confront past and present experiences of and struggles with race, colonialism, post-colonial development and sexuality. These tensions shape gendered geographical work, highlighting the importance of histories of race, class, and sexuality, as well as the ways in which gender itself can be approached as an analytical category and epistemic framing in South Africa.

? These researchers focus on two avenues that have engaged scholars since the end of apartheid, namely: gender and development; and gender and geographies of sexualities. The former articulates the particular ways that the historical spatially exclusionary trajectory of the country has impacted especially on women and their ability to engage with state and national building projects post-apartheid. The latter explores how South African geographies (despite the country\\\\\\\'s progressive post-apartheid constitution with regard to LGBT rights) continue to reflect and (at times) enable spatial segregation and inequalities related to gender.

? A key strength of research in South African gender scholarship is that it complicates and challenges how policymakers might approach gender and gender-based inequalities, and the diverse ways in which gender categories and framings can be imagined, deployed and troubled in post-colonial states and cities.

Kerr, Durheim and Dixon (2017)

? Social psychologists typically conceptualize intergroup processes in terms of unequal pairs of social categories, such as an advantaged majority (e.g., ‘Whites’) and a disadvantaged minority (e.g., ‘Blacks’). This two?group paradigm may obscure the workings of intergroup power by overlooking:

(1) the unique dynamics of intergroup relations involving three or more groups, and

(2) the way some two?group relationships function as strategic alliances that derive meaning from their location within a wider relational context.

? Discursive analysis of interview accounts of the nature and origins of this violence shows how an ostensibly binary ‘xenophobic’ conflict between foreign and South African farm laborers was partially constituted through both groups’ relationship with a third party who were neither victims nor perpetrators of the actual violence, namely white farmers.

? The researchers’ analysis was based on a field study conducted in a grape?farming town in South Africa in 2009, focusing on an episode of xenophobic violence in which a Zimbabwean farm worker community was forcibly evicted from their homes by their South African neighbors.

? The researchers highlight some potential political consequences of defaulting to a two?group paradigm in intergroup conflict studies.

Nwosu and Ovenubi (2021)

? In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the South African government has imposed a number of measures aimed at controlling the pandemic, chief being a nationwide lockdown.

? This has resulted in income loss for individuals and firms, with vulnerable populations (low earners, those in informal and precarious employment, etc.) more likely to be adversely affected through job losses and the resulting income loss.

Income loss will likely result in reduced ability to access healthcare and a nutritious diet, thus adversely affecting health outcomes.

? Given the foregoing, these researchers hypothesized that the economic dislocation caused by the coronavirus will disproportionately affect the health of the poor.

? The results of this study indicate that being African (relative to white), per capita household income and household experience of hunger significantly predicted income-related health inequalities in the Covid-19 era (contributing 130%, 46% and 9% respectively to the inequalities), while being in paid employment had a nontrivial but statistically insignificant contribution (13%) to health inequality.

? Based on these findings, the authors conclude that given the significance and magnitude of race, hunger, income and employment in determining socioeconomic inequalities in poor health, addressing racial disparities and hunger, income inequality and unemployment will likely mitigate income-related health inequalities in South Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic.

? The Covid-19 virus has resulted in an enormous dislocation of society especially in South Africa.

? Using the fifth wave of the National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) dataset conducted in 2017 and the first wave of the NIDS-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) dataset conducted in May/June 2020, these researchers estimated income-related health inequalities in South Africa before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

? Health was a dichotomized self-assessed health measure, with fair and poor health categorized as \\\\\\\"poor\\\\\\\" health, while excellent, very good and good health were categorized as \\\\\\\"better\\\\\\\" health. Household per capita income was used as the ranking variable. Concentration curves and indices were used to depict the income-related health inequalities.

? In addition, the researchers also decomposed the Covid-19 era income-related health inequality in order to ascertain the significant predictors of such inequality.

As the information presented in Table __ above clearly indicates, many of the causes of South Africa’s current status as the most unequal nation in the world predate 1994 and have since simply morphed into alternative and even mores severe ways in which these inequalities are perpetuated. Because it requires some time for timely issues to wend their way into the peer-reviewed literature and the situation on the ground in South Africa at present is highly dynamic, it was also important to determine what the mainstream media has been recently reporting about inequalities in the country and these are set forth in Table __ below.

Table __

Summary of recent mainstream media articles and reports concerning current inequalities in South Africa

Source

Key findings

Comments

Levy, Hirsch and Naidoo (2021)

? South Africa was one of the 1990s iconic cases of democratization. Yet starting in the mid-2000s, the country began to experience a disruptive collision between its strong political institutions and massive economic inequality. The collision intensified across the 2010s, resulting in economic stagnation and increasing threats to institutional integrity.

? South Africa’s experience suggests four potentially useful lessons for the many countries struggling to maintain a positive social, political, and economic trajectory in the face of high or rising inequality.

1. The trajectory of change is a knife-edge. There is potential to create virtuous circles of positive interactions among ideas, institutions, and economic growth. But there also is substantial risk that unaddressed distributional imbalances could cause a cumulative downward spiral of decline.

