By: Siyanda Pali
Economist and Business Professor Aaron Levenstein once stated that," Statistics are like bikinis, what they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." Such is the affinity for data and statistics. This is the case due to an innate desire to measure, to quantify that which is being observed or examined. However, in the pursuit to gauge Africa's progress, it is important not to lose focus of all the parts which comprise of the big picture.
FW De Klerk, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki
This measure (GDP) has become popular for numerous reasons eg it produces an overall picture of the state of an economy. However, it has its shortcomings. Firstly, the inherent constraint of focusing on the total production of goods and services within the borders of a country is somewhat myopic in an open economy, with GNP being favoured as a better measure by others. Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, is the fact that it disproportionately favours economic output over well-being. eg a preoccupation with increased economic growth does not adequately take other factors such as environmental factors as metrics of development and well-being in a society.
The latter adds impetus to the notion that there needs to be a shift to measuring or paying attention to metrics which have greater significance in a society. Per capita income is particularly useful because it quantifies the average income of each individual citizen of a country, given total GDP. It is an extremely useful measure, because it provides a sense of how inclusive growth within a society is. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is another measure which indicates whether or not incomes of individuals are losing purchasing power at unreasonable or abnormally high rates.
The traditional measures from a Developmental Economics, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics perspective are well-known. However, this does not mean that we ought to remain exclusively fixated or bound by them. In contrast, it is plausible to explore other metrics which also provide more valuable insights, and will be more fruitful in analysing progress in a developmental state. Another development measure which can or ought to be particularly useful in a developmental state is the rate of land reform which has taken place per annum or in total, which I refer to as the Land Reform Quotient (LRQ), ranging from 0 to 1, with 0 indicating no land reform post independence to 1 indicating perfect land reform or redistribution post independence . In the case of South Africa, the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform indicated in a 2017 report that Whites owned 72% of farm and agricultural land, Coloureds owned 15%, Indians owned 5% and Africans, which constitute more than 80% of the population, owned only 4%. This is a critical, but disturbing metric to note, given that South Africa has had a democratic government for more than 28 years. Related to land ownership, is the Gini coefficient, which measures the wealth inequality in a nation. According to a World Bank report in March 2022, South Africa is the world's most unequal society, with 10% of the population owning more than 80% of the wealth. It is not astonishing to note that one of the reasons stated for such large disparities in wealth ownership, is landlessness among the general population. It goes without saying that more than a century of legislated dispossession, with the 1913 Natives Land Act of particular significance, will not automatically be addressed by a neoliberal inclination.
Contrary to popular belief, the African continent is wealthy beyond compare. The United Nations states that the continent boasts about a third of the world's mineral reserves, 12% of the world's oil reserves, and 8% of the world's natural gas. It is also endowed with 40% of the world's Gold, and up to 90% of the world Chromium and Platinum. Furthermore, the world's greatest quantity of reserves of Diamonds, Uranium and Cobalt, are in Africa. The latter, mostly situated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, will be crucial for the electric vehicle market in the long-run. In addition, Africa possesses almost two-thirds of the world's arable land, as well as approximately 10% of the world's renewable fresh water reserves. These and more, comprise of Africa's riches.
With 30% to 50% of wealth in Africa's countries consisting of natural capital, it is important to ask: what returns or benefits, if any, do citizens or the general population reap from this wealth? What sovereign wealth funds have been created for the benefit of societies? What are the infant mortality rates within a nation? How robust is the healthcare system? Does the population have access to quality infrastructure and transportation? Does the general populace have access to affordable energy, decent housing and services? At a broader level, does the structure or architecture of a society promote upward mobility for the general population, or is this the case for only an elite few?
One of the challenges on the continent, other than illicit financial flows, which are estimated at $195 billion US per annum, are leaders who come to power, and eventually use their power for the purposes of self-aggrandisement. The leaders and their families become fabulously wealthy almost overnight, while the vast majority of the population remain stagnant in terms of welfare and material terms. This is a phenomenon which is common globally, with political capital and mileage in a society being translated into financial capital for an elite few.
