South Africa is the most unequal economy in the world. It is also not an outlier. How can those statements both be true? We keep our inequality in containers. The Global version is wrapped in national flags. It is as bad as South Africa’s.
People just don’t have to look at it. Politicians don’t get voted in and out based on it. Inequality is more comfortable when it is hidden and vote-free.
Apartheid did the hiding with hills and distance from the highway. I grew up in Kwa-Zulu Natal where the N3 stretches from Durban to Johannesburg. You could drive easily from bubble to bubble.
South Africa of 2021 wears its inequality much more rawly. There are lots of uncomfortable conversations about different capacities to create capital. Different sources of financing to invest in skills and knowledge. Different abilities to work from home and deal with gaps in basic options to earn. “Same storm. Different boats.”
The most obvious current example of inequality is the rich country vaccine rollout, and the different impacts of lockdowns. The challenge we face going forward is chipping away at the barriers that hide potential.
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