2. Ideas matter—a hopeful vision of change, when combined with a “good enough” responsiveness to distributional concerns, can be sufficient to launch a positive trajectory.

3. Both ideas and institutions can be shields against adversity—but only up to a point. Hopeful ideas can evoke positive agency and help mobilize people for collective action. Institutions can function as shock absorbers. However, both ideas and institutions need reinforcement, including by addressing festering imbalances in economic and political power.

4. Initiating a new cycle of renewal requires a set of ideas and actions that address in a “good enough” way the imbalances resulting from derailment.

? For the first fifteen years of democracy, South Africa enjoyed the advantages of both effective institutions and a shared willingness of stakeholders believed in the power of cooperation. This enabled the country to move beyond counterproductive conflict and pursue win-win outcomes.

? Growth began to accelerate, which created new opportunities for expanding the middle class. Increased fiscal space made it possible to broaden access to public services and to social grants, which reduced absolute poverty.

? There were, however, some stark limitations in what was achieved. Gains for the poorest did little to alter their difficult economic and social realities.

? Less than a quarter of the total population, including essentially all white South Africans, enjoyed a standard of living that was middle class or better.

? There was ample reason for the majority of South Africans to feel that, notwithstanding the promises of mutual benefit, the deck remained stacked against them. This increased the vulnerability of South Africa’s political settlement.

Winning (2021)

? South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the governing party “could and should” have done more to prevent corruption under his predecessor Jacob Zuma, in highly anticipated testimony to a graft inquiry.

? Ramaphosa, Zuma\\\\\\\'s former deputy, was appearing in his capacity as current leader of the African National Congress (ANC), a rare case of a sitting president giving evidence on recent alleged wrongdoing by members of his own party.

? Ramaphosa added that “corrosive corruption” had hurt the ANC’s support among voters, six months before local government elections at which the party will look to improve on its worst election results since the end of apartheid.

? Opposition parties held a gathering outside the building where the inquiry was being held and participants said Ramaphosa should personally shoulder some of the blame. Ramaphosa, the ANC\\\\\\\'s deputy leader from 2012 to 2017 and deputy president from 2014 until 2018, has made the fight against graft one of his calling cards.

? After he won a closely fought battle for the ANC leadership against Zuma\\\\\\\'s ex-wife in December 2017, his allies in the party engineered Zuma\\\\\\\'s ouster, allowing him to take over as head of state in February 2018, before Zuma\\\\\\\'s second five-year term was due to end.

? The \\\\\\\"state capture\\\\\\\" inquiry is probing allegations of graft during Zuma\\\\\\\'s nine years in power, including that Zuma allowed businessmen close to him - brothers Atul, Ajay and Rajesh Gupta - to influence policy and win lucrative government contracts.

? Over several days of testimony at the inquiry, Ramaphosa is expected to be asked what he knew about allegedly corrupt practices while serving alongside Zuma and why he did not act to stop them.

? The inquiry was set up during Zuma’s final weeks in office. Zuma appeared at it briefly in 2019 but defied a summons and court order to give more evidence earlier this year. The inquiry’s lawyers are seeking Zuma’s imprisonment as a result.

“Speculation on Wealth Tax Could Contribute to Further Emigration of South Africa\\\\\\\'s Wealthy” (2021)

? South Africa has become the latest country rumored to introduce a wealth tax with a recent study by the World Inequality Lab demonstrating that the tax could generate up to 160 billion rand ($10.7 billion dollars). Similarly, experts at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg have suggested establishing a progressive wealth tax for those earning above 3.6 million rand which accounts for 354,000 high-earners in the country. While there have been no plans as yet to establish the levy, the nation has advanced on its \\\\\\\'high wealth individual taxpayer\\\\\\\' division.

? Announced during the February 2021 Budget Speech, the segment is aimed at cracking down on individuals who have not declared all their income due to \\\\\\\'complex financial agreements\\\\\\\'.

? The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has already begun identifying wealthy citizens who fall under this bracket, with many expected to receive their first letter by May 2021.

? Extensive studies have shown that South Africa\\\\\\\'s wealthy population continues to decline with roughly 1,900 millionaires leaving since the last figure recorded in 2020. According to New World Wealth\\\\\\\'s Africa report, a total of 4,200 high net-worth individuals have left the country over the last decade. With the possibility of higher taxes for the wealthy, this number is likely to grow.

? As many countries attempt to recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic, the introduction of a wealth tax has become an increasingly popular solution to tackle this.

While some experts have concluded that a wealth tax could be a short-term tool to raise revenue, many others have also highlighted the concerns attached to the taxation.

? The Caribbean has become an ideal destination for South Africans who want to remain in a similar environment without the disadvantages of their home country. The region is responsible for pioneering the Citizenship by Investment Programme – an initiative that encourages foreign investors to contribute to the economy of a nation in exchange for citizenship and the associated benefits.

Mlaba (2020)

? A new report from Oxfam South Africa details the country’s deepening inequalities by showing the income and lifestyle differences between white men and women, and Black men and women.

? In 2019, the World Bank recognized South Africa as the most unequal country in the world, meaning that South Africa’s economy does not equally benefit all of its citizens. The World Bank also reported that the richest 20% of people in South Africa control almost 70% of the resources.

