Workers, jobless SA's new divide

Cape Town - The main inequality divide in South Africa is no longer between blacks and whites, but between unionised and employed workers on the one hand, and unemployed on the other, former president FW de Klerk said on Thursday.

"It is a divide that lies at the heart of our inequality challenge," he said at a Cape Town Press Club memorial dinner.

De Klerk said it was also a divide "that the Congress of SA Trade Unions is determined to defend by vigorously opposing any efforts to make the labour market more flexible".

Another principal cause of inequality was the "catastrophic failure of our education system".

A total of 60% of those who left school did so without a matric, and those who passed matric did so with an average mark of less than 40%, he said.