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post Apartheid South Africa posted on: 8/11/2003 6:01:23 AM Like Gage's, this onbe is also up at Slaved Since the earlier discussion on post Apartheid South Africa raised some fairly intense discussion I thought I would do some research in to the changes that have occured for mainly black South Africans under Post Apartheid South Africa and to see if the socio-economic situation had really changed. I have selected sections from articles but have included full link to the articles for those interested. http://www.landaction.org/display.php?article=60 Land and Agrarian Reform in South Africa Seven Years On: The Crisis of Failure As of the end of 2001, less than 2% of land has changed hands from white to black through the land reform programme. The slow pace of land reform can be projected to continue, according to budgetary trends that consistently allocate about one-third of 1% of national expenditure to the Department of Land Affairs (DLA). Budget analysts predict that at current spending patterns, it will take 150 years to complete the restitution process, and 125 years to complete the redistribution of 30% of agricultural land to black people. Almost eight years have passed since the birth of South Africa's democracy signaled the end of apartheid oppression, but it have led to the birth of neo-liberal economic order which have continued to perpetuate the unequal economic relations of the past. http://www.landaction.org/display.php?article=67 Stop Forced Removals & Evictions! Stop Privatisation! More than seven-million farm dwellers are threatened by evictions from the land of their ancestors by 60,000 white farmers who still control most of the land. More than 10-million people have been denied water because they were too poor to pay. More than 2-million people have been evicted from their homes because they did not pay their water bills. Millions more have had their electricity disconnected because they are poor. Almost nine years ago, South Africa's Constitution was celebrated as "one of the world's most progressive" for its inclusion of wide-ranging "human rights" protections, which included socio-economic rights provisions. Yet real "human rights" are still denied to the poor and landless majority, and even the most basic rights are being progressively eroded through neo-liberal programmes such as market-led land reform, privatisation and cost-recovery. We demand People's Rights Now! On Income distribution and employment I found the following figures 1995: Whites 48% Blacks 39.1% Other 12.9% 2000: Whites 44.4% Blacks 43.4% Other 12.2% http://www.dispatch.co.za/2001/08/14/editoria/LP.HTM (2001 article) Heading to its victory in the 1994 election, the African National Congress promised "a better life for all", and politicians eagerly fuelled the hopes of the poor that financial security and equality lay ahead. Seven years later, President Thabo Mbeki describes the country as two lands -- one rich and white, the other black and poor. The average annual income for whites is R51000; for blacks, it's R7600. 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 non-whites 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. http://www.worldsocialist-cwi.org/index2.html?/eng/2003/07/09.html The rich get richer and the poor get poorer (2003) Research carried out by the University of the Western Cape and published by Research Service id21 found incomes in South African black households fell by 19% between 1995 and 2000 while white household incomes rose by 15%. Last year, 2 out of 3 black households in Cape Town did not have enough to eat. The research surveyed black townships around Cape Town where it found 76% of households lived below the poverty line of R352 per month. Over half these households had no waged income, and almost one third reported that the main bread winner had lost a job in the previous year.(Mail & Guardian 13/5/03)Retrenchments on farms and mines, mechanisation, privatisation, downsizing and outsourcing have led to the loss of over a 1m jobs and the doubling of unemployment to over 30% in the government’s figures. Cosatu says the real unemployment level is nearer 45%. Professor Sampie Terblanch’s research published in his book A History of Inequality in South Africa 1652 - 2002 supports this. Formal sector unemployment has risen from 20.2% in 1970 and 36.1% in 1995 to an estimated 45.8% in 2001. In 1995, 35% of workers earned under R1000 a month. By 2002, 39% earned under R1000 a month and in real terms, their incomes had fallen by a third. Workers' share of the national income dropped from 58% in 1992 to 51% last year. The result is the gap between rich and poor has placed SA second only behind Brazil as the most unequal society on earth. According to Prof Terblanch, In 1975 the poorest 40% of households received 5.2% of the country’s (total annual) income. By 2001 this had decreased to 3.3%. The fastest growing gap is now amongst blacks -- between the aspirant capitalists and the working class. Through Black Economic Empowerment, the government puts as much effort providing the black elite with self-enrichment opportunities as it does disguising its programme of impoverishing the black majority that elected it. Overall, it does not look like the socio-economic situation of black South Africans has improved under post Apartheid South Africa. But lets see what other information people can find. Out, Nuisance

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