Historical Roots of Inequality in South Africa

Fundamental rethinking is required to tackle the durability of the legacies of poverty and inequality inherited by the democratic government of South Africa. Such rethinking has to start with an understanding of the long historical processes that brought us to where we are. This paper traces, albeit briefly, the ways in which first land and water, then minerals, capital for investment and finally human capital were accumulated over several centuries primarily (though not exclusively) into white hands. Along the way there is a discussion about the long term consequences of conquest of the Land Act of 1913, of the migrant labour system first entrenched by the mining industry and extended by apartheid, of the Bantu Education Act of 1953, of the barriers to occupational mobility raised by colour restrictions during South Africa's industrial revolution, and by the essentially extractive philosophy that underpins the economy. The net result of this long process is to bequeath to the country today not only widespread poverty but one of the deepest levels of inequality in the world. This history has to be recognized and understood if we are to devise effective strategies to overcome it. Of the many problems facing the South African economy, the four most intractable relate to poverty, unemployment, inequality and environmental sustainability. They are all, of course, interrelated but in this special issue we focus particularly on the inequality whose roots go down deep into the history of the country.