Inequality in South Africa

South Africa is in a technical recession, unemployment figures are at record highs and the inequality gap is far from closing.

Yet a recent report by Deloitte shows executives of the Top 100 companies listed on the JSE earn on average R69,000 a day. 

It is no secret that South Africa's top executives lead lavish lives, often residing in some of the most pristine neighbourhoods our cities have to offer. At the same time, their employees tend to live in shacks, lacking basic services, hundreds of kilometres from home, often to be closer to work.

Capitalists, those who own the means of production, as Karl Marx would say, have been thriving all over the world. And despite increasing criticism of a system that depends on inequality, the rich continue to get richer while the poor are headed the other way. Populist rhetoric is aimed at convincing the electorate that political decisions will result in equal distribution of wealth when in fact the true goal is to replace the current economic elite with another group, most likely those who have close ties to political leaders.  Throughout history, wars between 'kings' have never been for the well-being of their subjects and the so-called 'noblemen' need to be exposed.  The current notion that the majority should be grateful for the wealth that 'trickles' down – like breadcrumbs and bones from a dinner table to a dog – is nothing short of insulting.

The true remedy requires pro-active steps to achieve socialism.