The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
29 Jan 2014
South Africa (SA) has the largest economy on the African continent worth about $300bn and could be an engine of growth. But SA’s growth is stymied by its extreme inequality, which places a drag on growth, argues professor of economics, Leonce Ndikumana of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
One challenge facing the SA economy is that it is a typical capitalist economy where the proceeds and the gains from growth basically accrue mostly to capital. The owners of capital get the maximum benefits of growth and labour gets much less. Much of the population has not been integrated into the modern economy. Thus, SA’s two-economy system is also a major hurdle.
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Extreme inequality retards S.A's economic growth.
These are the very issues so glarringly missing from our national discourse. The national dominant view has become intolerant of those who are lammenting the issues of two economic models and the socio-economic consequences attaching thereto. This has escalated so much that those who dare, are labelled "fascist", "racist' etc. Under normal circumstances the battle field for the up coming elections ought to be located around these fundamental socio-economic issues. The significance of this reality will be attenuated by campaigns modelled on political personalities and other important, but not significant issues. We won't hear much about party policy offerings, but only typical leftist posture and rhetoric, follwed by a quick dash to the right after the elections.
