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Tiger32
Senior Member
Registered: Sep 2001
Posts: 202
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Seven years after apartheid, whites still control South Africa's economy:
The fruit sellers, shop operators and kindergarten owners of this black township are still waiting for the financial rewards of a democratic South Africa.
Their dreams of working for big companies, of getting bank loans for their businesses, of breaking out of economic apartheid remain unfulfilled.
Part of the problem, analysts say, is the unrealistic hopes that blacks had for how long it would take to broaden an economy straitjacketed during the racist apartheid era that ended with the country's first all-race elections in 1994.
France Mohlomi, 30, thinks there's nothing unrealistic about his hopes.
With a university degree and a two-year internship under his belt, he thought a big advertising firm would hire him. When that did not happen, he went to a bank seeking to borrow money to start a silk-screening company.
"They checked my business plan. They said 'Ahhh.' They turned me down," he said of his attempt a few years ago. "If you don't have a house, they don't give you a loan. They call it a risky thing."
Mohlomi works as an assistant at a fruit stand on a dusty street in Soweto. For 10 hours of work seven days a week, he takes home about 1,000 rand a month, or about dlrs 125.
This isn't what was promised.
Heading to its victory in the 1994 election, the African National Congress promised "a better life for all," and politicians eagerly fueled the hopes of the poor that financial security and equality lay ahead.
Seven years later, Qresident Thabo Mbeki describes the country as two lands - one rich and white, the other black and poor. The average annual income for whites is 51,000 rands (dlrs 6,300)" for blacks, it's 7,600 rand (dlrs 950).
Unemployment among blacks is growing - four of every 10 blacks don't have jobs, six times the rate for whites. More than a half million jobs have been lost since 1994, most of them in mining and agricultural, which employ many unskilled blacks. Sixty-five percent of nonwhites live in poverty.
Blacks make up 78 percent of the population but earned just 43 percent of the national income last year. Whites, 11 percent of the population, took in 44 percent, a University of South Africa study said.
"If we don't empower (blacks) economically, even the democracy we are talking about is very threatened," said Peter Karungu, an economic consultant.
There are some successes. The small black middle class is growing, and almost a quarter of the money earned by South Africa's highest-income group - people with yearly salaries above 246,721 rands (dlrs 30,700) -goes to blacks, according to the University of South Africa study.
Some blacks, including Cyril Ramaphosa and Tokyo Sexwale, a director of ABSA Bank and GoldFields Ltd., are among South Africa's most influential businessmen.
But change is coming much slower than many people expected.
The government has tried to boost blacks' share of the economy by giving black-owned firms an edge in bidding for state contracts. All medium and large firms are required to adopt plans for making their staffs more reflective of the population. Land redistribution and sales of state monopolies are structured to favor blacks.
The strategies have not worked well enough, even the government concedes.
The programs were uncoordinated and unfocused and the country expected too much help from white business and international investors, said Andy Brown, a researcher for a commission created to redress economic inequities.
In a report being studied by the government, the Black Economic Empowerment Commission recommended legislation require the financial sector, pension funds and unions to invest at least 10 percent of their assets in "areas of national priority."
The government-appointed commission, headed by Ramaphosa, also called for rural development and faster land redistribution, a transformation of the banking sector to make it more accessible, more preferences for black firms in government purchases and better education for blacks.
The proposal sets out ambitious goals: At least 30 percent of productive land should be in black hands. Blacks should be at least 40 percent of professionals. Blacks should own at least 25 percent of each economic sector. Deadlines are to be set later.
With more than half the population excluded from the economy, South Africa cannot prosper, Brown said.
"They're not formally employed. They don't have bank accounts. They live in underdeveloped rural areas. They are uneducated. They don't have access to training programs," she said.
David Mashapalo, chairman of the Black Business Council, said past efforts relied too much on businesses to voluntarily do the right thing.
Black empowerment "is not a question of people doing things out of the goodness of their hearts. It's something that has do be done, and it has do be done consciously and properly," he said.
Supporters of the commission's proposal argue it will work better than past efforts because it calls for a law that would define black economic empowerment, set specific targets, coordinate the effort and measure it.
"For the first time black business has set out quantitatively what they expect in terms of black empowerment," said Ajay Lalu, senior executive for corporate finance at Ernst and Young. "There is one coherent understanding of what empowerment is and where it is heading."
Others are skeptical.
The problem is not a lack of will for change, said Tom Lodge, chairman of the University of Wi****ersrand's political science department.