It is not just the income inequality that is worrying, but also unequal access to opportunities and essential services.

Friedman (2021)

? Student poverty ensures that inequality is passed from one generation to the next. If only those who have enough are assured not only of an education but also of the material support needed to do well, the gap between the well-off and the rest will continue to grow and universities will continue to act as inequality factories.

? To insist that no one should be denied an education because they have no money is to demand concrete action against poverty and inequality. A further plus is that, if these demands are met, the money is likely to come out of university budgets and so will not mean less for schools or other public services.

If we want a more equal country, no one should be denied a higher education because they can’t afford to pay for it. Whether you go to university and achieve a degree should depend on your academic ability, not the size of your family’s bank balance. The problem of student poverty runs deep, as thousands cannot afford three meals a day, which makes it far more difficult to study.

Daley (2021)

? South Africans negotiated a democracy that replaced the parliamentary supremacy of the apartheid era with constitutional supremacy. The new constitution contains a bill of rights with the unusual inclusion of socio-economic rights alongside liberal rights. This foregrounded human dignity relative to freedom and equality, and non-racialism as a principle.

? Non-racialism is South Africa’s unique contribution to the global war against racism because it strategically unifies society beyond race in defiance of apartheid’s imposed racial differences. This necessarily involves actively combating racism.

? The global reverence for South Africa as a country that could generate “an alternative meaning of what our world might be” has dissipated. Anti-constitution pessimism and opportunism has been on the rise. A lack of meaningful redistribution of wealth has provided an opportunity for politicians to proclaim that constitutional democracy has failed. This is true for people inside as well as outside the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

? Scholars influenced by decolonial theories have criticized the constitutional order as a form of “neo-apartheid” that merely perpetuates white privilege. Non-racialism has been dismissed as “color-blindness” that hinders the correction of race-based inequalities.

? In the 1990s, a commonly held view was that South Africa had achieved a “miracle” because of its relatively peaceful political transition from apartheid to inclusive democracy in 1994.

? The “miracle” consisted of South Africans talking their way out of decades of increasingly brutal apartheid rule. They struck a deal whereby the white minority relinquished power to a racially inclusive government in a constitutional democracy.

“South Africa remains a nation of insiders and outsiders, 27 years after democracy” (2021)

? Since South Africa is highly unequal and remains divided into insiders and outsiders – those who benefit from the market economy and those who can’t – we might expect its politics to be a loud battle between those who have and those who don’t. Most commentators believe it is.

? Within the governing African National Congress (ANC), a battle rages between the “radical economic transformation forces”, who purport to champion the interests of the poor majority, and their market-friendly opponents.

Outside it, the third biggest party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), some in the ANC alliance and the advocates of black consciousness and pan-Africanism are assumed to speak for those who live in poverty.

? Over the past few years, the country has witnessed a furious debate over whether the government should be able to expropriate land without compensation. Only one group has been ignored – the millions of landless people who have the greatest stake in the outcome.

? During the first year of Covid-19, a debate raged over whether lockdown measures were needed. The official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, echoed the global right-wing by demanding that all activity be allowed. The EFF insisted that nothing should be opened. The ANC claimed to adopt a “scientific” approach in which public health and the economy’s needs were balanced.

? None of them spoke for – and to – the majority who were forced to travel on taxis which they knew might spread the virus, to earn incomes in ways which might infect them, and whose need was to find a way to feed their families without falling ill.

Insider politics shapes another conflict which divides “left” and “right” – the demand for free higher education. This is a rallying cry of the left which is denounced by opponents as a Marxist assault on the market economy. But the “left” demand boils down to insisting that the children of the corporate and professional elite should be educated at public expense. This, would, of course, mean that less money would be available to address the needs of people living in poverty.

There are many other examples which underline a reality in which no-one speaks for the outsiders except some local organizations which are ignored by the mainstream debate. It is why policies aimed at ending the exclusion of the outsiders – or at least at helping them to survive – usually fail. They are products of what insider politics think the majority need, not what the outsiders want.

“Major BEE changes are coming for some of South Africa’s biggest industries” (2021)

? While there are various drivers of local empowerment and ownership requirements in Africa, one key driver appears to be gaining ground: ‘national interest’ empowerment. There is a growing emphasis on regulating ownership in economic sectors and activities that historically have not been regulated.

? The author cites South Africa’s private security industry and the fact that the government has raised concerns that significant foreign ownership in private security companies could pose a threat to national security. South Africa – which is said to have one of the largest private security industries in the world – is gearing up to introduce local ownership requirements in the industry.

? The Private Security Industry Regulation Amendment Bill proposes that at least 51% of the ownership of both existing and new security services providers must be held by South African citizens. The bill has been pending since 2012 and has yet to be signed into law by the president.

there has also been a flurry of regulatory activity in the telecommunications and broadcasting services, with most of the changes designed to ensure local participation in new telecoms networks.

? On April 1, 2021, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) announced new regulations aimed at promoting historically disadvantaged South Africans in the ICT sector. Among the changes is a requirement for licensees to comply with the mandatory equity ownership requirements, 30% equity ownership by black people and level 4 BBEEE status.

