Township culture of opulence
In a sea of poverty, the lifestyle that patrons of places like Eyadini Lounge parade typify some rich men’s island, writes Chris Maxon
ADAM Smith is said to have professed in his lectures at Glasgow University that “opulence and freedom” were the “two greatest blessings men can possess”. This positive linkage of opulence with freedom is central to Smith’s vindication of commercial society and therefore of modern liberty and its realisation in an economy imbued with moral values.
In his Wealth of Nations he made it clear that the ‘wealth’ lay in the well-being of the people. This covered not only their material prosperity (there is nothing noble about poverty, it is a miserable condition) but also their moral welfare (individuals should have the freedom to pursue their own interests in their own way).
In Moral Sentiments, Smith made it clear that humans possessed a disinterested concern with the happiness of others. It was a task of government to provide, through rule of law, a framework for opulence to be attained and to enable all its citizens, through the provision of public works, to enjoy the liberty to lead a life of their own choosing.
Put together this is the view that comes to be called liberalism. In effect, liberalism valorises the mundane. As a mundane liberal, Smith’s “economy” is “amoral”.
Enough about Adam Smith! Not many people in uMlazi or in any of the eThekwini townships can afford more than one meal a day, know of the existence of the Portuguese Islands, or dream of driving a VW Golf 7. Yet the lifestyle that patrons of Eyadini Lounge parade typify some rich men’s island.
To the youth of uMlazi and other townships in South Africa, places like Eyadini Lounge represent the emerging face of a fast-increasing culture of opulence seen in townships amid widespread poverty.
One wonders if the ilk that frequents these places ever feel the disconcerting inequality contrast, a gap that some may try to narrow through social enterprise.
Those who frequent these places symbolise the “successful” new breed, with class, luxury and affluence.
Apart from spending without limit on alcohol and women, they drive high-end cars and own homes in suburbia, Cape Town and Mozambique.
Witnessing these unabated trends reminds me of the substance in the late Guinean president Sékou Touré’s motto: “We prefer freedom in poverty to opulence in slavery.”
The truth of the matter is that opulence has found a new home in our townships.
The same townships that produced principle- guided fighters who sacrificed all for freedom.
According to New World Wealth, a consultancy based in the UK and South Africa, there are about 165 000 very wealthy individuals in Africa with a combined net wealth holdings of more than $660 billion (R9.2 trillion). This equates to roughly 28% of total individual wealth held on the continent.
From 2000 to 2013, Africa’s very wealthy individuals increased by more than 150% compared to the worldwide growth rate of 73%.
In 2013, South Africa topped the list with 48 800 dollar millionaires, followed by Egypt with 23 000, Nigeria with 15 900 and Kenya with 9 000.
The issue is not so much the opulent lifestyle but rather what Sbusiso Ndebele (2013) described so aptly: “South Af- rican youth had developed a culture of opulence and materialism to the detriment of ubuntu and the values held by the former ‘great generation’ that had sacrificed their youth in the struggle for democracy.
Wealth
“Karl Marx was 26 when he wrote his manifesto, Lenin was 26 when he led the revolution and Pixley KaSeme was 24 when he wrote the regeneration of Africa. Mandela and Tambo were 31 and 32 when they spearheaded the 1939 anti-apartheid programme of action.
“However, there is now concern that the youth have adopted a culture of materialism and are losing the values of ubuntu and upliftment of the poor,” he said.
Ndebele decried this culture as producing a “sub-culture called izikhothane”.
He pointed out that we see an ostentatious display of personal wealth by young people – regardless of the method of acquisition – of wearing expensive designer clothes, driving expensive cars and having expensive parties to show off their wealth.
Despite the public displays of wealth, the presence of 58 million undernourished and stunted African children below the age of 5, high levels of child and maternal mortality, and limited access to clean water and sanitation, health and education facilities, it is expected that the rich will give back some of their affluence by engaging in philanthropic initiatives.
I thought it is consciously disturbing to be rich while surrounded by poverty and do nothing.
I could go on and on describing this sad reality, or talk about the never-ending list of examples of disgusting displays of opulence in our townships, but I´m hoping the words I’ve written and the pictures they conjure are strong enough to make you indignant as well.
The point that also worries me is that these pictures seem like some form of escapism displayed by those who wish to escape who they are. The arrogant worship of opulence, power, control and the desire to dominate have produced mindless consumption and unimaginable weaponry that will destroy our townships and the youth very early.
But I also want to spread a message – we can change things.
Any one person or organisation can’t by itself change such a strong reality as inequality, but society can certainly decrease the impact of this scenario.
Co-operation
There seem, at least to me, only two major patterns in human existence: competition, the pattern of survival of the fittest, where the strongest, most cunning and most resourced dominate others; and collaboration, where relationship-building leads to association, alliances, partnerships, co-operation and team work, hopefully, for the good of all.
Let’s find substance in Sékou Touré’s motto: “We prefer freedom in poverty to opulence in slavery” so that those who arrogantly glorify selfishness, opulence and greed, may see the value of humility.
Our glow of gentle warmth is magical when we share ourselves in a loving way and we are not bruised by rejections of the child-adults on our path.
Maxon is a government communications manager