The Haves and the Have Nots

At times it can be easy to forget that South Africa is in its infancy in terms of democracy because even though South Africa is not considered a developed country, our quality of life here is very similar to the United States.  This year marks the 20th anniversary of South Africa's first democratic elections and the official end to apartheid.  

My family lives in a beautiful safe community, a spacious house, and we have access to quality education and healthcare.  As far as I can tell nearly everyone that lives on our community is white while nearly everyone that works (gardeners, domestic workers) in our community is black.  Living here resembles what I think the South (in the US) would have looked like in the 1950's.  The black workers in our community are essentially bused in to work for the "rich" white people.  The wages are low but it is considered a "good" job because unemployment is high and it is very difficult to find work.  It is not unusual during daylight hours for 100 people, men and women, to stand outside of the gates to our community hoping to be picked up for a miscellaneous job for the day.  One day when I was dropping off our domestic worker, Jennifer, at the tax stand, three women ran up to my car in hopes that I had pulled over because I was looking to hire some help.  

South Africa has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world.  Because of this, I assumed that a middle class didn't exist in South Africa.  Most Americas support the idea that a strong middle class is important for a healthy economy.  I did a little in research and found that there is a growing black middle class in South Africa as a result of the end of apartheid, improvement in education and an overall change in economic policies (such as credit availability and the government’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) program).  One article I read pointed out that the rising black middle class is a sign that race is becoming disassociated with class because the middle class is now more racially represented.  Democracy takes time but progress is being made and the emergence of a black middle class is a step in the right direction.