Socio-Economic Inequality in South Africa is Due to the Institutionalised Ideological Mismatch Regarding Labour and Economic Policy

Apartheid “denied blacks national citizenship, ownership of land, and any voice in the nation’s government” (Macionis 256). The policy of apartheid is a racial caste system designed to keep the white minority leaders in power while oppressing the black majority as well as people of mixed-race and Asian descent. As a result of the apartheid, blacks were much poorer than whites, they could not receive jobs that paid well and also had less schooling than their white counterparts. Living under these conditions made it nearly impossible for blacks to move up in the world. Furthermore, if anyone resisted the apartheid rule, they would suffer great (often violent) consequences. But the consistency of resistance led to change and by the “mid-1980s…the South African government granted limited political rights to people of mixed race and Asian ancestry” (Macionis 256). One of the major leaders against apartheid was Nelson

Twenty years into democracy, the high poverty rates of the post-Apartheid government is an indication of the high income inequality and also a clear view that improper policy formulations or planning. The ANC at some point forgot to create policies which could be consider or uplift ordinary citizens instead of benefiting those who are already better off, and to add up, the current situations encountered by the current leadership is an indication that they have not advanced to narrow down the income or economic inequality gap between the rich and the poor. However, let’s give them credit that at least there are few rich black people than before even though there still remain the dominance of white people on the economic platform of getting

In both countries, the schism between Africans and their government worsened. To illustrate: “[The Emancipation Proclamation] ended [slavery] . . . , but blacks . . . had more in common with African-American slaves . . . than with the [Caucasian businessmen]” (Bausum 2012, 19). Blinded by racial prejudice, Congress passed Jim Crow Laws - establishing a hierarchy based on “the plantation mentality” - and in 1948, the National Party (the Nats) made apartheid the official law (Bausum 2012, 14). In fact, both forms of segregation enforced poverty for coloured people and “ensured [that Caucasians had better quality] schools, hospitals, and other public services” (Rose 2011, 12). For example, African-American garbage men’s insufficient salary “was based on their garbage routes” rather than an hourly wage (Bausum 2012, 14). Similarly, black South African workers received inadequate pay and the law outlawed strikes and the formation of unions. In both cases, full-time employees remained

The neoliberal policies, which South Africa has implemented after the end of the Apartheid era, has lead to increased inequality, both on the national as well as the global level. This has led many to argue that South Africa today faces a new kind of imperialism, one that is not so much based on political subordination but rather on a new type of economic subordination through a so-called "empire of capital". This idea, among others, falls under the broader theory of "economic imperialism".

The founding move of BEE, which was to target both education and employment, was what doomed it. I argue that the focus of the BEE should have been on the education, and only after a decade or two would its focus then shift to both education employment. One of the biggest and most apparent legacies of apartheid was to leave a lot of unskilled and uneducated black citizens. So as soon as apartheid ended, choosing to focusing on affirmative action in jobs would result in one of two things: either there would be black South Africans in jobs they’re not adequately for, or employers would try to meet quotas by selecting only the best and most qualified blacks, thus leaving most of the black population still unemployed. The latter ended up

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

In this essay I will argue that although socialism in large has been rightfully/justly dismissed considering its inadequate/often disfavoured implementation in real life, the political and economic problems of capitalism (which will vary depending on perspective/viewpoint), can be alleviated to some extent with the guidance/use/help/implementation of particular socialist ideals such as redistribution of wealth and?. I will first consider the historical background of capitalism and socialism. I will then show the relevance of this question today as I look at how the financial crises has led many people to realise the unsustainability and other numerous political and economic problems of capitalism, and then will go on to address those problems. Following this, I will look at the anti-capitalist movements that are popular today and examine/evaluate socialist theory and how it aims to solve the problems of capitalism. I will then try to understand where socialism has gone wrong, using ethnographic examples and examine if it is an adequate system for solving pol/eco problems of capitalism. I will finally show how, if we look at where it has failed before and look at what academics have proposed (in a reformulation of theory, taking account of past empirical examples, and carefully selecting the best..) as a way forward in this time of experimentation and inform the development of a new and relevant political economy for our times (Change).