? The regulations also establish penalties of up to R5 million or 10% of the licensees annual turnover where a licensee fails to maintain the mandatory minimum requirement.

? In addition, South Africa is also revisiting its ownership requirements in broadcasting and telecommunications. Its draft regulations propose setting new broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) ownership for both those sectors.

? Until relatively recently, restrictions on foreign participation on the continent tended to be limited and focused on a few big-ticket sectors, such as aviation, logistics, mining, oil and gas and broadcasting and telecommunications. Now, restrictions are also being found in sectors that were not previously regulated.

? The variety of regulations and proposed changes can make investment decisions quite complicated, especially for investors with cross-border operations. In turn, African governments are generally aware that, amid intense domestic pressure to facilitate local citizen inclusion and participation, there is an important role for direct foreign investment to play in economic growth.

? A balance must be found to avoid the potential unintended consequence of constrained economic growth.

Daley (2021)

? Citizen anger about corruption, a constant theme in South African political debate, reacts to a very real problem. This was underlined recently by news that well-connected people had enriched themselves at the expense of efforts to contain COVID-19. What is not real is the widespread belief that corruption is both new and easy to fix.

? Reactions to corruption portray it as a product of African National Congress (ANC) rule (or majority rule for those who cling to the prejudice that black people cannot govern). In this view, it will disappear when the governing party gets serious about corruption or loses power.

? In reality, however, corruption has been a constant feature of South African political life for much of the past 350 years. It is deeply embedded and it will take a concerted effort, over years, not days, to defeat it.

The most corrupt period in the country’s history was the last few years of apartheid, when the attempt to combat the successful international sanctions campaign made corruption, protected by government secrecy, the core government strategy. This was often done with the collusion of private businesses.

“What young people have to say about race and inequality in South Africa” (2020)

? Young South Africans are being socialized into a highly racialized society and experience severe disparities. Expecting them to eradicate racism without dismantling material inequalities is a deferral of adult responsibility.

? Young people involved in the study were deeply aware of inequality. For them, reducing inequality was a priority if the country was to move towards a better future.

? It is notable that non-racialism was not a concept volunteered by any of the students as a future ideal, despite it being a constitutional principle in South Africa.

? At present there is little clarity on the meaning of non-racialism. It is equated to a multiplicity of ideas, among them mobilization against apartheid, multiracialism, multiculturalism, nation-building, and race-blindness.

? What students did want eradicated from their utopia was racial discrimination and racism. The meanings they attached to race shifted depending on the conversation, for example, race when it related to racial quotas as opposed to race when it related to culture, identity or politics.

? In addition, racial identities played an important role in these young people’s sense of self; however, some thought it is the “weirdest thing ever” that people sit in “race groups” during lunch breaks. They make sense of this by explaining that people sit with others who share their culture. Using race and culture as proxies for each other is very much part of the South African experience of racialization.

? The “commitment” to racial identities, however, was more complex than it first appeared. There was an uneasiness between accepting and feeling pride in racial identities, and not wanting them to count as measures of social value. They frequently vocalized a rejection of racial stereotypes and racism.

? Using a methodology called Dreaming Workshops, this study explored how Grade 11 students, of around 16 and 17 years old, from five different schools in the South African coastal city of Durban imagined race, racism and non-racialism in a utopian future.

? The five schools that participated in this study, three government and two private, are located in a middle-class, formerly “white” area in Durban. The schools have, on average, a diverse but mostly middle-class student body, with some students travelling from townships to attend class.

? Under apartheid townships were poorly resourced and under-serviced residential spaces designated for people racialized as black.

? Each school in the study had approximately 20 students per class. One school markets itself as girls-only, one as boys-only, the other three are open to all genders.

Jim (2021)

? During the pandemic at least 1.4 million workers lost their jobs, raising the expanded definition of unemployment rate to a staggering 42.6 per cent.

? More job losses are expected because SOEs are being actively being restructured for the benefit of private capital. Thousands of workers have suffered just so that corrupt capitalist cronies of the ANC can continue to enrich themselves, at the expense of the working class.

? At the same time, thousands of families suffered during lockdown because of non-payment of Temporary Employment Relief Scheme (TERS) caused by mismanagement and corruption of government officials.

? The governing ANC has been a dismal failure in addressing the most important challenge facing our country, namely unemployment, poverty and inequality, and this was the case before covid-19 arrived.

? The ANC has betrayed its historic mission in order to pander to the demands of neo-liberal factions of capital. Treasury is leading the attack against the working class by implementing an austerity budget with drastic cost cutting measures which are directly targeting ordinary working class families.

? The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa is not celebrating Freedom Day on April 27, 2021 because there is very little for the working-class majority of this country to celebrate.

? In 1994 the Black and African majority participated in elections for the very first time, following decades of oppressive rule by the racist apartheid state. It was a historical moment for our people as millions queued for the very first time to make their mark, in the country’s first democratic elections. South Africans believed that by making a simple mark on the ballot sheet, centuries of colonial subjugation and suffering would be brought to an end and believed that democracy would mean equality and freedom for everyone.

? Unfortunately, history has shown how wrong they were. Twenty-seven years after the working class paid the ultimate price with their blood to end the apartheid system, the African majority remains enslaved by the bondage of poverty, unemployment and crippling inequality.

“South Africa: Broken and unequal education perpetuating poverty and inequality” (2020)

? The South African education system, characterized by crumbling infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms and relatively poor educational outcomes, is perpetuating inequality and as a result failing too many of its children, with the poor hardest hit.

? The Amnesty International report particularly highlights poor infrastructure in public schools including sanitation which has tragically resulted in the death of two children in pit latrines in recent years.

? The report also noted that in order for South Africa to comply with both its own constitutional and international human rights obligations with respect to education, major change is needed urgently.

? The right to quality education includes having a school where learners are safe to learn and have the adequate infrastructure and facilities to do so, but this is not the reality for many learners in the country.

? The result of this modern-day South Africa is that a child’s experience of education still very much depends on where they are born, how wealthy they are, and the color of their skin.

? A report by Amnesty International, “Broken and Unequal: The State of Education in South Africa” calls on the government to urgently address a number of endemic failings in the educational system in order to guarantee the right to a decent education for every child in South Africa.

? The report details how the education system continues to be dogged by stark inequalities and chronic underperformance that have deep roots in the legacy of apartheid, but which are also not being effectively tackled by the current government.

? Many schools and the communities they serve continue to live with the consequences of the political and economic decisions made during the apartheid era where people were segregated according to their skin color, with schools serving white communities properly resourced.

Mlaba (2020b)

In 2019, the World Bank determined that South Africa is the most unequal country in the world — and the recently released 2020 UN Human Development Index and Human Development Report show that the country has made little to no progress in eradicating its inequalities.

? South Africa has been ranked 114 out of 189 countries assessed in the index due to its declining standards of living and worsening income inequality.

? Since 2014, the country has dropped two ranks lower on the index, and as the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the loss of more than 2 million job losses, the case of South Africa’s inequality is expected to get worse.

? The country’s inequality in life expectancy and education also ranks as some of the highest deviations in the world.

? The HDR also indicates that there are a number of South African citizens living below the international poverty line. The report notes that 18.9% of the population — about 11 million South Africans — live on less than R28 ($1.90) a day, which is around R800 ($55) per month.

? South Africa is grappling with great inequalities, which contribute to extreme poverty. The United Nations’ 17 Global Goals together work towards ending extreme poverty and its systemic causes.

? These goals can only be achieved, however, if unequal countries like South Africa come to terms with serious inequalities and work towards sustainable solutions to eradicate poverty.

Taken together, South Africa is confronted with a myriad of complex, deeply rooted problems that have further exacerbated the nation’s inequalities in ways that likely could not have been foreseen with any accuracy in 1994, but which have nevertheless manifested themselves in insidious ways. Given the enormity of the problems and the high stakes that are involved for tens of millions of South Africans today, identifying, implementing and administering effective and timely strategies to directly address these issues have assumed increasing importance. Although the following list of initiatives, programs and reforms that are designed to reduce income and other inequalities in South Africa is not exhaustive, it does reflect the types of efforts that have been used in the recent past or which are currently being used for these purposes.

Table __

Initiatives, programs and reforms designed to reduce income inequality in South Africa

Source

Key findings

Comments

De Waal, M (2015)

? Although South Africa’s public school system is among the world most expensive, it provides such poor educational outcomes that it is trapping people in a vicious cycle of lifelong under- and unemployment.

? Moreover, deracializing the South African school system failed to resolve the problem. The Partners for Possibility is a civic effort that aims to teach public schools in South Africa how to reboot, and to change the lives of learners in the hope of bringing equal education to all by 2022.

? A major break-through has been an initiative between the schools, UCT and The Dell Foundation that sees teachers doing advanced maths to sharpen their skills and understanding of the subject. This is likely to boost maths literacy and outcomes at the schools even further in coming years.

? Changing the school system cannot be left to the South African government alone because it is a crisis of such magnitude that business and civic society needs to pitch in and help.

? Previously the schools were very insulated and separate from each other. What Partners for Possibility has done is to create a network or a community of principals. This is new thinking for public education. Previously every class, every teacher would do what they need to do - which was to work in silos.

? Because of apartheid, educators had this notion that nobody cares about us. People would drown in their own sorrows and then become dependent. This was about waiting for someone to come and rescue us. But when the lights go on, people realize that they do not have to wait for anyone. They realize that in the classroom they can change the world.

“Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) program” (2020).

Through its black economic empowerment (BEE) policy, the South African government aims to achieve the following ambitious objectives:

1. Empower more black people to own and manage enterprises (enterprises are regarded as black-owned if 51% of the enterprise is owned by black people, and black people have substantial management control of the business).

2. Achieve a substantial change in the racial composition of ownership and management structures and in the skilled occupations of existing and new enterprises.

3. Promote access to finance for black economic empowerment.

4. Empower rural and local communities by enabling their access to economic activities, land, infrastructure, ownership and skills.

