To have and to have not
THIS year’s edition of the Rich List throws into relief yet again the extremes that characterise South African society. The degree of concentration of wealth in the hands of a few — still mostly male, mostly white — is worrying. The top 100 people in this edition of the Rich List have amassed a cumulative R197.15-billion in assets, and that is only counting their holdings in listed entities. It does not take into account property or a variety of other investments.
The social debate on the widening wealth gap is playing itself out everywhere from national politics to the classroom.
How much is enough? How much more than the worker should a business leader be paid? What kind of company performance is sufficient for the hefty bonuses paid to executives?
A Credit Suisse World Wealth report for 2013 shows that 0.7% of the world’s population holds more wealth than the rest put together, but in South Africa the debate requires particular urgency.
In part, this is because the government has failed to redistribute the full value of the taxes it draws from individuals and businesses such as those found in this list. Corruption and inefficiency have robbed the majority of the population of the chance to benefit more from the success of the few.
The same report says the average South African household wealth is declining.
South Africa is desperate for entrepreneurs to create the “next big thing” to break the stranglehold. Until small businesses can find a way to deliver products people need to the market, the Rich Listers will continue to dominate.
High-volume job creation and poverty alleviation must be addressed by entrepreneurship and growth in the middle class. This cannot be accomplished without some degree of state intervention and support.
And, just to further complicate the debate, we must not forget that alongside such staggering wealth comes a substantial effort to give back. For the most part, philanthropic acts by the country’s elite are not broadly publicised, but they constitute billions of rands flowing back.