‘White monopoly capital is not a myth’

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The legacies of Apartheid live on and the numbers are there to support it, writes Dhanyal Davidson.

Throughout this article, it is important to remain cognisant of the population demographics in South Africa - for each white person there are ten African people. The statistics provided seek to illustrate racial inequality.

Capital may be in the form of labour

The table below shows selected statistics from the most recent commission for employment equity annual report for the period 2016–2017 issued in May and their earliest comparative report issued in 2001.

The economically active population (EAP) are those people between the ages 15 to 64 years of age who are either employed or unemployed but seeking employment.

Since Apartheid, the commission notes that improvement has been seen in correcting racial inequality despite South African workplaces remaining highly racialised.

Educational barriers both during and post-apartheid rob Africans of the opportunity to enter the workplace and work themselves up the corporate ladder.

Capital may be in the form of land ownership

According to an investigation of issues surrounding land ownership in SA by economists.co.za:

• Whites hold 35% of the rand value of owner occupied homes in SA. Africans hold 52%.
• For the sake of comparison, I assume a notional value of R100m being the value of owner occupied homes in South Africa. This will allow us to average the value per capita per race.
• On average, a White person in the country owns R4m worth of owner occupied land.
• Whilst the average Black person in the country owns R0.64m worth of owner occupied land.
• Ownership in value of the White group per capita outstrips that of the Black group per capita 6 times.
• According to another survey over land size, the White group holds 47% of the land size whilst Africans hold 52%.
• These highlight the inequality of land ownership both between and within the races and again how the legacies of Apartheid create a wealth gap.

Capital may be in the form of Johannesburg Stock Exchange ownership

It is estimated that 22% of the JSE is owned by the White group making up 8% of the population and 23% is owned by the African group making up 81% of the population.

Capital may be in the form of services households enjoy

According to STATSSA’s most recent general household survey issued 31/05/2017:

The odds are stacked against African households. Lack of access to basic services and insufficient education continue to shackle the African community to the open-door prison of Apartheid.

The legacies of Apartheid live on. The numbers are there to support it. White monopoly capital is not a myth as many like to argue. Also, there is a limited number of Africans benefiting from the transformation of the economy. Recent news attests to this. Broad based economic transformation has a long way to go.

A silver lining can be found in the transformation that has taken place since 1994. Ownership of all forms of capital is more widespread today than during the days of Apartheid.

The words of Nelson Mandela in a 1990 interview in the USA still ring true today – “The resources of the country are monopolised by a white minority. Even in that minority by a few individuals. Whereas the masses of the people are left poor, ridden with disease, illiterate and without educational facilities. We want to develop an economy that will put an end to that.”

The question the powers that be need to ask of themselves is - where is this economy Mandela was speaking of?

Dhanyal Davidson is a CA (SA) living and working in Cape Town after a short stint with Deloitte Cayman Islands.

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