5. Promote human resource development of black people through, for example, mentorships, learnerships and internships.

6. Increase the extent to which communities, workers, co-operatives and other collective enterprises own and manage existing and new enterprises, and increase their access to economic activities, infrastructure and skills.

7. Ensure that black-owned enterprises benefit from the government’s preferential procurement policies.

8. Assist in the development of the operational and financial capacity of BEE enterprises, especially small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and black- owned enterprises.

9. Increase the extent to which black women own and manage existing and new enterprises, and facilitate their access to economic activities, infrastructure and skills training.

? South Africa’s policy of black economic empowerment (BEE later BBBEE) is not simply a moral initiative to redress the wrongs of the past, it is a pragmatic growth strategy that aims to realize the country’s full economic potential while helping to bring the black majority into the economic mainstream.

? In the decades before South Africa achieved democracy in 1994, the apartheid government systematically excluded African, Indian and colored people from meaningful participation in the country’s economy. Despite the many economic gains made in the country since 1994, the racial divide between rich and poor remains.

? One element of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) policy is companies’ contribution to socio-economic development. This is translated into encouragement for companies to give back to the community through Corporate Social Investment (CSI).

? Under the BBBEE guidelines 1% of net profit before tax should be spent on social development, whereby companies are encouraged to have at least 75% non-white beneficiaries.

? BBBEE is enforced through preferential procurement, and compliance is necessary when companies aim to do business with government or large corporations.

? Most companies operating in South Africa therefore have a CSI policy whereby they support some form of charity or other type of development projects.

Simson (2020)

? This paper calls for more country-level comparisons of inequality trends, to highlight the multiplicity of paths in this latest phase of globalization.

? The political and economic drivers of inequality decline in countries with a steady fall in the Gini suggests some common trends across the globe, including the role of democratization, the rise of new social movements, and the expansion of education and social safety nets and favorable commodity prices, in reducing income disparities.

? This researcher surveys data and literature on recent inequality trends in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East and found that in these regions, there are more countries with falling than rising inequality over the past 20 years, as measured by Ginis of income or consumption inequality.

? At the global level, therefore, there are signs of inequality convergence, as inequality has been falling in countries with high inequality in the 1990s, and rising in historically low-inequality countries.

Crouch, Rolleston and Gustafsson (2021)

? These researchers show how various factors such as gender or wealth impact learning levels, but also show that systems-related inequality, not directly related to such factors, is typically much larger than inequality associated with any of those factors.

? The findings from this study also show that countries progress from very low average levels of achievement to middle levels more by reducing the percentage of students with very low scores (that is, by paying attention to the \\\\\\\'bulging\\\\\\\' left-hand tail of the distribution) than by increasing the percentage of high performing students.

? Unlike in the case of income, where vast reductions in income poverty seem possible without reducing income inequality, the evidence presented here suggests that this typically does not happen with learning levels: inequality reduction, reductions in percentages below a low level, and improvements in the averages are all empirically connected.

The availability of micro data from a particular case allows exploration of the relationship between inequality measures and measures of the percentage of students below a low level of achievement and shows that, at least in that case, the reduction in inequality that accompanies improvements in the average levels takes place mostly through a reduction in the percentage below a low level. More work is needed to show whether that connection is also causal.

Scarlato and d’Agostino (2019)

? Post-apartheid South Africa is characterized by a marked expansion of social grants provided to vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities (Disability Grant), older persons (Old Age Pension), and children (Child Support Grant or CSG) in poor households.

? This policy, which is centered on increasing the coverage of unconditional and means-test cash transfers, was implemented under social and political pressure to overcome the highly inequitable inheritance of the previous social security system, which was strongly marked by racial discrimination, and to reduce the widespread poverty and inequalities.

? The CSG supports the changing living arrangements of a household\\\\\\\'s members in vulnerable and extended families that have to cope with poverty and the weak conditions of the South African labor market.

? The CSG seems to help the men, who have better chances of finding jobs suitable for their expectations in reallocating their labor or searching for job opportunities. Women are less affected by the CSG. Most of them do not leave the employment state, but it is stressed that when they do, they exit altogether from the labor market.

? The empirical analysis is based on the dataset provided by the National Income Dynamic Study (NIDS), which was implemented by the South African Labor and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) of the University of Cape Town.

? The NIDS is available for the waves 2008, 2010–11, and 2012 and allows a face-to-face longitudinal survey of household residents in South Africa. Its aim was to follow a sample of household members and register changes in household compositions and migrations and several dimensions of well-being (such as incomes, expenditures, assets, access to social services, education, health, and employment).

? The dataset also includes information on the beneficiary households of the social grants provided by the government.

Martins (2017)

The main tools that have been used by the South African government to address income inequalities across the country include social grants, (including those specifically for children) and policies to generate jobs.

Although poverty has been slightly reduced, it remains widespread and the level of inequality has deepened.

