Debt and the Cost of Neoliberal Austerity: A Study of Social Reproduction in South Africa

This article discusses the South African government’s austerity approach to budgeting and sovereign debt (historical and current) regarding its impact on social reproduction through a Marxian Feminist lens, showing how debt was accumulated to perpetuate a racialized and patriarchal capitalist order. The article argues that since the transition to democracy in 1994, the inherited apartheid system has mutated to the government adopting neoliberal austerity-minded policies limiting resource allocation and preventing it from adequately addressing the legacy of apartheid and meeting the basic needs of the majority. This approach has hindered efforts to build a post-apartheid developmental state and engender state capacity. The article highlights how South Africa continues to implement self-imposed austerity despite not being subjected to International Monetary Fund or World Bank programs, demonstrating the supranational power of neoliberal policies sustaining capitalism.