South Africa - The Land of Inequality

[Stretch]

I do exactly the same now after a bad experience there when I was forced to stop in that town which is now a mere shadow of its former self. My fuel tank range was not gonna make it to Three Sisters. Now I make sure that I fill up enough at Laingsburg to make it to Three Sisters.

 

doesn't it also have a series of ridiculous traffic cams though the main road?

[Shebeen]

Massive inequality exists in all countries. But you don’t often get to see rich and poor loving side by side like that.

You can pretend like it is just the way it is, but this is a ticking timebomb for us specifically. Depending on how you frame the data, ZAR is at the top (or bottom) of the pile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

 

 

 

and the whole SADC region is characterised by it.

 

here's the full article:

http://time.com/longform/south-africa-unequal-country/

 

with this little quote in it:

For the past several decades, inequality has been on the rise in developed and developing countries alike. But in an age of widening divides between rich and poor, South Africa stands out because of its squandered hopes. Mandela’s rainbow nation was supposed to show the world how a new, equitable society could be built out of the ashes of repression and racism. But by some measures, inequality in the country today is worse than it was under apartheid.

Though a new black middle class is slowly developing, and a small black elite has accrued massive wealth, few black South Africans have seen substantial change in their material lives. Meanwhile, today’s white minority, some 9% of the population, lives off the benefits accumulated under apartheid’s unequal policies. Their relative wealth keeps them insulated from government failures triggered by the economics of segregation…

masi/lake michelle

 

houtbay/IY

[gummibear]

SA population is growing by around 1 million people per year so the inequality will grow to.More and more unemployed.How will it be stopped?

 

Wealthy are leaving or investing outside of Sa so government is struggling to pay all the social grants.

[Eldron]

SA population is growing by around 1 million people per year so the inequality will grow to.More and more unemployed.How will it be stopped?

 

Wealthy are leaving or investing outside of Sa so government is struggling to pay all the social grants.

Data from multipe studies has shown that education of young females is one of the most effective ways of reducing teenage pregnancy and birth rate.

[Stretch]

Data from multipe studies has shown that education of young females is one of the most effective ways of reducing teenage pregnancy and birth rate.

Problem if the youth population in South Africa is so massive that this is going to take decades... If not centuries. This is the real ticking time bomb in South Africa..22 million of 57 million are under 19

[Eldron]

Problem if the youth population in South Africa is so massive that this is going to take decades... If not centuries. This is the real ticking time bomb in South Africa..22 million of 57 million are under 19

Indeed. That and the governments inability to spend money on much other than itself.

[IceCreamMan]

You can pretend like it is just the way it is, but this is a ticking timebomb for us specifically. Depending on how you frame the data, ZAR is at the top (or bottom) of the pile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

 

 

 

and the whole SADC region is characterised by it.

 

here's the full article:

http://time.com/longform/south-africa-unequal-country/

 

with this little quote in it:

For the past several decades, inequality has been on the rise in developed and developing countries alike. But in an age of widening divides between rich and poor, South Africa stands out because of its squandered hopes. Mandela’s rainbow nation was supposed to show the world how a new, equitable society could be built out of the ashes of repression and racism. But by some measures, inequality in the country today is worse than it was under apartheid.

Though a new black middle class is slowly developing, and a small black elite has accrued massive wealth, few black South Africans have seen substantial change in their material lives. Meanwhile, today’s white minority, some 9% of the population, lives off the benefits accumulated under apartheid’s unequal policies. Their relative wealth keeps them insulated from government failures triggered by the economics of segregation…

masi/lake michelle

 

houtbay/IY[/size]

Accumulated under apartheid’s unequal policies.

 

So long as this rhetoric is spewed it will never get better.

 

ZA govt policies to blame a quarter of a century in and the gap has widened ...yes indeed. Widened. The backlash will be felt by the haves irrespective of color. That’s the ticking time bomb and all these riots over the last couple of years the manifestations of it.

[Eldron]

Accumulated under apartheid’s unequal policies.

 

So long as this rhetoric is spewed it will never get better.

 

ZA govt policies to blame a quarter of a century in and the gap has widened ...yes indeed. Widened. The backlash will be felt by the haves irrespective of color. That’s the ticking time bomb and all these riots over the last couple of years the manifestations of it.