Arie, Bright and Dominque (2020)

? Based on a qualitative case study in and around South Africa’s Pilanesberg National Park, these researchers assess whether this seemingly contradictory policy combination elicits the empowerment of traditionally marginalized actors. Using an institutional approach to evaluating sustainable development policy, the authors found that the substantive aspects of South Africa\\\\\\\'s policies are widely acknowledged in the Pilanesberg area. The problem rests with the procedural aspects of how to deal with the shared responsibility of stakeholders with different interests and levels of authority.

? The authors conclude that power can be meaningfully shifted to community stakeholders only when the investments of global and national-level players are redirected towards establishing a system of procedures to solve local-level disparities in skills and power between the \\\\\\\"jointly responsible\\\\\\\" actors.

? These disparities currently result in deadlocks regarding local sustainable development in the Pilanesberg area, despite promising multi-level policies implemented in the post-apartheid era to avoid such situations.

Many developing countries aim at balancing macro-level, growth-oriented economic policies with local community-based development strategies under the auspices of global governance organizations. South Africa adopts such a strategy to be competitive in the global market and, simultaneously, to alleviate domestic socio-spatial inequalities inherited from the apartheid period.

Mayombe (2017)

? Adult non-formal adult education and training (NFET) has become a significant developmental agenda after the World Education Forum convened in April 2000, had approved the Dakar Framework for Action to the achievement of Education for All (EFA).

? The World Education Forum stressed the importance

of ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are

met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills

programs. This empirical study investigated what constitutes NFET enabling environments for employment.

? The findings that emerged from this study indicated that managers did not create adequate linkages that could enable graduates to access needed post-training support, community resources, public goods and services.

? Based on these findings, the author concludes that without linking the non-formal adult education programs to external stakeholders, graduates will continue to find it difficult to be employed or to start

small businesses which perpetuates unemployment and chronic poverty in South Africa.

Governments, organizations, agencies and associations represented at the World Education Forum had to

implement six main goals of EFA as follows:

1. Expand and improve comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children;

2. Ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, those in difficult circumstances, and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality;

3. Ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programs;

4. Achieve a 50% improvement in adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults;

5. Eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieve gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls\\\\\\\' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality; and,

6. Improve all aspects of the quality of education and ensure the excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills

Mayombe1 and Lombard (2015)

? Public and private non-formal adult education and training (NFET) centers in South Africa aim to meet the training needs of adults who have been deprived of formal education with courses which foster access to opportunities for skills acquisition and employment and bring about social and economic inclusion.

? However, many adults who were facing long-term unemployment due to a lack of marketable skills remain unemployed after completing NFET programs.

? These researchers found that centers focusing on activities suitable for self-employment during training were more likely to create internal enabling environments for skills acquisition and income generation than centers offering courses designed for entering paid employment.

? The authors conclude that there appears to be a significant correlation between NFET centers’ training program objectives, financial resources, trainee selection criteria, the process of

training needs assessment, and skills acquisition for successful employment outcomes of NFET graduates.

? Non-formal adult education and training in South Africa is instrumental in breaking the high level of poverty and decreasing the social inequality the country continues to face as a post-apartheid democracy.

? Without these internal enabling factors, adult trainees are likely to continue finding it difficult to integrate into the labor market or participate

in economic activities and hence break the cycle of poverty and social exclusion.

Schneider (2018)

? The few elements of ANC policy that were not neoliberal in character were responsible for the successes that have occurred since 1994.

? The expansion of the safety net has been the major accomplishment of the ANC government. In 2014-2015, the government allocated 11.1 percent of its spending (3.3% of GDP) to social expenditures, giving South Africa one of the largest social grant programs in the developing world.

? Social grants assist a vast number of people: 45.5 percent of households received at least one form of social grant (family and children, old age, sickness and disability, or social protection) in 2015.

? Social grants have stabilized the incomes of the poor and prevented inequality from worsening even further. Poverty has been reduced somewhat, as the percentage of people living below the national poverty line has declined from 66.6 percent in 2005 to 55.5 percent in 2014, although the amount of poverty is still disturbingly high.

? There have also been improvements in housing, access to healthcare, and education, although much still needs to be done in all of these areas.

In macroeconomic terms, however, the result has been a dismal failure.

? The major failures of the ANC’s neoliberal policies were (i) an increase in financialization, accompanied by a lack of development, which resulted in poor income growth and high unemployment; and (ii) an increase in inequality, as well as the perpetuation of racial segregation and animosity.

The ANC adopted a mostly neoliberal approach to development, mitigated by small efforts to alleviate poverty via modest expansions in the safety net, and some corporatist elements. The main policies pursued by the ANC were the following:

1. Acceptance of the apartheid-era debt;

2. Austerity to balance budgets, including retrenchments, cuts in infrastructure spending, and attacks on public sector unions to reduce wages;

3. Opening of financial markets and elimination of foreign exchange controls;

4. Dramatic reduction of tariffs and the implementation of free-trade policies;

5. Privatization of the large state sector constructed by the apartheid regime;

6. Deregulation of many aspects of microeconomic markets; and

7. No significant redistribution - corporations and individuals were allowed to keep the gains they made under apartheid.

Mnkeni-Saurombe and Zimu (2015)

? Community libraries are internationally recognized as social institutions that can affect social and economic transformation in society. In South Africa, this is clearly manifested by the provision of a conditional government grant for the development of community libraries in the country.