There are numerous examples either by unlawful means or through policy instruments, in which the latter is realised. In Nigeria, former President Sani Abacha amassed an estimated fortune of $ 5 billion US at the time of his death in 1998. The per capita income in Nigeria at the time was a mere $2090 US. In South Africa, the likes of Tokyo Sexwale (estimated net worth $ 200 million US), Saki Macozoma (R 565 million or $38.8 million US) , Patrice Motsepe (R44.23 billion or $3.1 billion US) as well as the current President, Cyril Ramaphosa (R10 billion or $ 700 million US) became wealthy almost overnight, initially thanks to a policy called Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). It is or was certainly their right to enter the business arena. However, one must question whether this policy has made a tectonic shift in the lives of the majority native population in South Africa, whether or not it does indeed alter the structural foundations which perpetuated centuries of dispossession and alienation of South Africa's workers.
How, you may ask, does the hegemon maintain its power? This, according to Gramsci, is achieved by taking control of the intellectuals in a society, the education, and the philosophy which drives people to political action. The earliest Marxists were so focused on a war of maneuver, in anticipation of the proletariat revolution which Marx had predicted. As such, they were completely unaware that a population could be so disjointed that a proletariat revolution might never take place because the hegemon had prevailed in the war of position. Addressing this aspect, noted Gramsci, is the key to advancing any significant social change in a society.
The precursor for why a hegemon maintains its power is because of a strong motivator which drives the behaviour of the population: self-interest. This is partly the reason why Apartheid in South Africa continued for as long as it did. It is the reason why people in political parties, companies, institutions, governments etc, turn a blind eye to gross injustices and atrocities. They behave in such a manner either out of naivety or apathy because the current system appears to work in their favour or due to the desire to appeal to a certain power structure, with the hope that their loyalty to the hegemon will be rewarded. This mindset of an indifference to injustice is one of the greatest challenges a movement seeking a bona fide social change needs to overcome in the minds of the population.
Not only are the disparities in wealth inequality in South Africa disturbing, the trend from an income inequality perspective is equally gloomy, often exacerbated along racial lines. In an Oxfam SA report relating to the pay gap between top executives and ordinary workers, it was discovered that the gap between CEOs and ordinary workers in Spain was 172:1. In the USA, it was 300:1. In India, it was 483:1. Alas, in South Africa, the gap was a staggering 541:1. What stage of Capitalism is South Africa in for it to be normal for a CEO to earn an income 541 times that of a normal employee?
If we are to ever realise a true and genuine freedom in South Africa and Africa, White supremacy, among other things, ought to be dismantled at a material, cultural and epistemic level. Gramsci correctly implores us to keep a healthy and general skepticism about the status quo. If not, there is a high probability that despite having political power in the form of democratically elected governments after centuries of colonial and Apartheid rule, the hegemon remains in power, and at a material, cultural and epistemic level, things remain the same.
We ought to remain circumspect about the fact that the goal of the hegemon is to remain in power. Furthermore, it is to do so with the consent of the population. Given the above, it is vital for us at a national and continental level to heed the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in a 1966 speech, in which he implored his audience to be maladjusted to injustice.
On a sobering note, the former-mentioned Oxfam report states that "It takes 4.58 days for the best-paid executive in Shoprite to earn what a temporary worker at vineyards in South Africa will earn in their lifetime." Africa is a wealthy continent in which the general populace seldom enjoy the wealth of their land, and in some instances, their labour, a source of incredible cognitive dissonance, unless drastic steps are taken to reverse the tide.
To quote former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica, "Governments cannot create magic, but they can redistribute the wealth." We ought not to fear to reimagine a different country and continent, for the national democratic revolution ought to find expression by creating opportunity and value for all members of society.
