Apartheid was a system created to favour and benefit individuals that made up a significantly smaller part of the total population. If you are well versed with the African economic system of Ubuntu, you’d know that it’s a system of collaboration – no one loses. The self-proclaimed powers that be saw it fit to rip that system apart as it could not co-exist side by side with capitalism (a system born out of a culture of greed and self-enrichment).
Anyway with the attainment of political Freedom, where do you think those forces that perpetuated apartheid went to? Corporate South Africa of course, a place where that culture of greed could be perpetuated further – hence the contracts that Government is still contractually locked in with white owned companies for many many years to come. No one saw it fit to address the illness that led pure human beings to treat others like lesser beings, where did all these greedy people go I ask? Nothing was done to reverse their way of thinking and as such we end up with the same problem as we did back in the days. The only bigger problem today is that we are all adopting this culture of greed –lets break it down shall we.
South Africa has the 3rd most expensive data prices within BRICS, this hampers a lot of growth and online learning opportunities for the youth – it’s a serious stumbling block which does no good for the development of a country, growth of the internet as a business market platform has yet to reach millions of South Africans and even the very few that do have access, they are constantly having to limit their time on the net due to data depletion issues.
Private health costs in South Africa are amongst the highest in the world and only 17% of the population can afford it- barely, and we all know who makes up a large majority of this 17%.
Analysis by the World Bank has confirmed that South Africa is not only the world’s most unequal country, but that extreme inequality has become a major constraint to higher levels of economic growth. Why is this the case? Well only a few control the economy in this country – the gatekeepers are not willing to share in the rich muchness of this country. Yet again we see that culture of greed we talked about.
Did you know that Small Medium Enterprises in China make up 97% of all business? 60% for the UK and only 36% for South Africa. That means that the big bullies with their monopolies and strong barriers to entry make up the rest of the 64%. What this means is that, given that these corporates are owned by a few individuals, we then end up with a situation where the Gini Coefficient looks way out of line, thus we end up with such inequality. With Big business having a huge chunk in the economy, their bargaining power becomes way too strong for it to be challenged. A culture of greed makes it so.
This culture of greed has been quite contagious – it flows in parallel with capitalism and high levels of consumerism. More often than not most of this consumerism is funded by debt.
Over half of South Africa’s credit-active consumers are over-indebted, the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) reported. “Of 19 million credit-active consumers in South Africa, 50% had impaired credit records, three months plus in arrears,” Western Cape provincial manager Karam Singh said in Johannesburg. “Fifteen percent are described as debt stressed, one to two months in arrears.”
There are too many examples to highlight that show just how we’ve perpetuated/driven this culture of greed forward. The first example would point to our politicians, the government is filled with corrupt officials, we only have a few individuals that benefited and continue to benefit from BEE, we’ve had cases of company Directors paying themselves ridiculous bonuses regardless of the financial well-being of their employees or the financial health of the books – we have people buying cars they do not need and cannot afford.
I saw a post on social media the other day of a bill hat totalled up to R250 000 from alcohol purchases in a club. This one of many instances, we’ve gotten into a culture of greed and showing off and not helping your poverty stricken neighbor. There are kids struggling with paying varsity fees yet the rest of the cousins who are making a killing in he business and corporate world care not about their cousins getting quality education and sleeping with a full tummy. The greed seems to have infested us all.
This culture aught to be removed from the face of our society if we are to move forward and prosper individually and as a collective. The basic pillars of togetherness, being content with what you have and also lending a hand when there is a child hunger in the community should be brought back to society. I feel this is the only way we’ll move forward – through collaboration and applying basics of Ubuntu.
#geniudlevel