? The Department of Arts and Culture started this project in 2007. Despite this recognition for community libraries, their role in tackling inequalities in society is not always clear.

? Findings from the literature and reports from the Department of Arts and Culture suggest that community libraries are playing an important role in curbing inequalities.

? The researchers also report on the progress of the Department of Arts and Culture’s conditional grant community library project.

? Though there has been some progress in the project but challenges still exist and more effort and support are required. It is vital that community library services be developed and sustained as these libraries can have a positive influence on the development of society.

Tackling inequalities in society remains a serious challenge for post-apartheid South Africa. This battle calls for a multifaceted approach that involves various stakeholders including community libraries.

Mlaba (2020)

? Abalami Bezehkaya project teaches people better farming techniques and sells fresh produce weekly to generate incomes for the farmers involved.

? In a move to correct the injustices of the past, the South African government is releasing underutilized state-owned land for public ownership, with the aim to sell most of the land to Black farmers.

? The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development (DLRD) announced that they will be releasing 896 state-owned farms for public purchase, or to lease over a period of 30 years.

? In order to make sure that the land is used for farming purposes, the lease will be non-transferrable. The government aims to prioritize Black farmers in this process.

? In addition, the process also shines a light on women, the youth, and people with disabilities in order to further level the land-ownership playing field.

? Although they form the majority of the population, Black South Africans currently own the least amount of land for farming and agriculture (4%), followed closely by Indian people (5%) — in comparison, white people own 72% of farms and agricultural holdings owned by individuals.

? Past laws that were implemented before the apartheid era and heavily enforced during apartheid prohibited Black people from owning or leasing land, which led to most of the agricultural land in South Africa being owned by white people.

? The UN’s Global Goal 10 calls for equality and prosperity for all — but racial inequality’s relationship with the Global Goals goes much further, impacting goals for health, education, and more. Take action here and join the movement to end racial inequality and achieve the UN’s Global Goals.

de Villiers (2021)

? The Bertha Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship works to pursue social impact towards social justice in Africa with a systems lens on social innovation within innovative finance, health, education and youth development.

? The aim of this study was to demonstrate the capacity for social innovation in health with respect for South Africa, and to highlight some current innovations that respond to issues of health equity such as accessibility, affordability, and acceptability.

? South Africa’s health care system may be viewed, to a large extent, as a reflection of the issues facing other Southern African countries with a similar disease burden, lack of systemic infrastructure and cohesiveness, and societal inequalities.

? The evolving health landscape in South Africa and the reforms being undertaken to prepare for a National Healthcare Insurance presents the opportunity to understand effective models of care provision as developed in other African contexts, and to translate these models as appropriate to the South African environment.

? Despite the end of apartheid in the early 1990s, South Africa remains racially and economically segregated. The country is beset by persistent social inequality, poverty, unemployment, a heavy burden of disease and the inequitable quality of healthcare service provision.

? The South African health system is currently engaged in the complex project of establishing universal health coverage that ensures the system’s ability to deliver comprehensive care that is accessible, affordable and acceptable to patients and families, while acknowledging the significant pressures to which the system is subject.

The initiatives described in Table __ above represent just some of the efforts that are being made by the public and private sectors in South Africa to directly address the nation’s myriad inequalities. These efforts suggest that the miracle that was promised in 1994 has not died, but has rather been on life support for many years but the prognosis is cautiously optimistic assuming that current political leaders are able to come to grips with the corruption and inefficiencies that continue to plague the country at present.

Chapter Three: Methodology

[under development]

Methodology

This study used an exploratory mixed methodology drawing on both secondary and primary sources as well as quantitative and qualitative studies by private sector organizations, nongovernmental and governmental agencies. The primary data will be collected using a custom questionnaire designed according to the principles set forth by Neuman (2008) concerning techniques to improve the robustness and percentage of responses. The custom questionnaire was regarded as an essential component of the research methodology since it provides the opportunity to canvass stakeholders about their views on reducing income inequalities in general and in a South African context in particular.

The data collected from the completed custom questionnaires will be analyzed using the statistical analytical tools provided by the online survey service, SurveyMonkey, to generate relevant cross-tabulations concerning the views of different stakeholder groups about optimal strategies for reducing income inequalities in South Africa today and in the future. The resulting data will be presented in tabular and graphic formats and interpreted in a narrative fashion to identify significant trends and prevailing views among respondents concerning the issues of interest to the study proposed herein.

Sample

The overarching focus of the study meant that there are multiple stakeholders that are involved which should be included in the study’s sample. To this end, the following individuals and organizations are tentatively scheduled to receive a hard-copy or online version of the custom questionnaire:

1. Broad based groups including organized labor organizations such as the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions, selected university student bodies and youth organizations;

2. Representatives of Political organizations such as the African National Congress, Democratic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters.

3. Members of the South African Parliament;

4. Academics;

5. Executives and board members of the South African Stock Exchange as well as selected non-stock exchange listed companies;

6. South African government departments, municipalities and state-owned enterprises;

7. Economists; and,

8. Others to be determined.