"These are not revolutionary prescriptions," he said. "The difficulty is to actually make them happen. A shopping list of targets is simply not enough."
Lalu counters that stricter requirements will make white businesses change. "It forces them to make a choice: Either they transform, or they won't be in business in five to 10 years," he said.
The key will be how successful South Africa is in creating jobs, said Karungu, the economic consultant.
"Jobs are not only a way of life, but they are the only way to create a harmonious, very peace-loving nation, lower crime and to make blacks and white become one," he said.
"If there are no jobs, you create idleness, helplessness, and in the worst case scenario, you end up creating criminals."
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17th May 2002 21:11
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Jaybang
Junior Member
Registered: May 2002
Posts: 29
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Having been away from SA for 7 years, i have missed out on alot of the development of the country. I do however go home just about every year for a holiday (i cant stay away, because its such an awsome country)
Each time i have gone home, i notice the changes. Nearly every politician is African. When you turn on the television, there are African presenters, when you go into the city, there are African buisness men and woman everywhere. Police force...African again. Lawyers.. shop owners yes you guesed it, African. This is a good sight, things are changing. Its not something that can be fixed over night. When I go to some bars and resturaunts , I look around and I see Africans, whites, ..all races getting on having a good time. The universities are mainly almost completely African.
But yes there are still street vendors , farm workers, labourers struggling to make ends meet, hardly bringing in a salary. And that wont change for there generation unfortunately as they lacked the oportunity to get educated.
But things are and will change. The African kids that start school from 1st year entry, will have the opertunity to arm themselves with skills through education.
Afirmitive action may seem right, but it doesnt work, Im not sure if there was an alternative resolution, i havnt really thought about it. But i do know, that you cant expect people to jump straight into jobs and positions where they just dont have the skill.
I kind of got the feeling that the street vendor trying to make a living in the township, or the laborour earning next to nothing, thought that it would all be sweet and dandy when a black goverment took over. They were made unrealistic promises, as all goverments do when they want to be elected. There is no quick fix.
When the majority of the country gets educated, they will be able to create and full jobs. But its going to be a long hard road. Dont expect miracles over night.
Now is not the time to blame. Its a majority black country, run by black people. Nearly all or probably all goverment roles are held by black people. Were in our second run of a black president.
What do you want the educated whites who are earning the vast money you say they are to do? Hand it over, and leave the jobs and country for the African people? That money that they earn, gets plowed back into the country... it doesnt only get disperesed around the whites like you beleive.
But things are changing.....
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7th June 2002 06:42
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Amadoda
Member
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 66
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What do you mean nothings changed.
The evidence of black rule is everywhere. Just go to Johannesburg CBD. Goats and chickens fill the marble foyers where corporates once had their headquarters. The drains are clogged with litter, resulting in flooding when it rains. The alleys of full of sh** and reek of urine. The hotels like the Carlton which hosted royalty and foreign dignitaries are boarded up and black thugs, murderers and criminals stalk the streets. What do you mean nothings changed?
A first world city has been reduced to another African third world crap hole in less than 7 years!! Give it another two and there'll be no difference btw Lagos and JHB.
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9th June 2002 22:04
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Amadoda
Member
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 66
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Whites make up 15 % of the population. Even if there were enough competant blacks to keep them (the businesses) afloat after stealing them, that means that instead of a white elite you'lllllll have a tiny black elite. Therefore the only thing that makes sense in tigers post is this
"The key will be how successful South Africa is in creating jobs, said Karungu, the economic consultant"
i.e blacks need to pull their fingers out of their asses, stop whining, roll up their sleeves, do some work, open their own businesses, and start CONTRIBUTING to SA;s economy instead of hindering it.
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9th June 2002 22:44
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Jaraldo
Junior Member
Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 1
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Everyone's point here is very valid. This problem is very visable , but we can't point our finger at the white man and we can't at the black man for his place in life. Who we need to blame is the government. South Africa needs to rebuild it's economy so that everyone has equal opportunities. The one gentlemen who had a a degree and internship should get the career he studied for. So what should we do is continue to inforce education , make loan programs that are reasonalbe and get a government who want equality with both races. I am a white South African , but I don't just want whites to be the highest paid and the highest class I want to see equality within businesses and corporations. But first South Africa has to find a way to control aids and to control poverty.
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13th June 2002 06:31
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Jaybang
Junior Member
Registered: May 2002
Posts: 29
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cheers
I have to agree with you Jaraldo
Youve summed it up very nicely!!
Cheers
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13th June 2002 08:25
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