 

Have a read of this - it isn't all doom and gloom: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southafrica/overview

 

Overall inequality is getting worse but remains unequal along racial lines.

 

It isn't about spewing/blaming apartheid - it's about being cognizant of the fact that an unequal past has created an unequal present. A little more empathy will go a long way to creating a better future.

[Escapee..]

Google Maps vs Time Magazine Cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Yeah, using public buildings to highlight wealth disparity.... sneaky fks. Yeah, the private property is one road removed, and still covered, but the focal point (and target) of the pic is on the diff between the types of buildings and implies that those public buildings are private homes. Very misleading. 

[IceCreamMan]

Have a read of this - it isn't all doom and gloom: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southafrica/overview

 

Overall inequality is getting worse but remains unequal along racial lines.

 

It isn't about spewing/blaming apartheid - it's about being cognizant of the fact that an unequal past has created an unequal present. A little more empathy will go a long way to creating a better future.

 

I disagree, its about an easy blame game without making concerted attempts to fix it. 

 

Education and job creation are the only ways to fix it. The ANC have excelled at neither. 

 

Then add in woeful foreign policy allowing in more an more people to place further burden on the shrinking tax base and it becomes uglier. 

 

I have been all over Africa, even to some parts never colonised.... the same divide is evident everywhere however in ZA there is a middle class.. This could be the saving grace.

 

The ANC have been woeful at every possible facet that would be considered good governance. 

 

MAybe democracy aint the right form of governance for some parts of the world. 

[Eldron]

I disagree, its about an easy blame game without making concerted attempts to fix it. 

 

Education and job creation are the only ways to fix it. The ANC have excelled at neither. 

 

Then add in woeful foreign policy allowing in more an more people to place further burden on the shrinking tax base and it becomes uglier. 

 

I have been all over Africa, even to some parts never colonised.... the same divide is evident everywhere however in ZA there is a middle class.. This could be the saving grace.

 

The ANC have been woeful at every possible facet that would be considered good governance. 

 

MAybe democracy aint the right form of governance for some parts of the world. 

 

I agree with you 100% on the failings of the government.

 

The people that need the empathy are the poor blacks - not the government, the strikers, the looters or the criminals - the other 99% of the poor black population that have been handed a sh!t lot in life and continue to be fed sh!t sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and supper.

 

Sure it is an easy win for the ANC to keep harping on about apartheid and it's after effects but that doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of black people in SA remain the victims of it.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I disagree, its about an easy blame game without making concerted attempts to fix it. 

 

Education and job creation are the only ways to fix it. The ANC have excelled at neither. 

 

Then add in woeful foreign policy allowing in more an more people to place further burden on the shrinking tax base and it becomes uglier. 

 

I have been all over Africa, even to some parts never colonised.... the same divide is evident everywhere however in ZA there is a middle class.. This could be the saving grace.

 

The ANC have been woeful at every possible facet that would be considered good governance. 

 

MAybe democracy aint the right form of governance for some parts of the world. 

This isn't binary. It can be more than one reason, and Eldron is right. So are you. It's a cumulative thing that no one change would have corrected. 

[Chris_]

Yeah, using public buildings to highlight wealth disparity.... sneaky fks. Yeah, the private property is one road removed, and still covered, but the focal point (and target) of the pic is on the diff between the types of buildings and implies that those public buildings are private homes. Very misleading. 

 

We're too far into petty semantics here. The headline remains factually true.

[Eldron]

We're too far into petty semantics here. The headline remains factually true.

 

Yup. Pictures almost always lie - they're taken and edited to tell a story. The pic might be fake but it is the perfect way to highlight the severity of the headline in 1 second.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

We're too far into petty semantics here. The headline remains factually true.

Not discounting that, but it's personally something I despise. Manipulating an image /  editing an image to make it appear "more" than it actually is. Not talking artistic license so that colours pop r you get juuust the right composition out of a true crapshoot, I'm talking about something like this in the Time cover, or when there's an "AMAZING, HUUUUGE wave" that is fkn amazing, till you realise that the horizon is out by 15 degrees and it becomes a completely different matter entirely.