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THE future of South Africa’s black - African, coloured and Indian - middle class is increasingly getting blurred, with uncertainty moving in strongly like a gale force wind.
This is despite the introduction - soon after the all-race election in 1994 – of legislation such as black economic empowerment and employment equity to improve their lot.
This week, we learned that South Africa’s middle class is battling to meet its monetary responsibilities notwithstanding record low interest rates for the past couple of years.
According to the Momentum-Unisa South African Household Financial Wellness Index, members of the middle class have seen their standard of living being battered by higher taxes and restricted income because of the country’s low economic growth.
The index, which looked at the country’s middle class as a whole irrespective of race, paints a picture of a group that is frightened to death about its position in the country.
When things are tough for the entire country’s middle class, how hard must they be for the black middle class, which came in from a very low base - and only recently.
It is an open secret that talk of a suffering middle class often refers mostly to the African, coloured and Indian people of South Africa. This is simply because of the country’s demographics.
The white middle class is still doing well, considering that they are still employed in great numbers in the country’s private sector. Additionally, they were doing well even under the apartheid government. So, we will not address them in this article.
The black middle class now is getting fewer breaks, less job security and less disposable income due to the economic downturn.
And most black people in this class believe that higher education is critical in remaining in the middle class. But this has become tough too, with the excessive cost of education taking its toll.
Black South African families have all along thought the route to success would be through a university or college education, which would help their household members move up in the world.
However, many of these families have been watching with disbelief as fees rise steeply, with fortunes and salaries remaining stagnant or plunging.
This means university education could rapidly be moving outside their children’s clasp.
Many black middle class families have had to sell their suburban homes and cars, hoping to better their financial situation.
This is the reason this class has become the greatest critics of President Jacob Zuma’s government.
They are often the first to be confronted by government’s failure to deliver in public hospitals, the police service, schools and many other sectors.
The most interesting thing is that the Zuma government has not even tried to court this class.
Doing so would require the government to improve schools, hospitals and police services, something I suppose they would not like to do.
They’d rather provide food parcels to the poor and to shack-dwellers every time elections approach.
The message that any country prospers when the middle class does well, seems to have been ignored by the present government.
Much less care has been given to the black middle class. Blacks in general are seeing the highest jobless rates - a dire state of affairs. Jobless rates among blacks with university degrees have also risen.
Chief executives of major corporations and big financial institutions as well as the government have to take responsibility for this.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is a freelance journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.
This is despite the introduction - soon after the all-race election in 1994 – of legislation such as black economic empowerment and employment equity to improve their lot.
This week, we learned that South Africa’s middle class is battling to meet its monetary responsibilities notwithstanding record low interest rates for the past couple of years.
According to the Momentum-Unisa South African Household Financial Wellness Index, members of the middle class have seen their standard of living being battered by higher taxes and restricted income because of the country’s low economic growth.
The index, which looked at the country’s middle class as a whole irrespective of race, paints a picture of a group that is frightened to death about its position in the country.
When things are tough for the entire country’s middle class, how hard must they be for the black middle class, which came in from a very low base - and only recently.
It is an open secret that talk of a suffering middle class often refers mostly to the African, coloured and Indian people of South Africa. This is simply because of the country’s demographics.
The white middle class is still doing well, considering that they are still employed in great numbers in the country’s private sector. Additionally, they were doing well even under the apartheid government. So, we will not address them in this article.
The black middle class now is getting fewer breaks, less job security and less disposable income due to the economic downturn.
And most black people in this class believe that higher education is critical in remaining in the middle class. But this has become tough too, with the excessive cost of education taking its toll.
Black South African families have all along thought the route to success would be through a university or college education, which would help their household members move up in the world.
However, many of these families have been watching with disbelief as fees rise steeply, with fortunes and salaries remaining stagnant or plunging.
This means university education could rapidly be moving outside their children’s clasp.
Many black middle class families have had to sell their suburban homes and cars, hoping to better their financial situation.
This is the reason this class has become the greatest critics of President Jacob Zuma’s government.
They are often the first to be confronted by government’s failure to deliver in public hospitals, the police service, schools and many other sectors.
The most interesting thing is that the Zuma government has not even tried to court this class.
Doing so would require the government to improve schools, hospitals and police services, something I suppose they would not like to do.
They’d rather provide food parcels to the poor and to shack-dwellers every time elections approach.
The message that any country prospers when the middle class does well, seems to have been ignored by the present government.
Much less care has been given to the black middle class. Blacks in general are seeing the highest jobless rates - a dire state of affairs. Jobless rates among blacks with university degrees have also risen.
Chief executives of major corporations and big financial institutions as well as the government have to take responsibility for this.
- Fin24
*Mzwandile Jacks is a freelance journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.