The Afrikaans word apartheid means separateness, and during the period of the apartheid, people were classified and separated into different racial groups where the civil and human rights of non-whites were curtailed. Although apartheid started in 1948, the roots of inequality were presented years before as a result of Dutch and British control. Both countries colonized South Africa in order to control South Africa’s lucrative and generally untapped mining industry. South African workers, including the skilled and unskilled, were forsaken to work menial jobs and receive low wages. The establishment of many unfair laws allowed for the takeover to occur; they mark the beginning of apartheid and many more discriminatory regulations that were to come which include, but are not limited to pass laws, laws that required non-whites to have identification that showed their right to be in certain areas, and the exclusion of the non-white right to vote.

This essay also investigates whether the South Africa is really state capitalism or are they using Major Private Sectors to socially develop the South African economy, being Neoliberal capitalism?

This essays main focus will be discussing the main ideologies and focuses of the two leading political parties of South Africa. The African National Congress or ANC and the Democratic Alliance also known as DA. An important insight into both their ideology will be gained by analysing how both parties political powers are reflected in the economic sector and society and to which extend their ideologies effect both of these

Imagine you were born in a South African family, with a mother that is infected with HIV/AIDs, with siblings that do not have a proper education, and with a father that cannot provide for his family because of his unemployment. HIV/AIDs, lack of education, and income inequality due to unemployment and a weak social safety net are three major issues in South Africa that need to be addressed. By solving one of these issues, specifically income inequality, the solution will cause a ripple effect among the other two major issues. This “ripple effect” would be beneficial to the other issues because both of the other issues also pertain to money. In South Africa, there are three major issues: HIV/AIDS, lack of education, and income inequality, which can be solved by strengthening the social safety net by investing workforce development programs and self-employment.

On Sept 1, 1939, the German Army invaded Poland plunging the world into a devastating and costly war, the effects of which were felt globally for decades after the fighting ended. South Africa was a huge benefactor for the Allied forces during the war-- providing troops, funds, and resources, in spite of the country itself being in a state of social disrepair. While there were multiple contributing factors in Apartheid, World War II resulted in some of the main causes, leading to economic inequality, nonviolent-resistance and political split.

South Africa is known for its extreme levels of income inequality because referring to 2016 statistics it's found that 10 percent of the total population earn around 55%-60% of total income in the country. In relation to more developed countries they tend to be around levels of 20-35%. Also, another interesting statistic to refer to was, according to a new tax and survey found that under 10% of the South African population owns at least 90-95% of all available assets which is big enough of a shock factor for a lessor informed person to understand the truly grave situation that the South African economy is under. The next 40% population the group that is often considered to be the middle class earn around 30-35% of all income, but only own 5-10% of all wealth which is incredibly low for the so called “middle class”.

The constitution of South Africa is committed to protecting the civil and political rights of the nationals, as well as supplying impressive social and economic services. Sometimes, these commitments have led to levels of spending one would call unsustainable. An exhibit of this is the financial crises experienced by Johannesburg in the mid-late 1990s. This resulted in service delivery problems and frustrations. The government claims to spend millions on assisting foreigners and this provides a handy excuse for shortcomings and displays of incompetence along the lines of

This was seen in the Land Act that took place in 1913 and 1939. This was where only 13 percent of South Africa’s land was made available for blacks to live on (Magubane, et al. 1993: 11). How the superstructure and the ideology can be linked together is by means of creating a “false consciousness” (Emerling 2005: 20). This can be seen in the same light as the Marxist theory. The “false consciousness” that can relate to that of South Africa consists of two parts. The first being “a primary market which offers jobs with high wages, good working conditions, stable employment, job security, trade union protection, and chances of mobility within the firm”. This however, was a false pretence emerging from the capitalist, leading to the second part, where “a secondary market which offers jobs with low wages, poor working conditions, unstable employment, harsh and often arbitrate discipline and little opportunity for mobility within the firm” was seen instead (Burawoy 1981: 280). This led to political uprisings and political leagues being formed that emerged from the Africans of South Africa. These political groups were known to be the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) (Magubane, et al. 1993: 11). A Women’s league was also created, the African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) (Magubane, et al. 1993: