Economy of South Africa

The economy of the South Africa is two-speed: a part is of par with the Pays industrialized S and the other has needs shouting for basic infrastructures.

According to the indicator of the human development (IDH) of the Program of the United Nations for the development (UNDP), South Africa moved back of 35 places in their classification between 1990 and 2005, noting the general impoverishment of the population. This regression would be mainly due to the recent installation of reliable and more representative studies (in the past the policy of Apartheid tended to occult the condition of the Africans), but would be also due to the devastations caused by the pandemia of the AIDS. The white minority, badly at ease since the end of the Apartheid, is anxious because of the AIDS, criminality and the political crises to the Zimbabwe and in ivory Coast. These last generated waves of immigration towards South Africa. Many African immigrates in South Africa to earn more money than in their countries of origin, but the AIDS and criminality make them leave at the end of a few years. Conversely, the white - especially young people - emigrate massively in Australia or New Zealand in the search of a quieter lifestyle.

Positive discrimination

Since 1994, the South-African authorities implemented a policy of affirmative action aiming at promoting a better representation of the black majority in the various sectors of the country (administration, public services and parapublic, nationalized and deprived companies). Thus, in many sectors, white were invited to take advantage of their rights to the retirement or to accept dismissals, with the help of a strong severance pay. One of the results was the relative impoverishment of a small portion of this white minority (10% of its members live today with 1 000 euros per annum).

In glance with the private sector, the government developed the reform Black Economic Empowerment . It is about a policy which touches for the moment especially the companies mining, financial, or those which try to obtain a contract of the government. These last must show that they made a place with the blacks in all the layers of the company. Blow, several companies carried out a transaction with the share capital, inviting groups of blacks to acquire up to 26% of the actions. Still, the government requires quotas of black workers at various levels of management.

But this policy of affirmative action is criticized more especially as it would have especially profited with the close relations from ANC and supports the constitution of a black middle-class which hastened to invest certain fashionable districts reserved formerly for the only white instead of helping with the development of old the townships (the sales at the black community increased by 700% since the year 2000 in the rich suburbs of the north of Johannesburg). At the end of 2005 according to " The Sunday Independent" , the Blacks of South Africa represented from now on more half of the middle-class, benefitting from a weak inflation and interest rates which have never been also low for thirty years (in 1994, the Blacks accounted for 29% of this middle-class then).

This social rise of the black community resulted by the acquisition of new cars (in 2004, 31% of the owners of new vehicles belonged to the black community, against only 11% in 1990), by acquisitions of residences in fortunate districts and in the opening of bank accounts (the number of bank accounts open to Wesbank, by black customers increased by 40% between 2001 and 2005 which account for from now on 22% of the customers).

But by engaging blacks, only on racial criteria and sometimes for figuration, the South-African companies contributed to feed the concern of the white community as for its future in South Africa. Thus, according to the Marianne weekly magazine, between 1994 and 1999, this policy of positive discrimination, associated with the insecurity, brought more than one million white South-Africans, among the most qualified, to expatrier in Australia, Great Britain, Israel or with the E. - U.. The immediate consequence was a shortage of labor in certain sectors (engineering, health, education) and the recourse in particular to cuban doctors to maintain the level of the health system.

In 2005, the South-African government redefines its policy of affirmative action while seeking to support the return to the countries of these too many and too qualified expatriates. It is the vice-president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, however radical, who is charged to make them this call of the foot by promoting inciting wages with those which would return to the country.

The South-African economy in good health with a growth faster than is envisaged all the same (5,1% in 2006) and a debt of the households reaching, with the third quarters, 63,5% of the income available.

The land reform

Since 1994, only 3,6% of the farms were redistributed to the 1,2 million blacks whereas 60.000 white have and manage always 80% of cultivable surfaces. The government had been given in 1994 like objective to redistribute 30% of the grounds from here 2014.

The law provides that the descendants of the farmers black, dispossessed by the force or wrongfully compensated within the framework for the laws adopted since 1913, can ask for the restitution of their grounds. It is the State which finances their repurchase, by negotiating the price with the owner. In the event of failure, an expropriation can intervene (whereas only 1% of the national budget are affected with the redistribution). The farmer can then make call near the Minister for the Earth before going in justice. The South-African Constitution guarantees that in the event of expropriation, the victim must be equitably compensated.

In July 2005, the majority of the 4.000 participants in the “Summit on the ground”, recommended expropriations whereas the vice-president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka asked “to import experts of Zimbabwe”.

Thus, to counter this galvanization of the South-African blacks sensitive to the forced expropiations (and without allowances) of Zimbabwe of Robert Mugabe, it is in November 2005 that for the first time the charged commission of the restitution of the grounds to the Blacks asks for the expropriation of a white farmer showing the will of the government to speed up the land reform in order to prevent that a “Movement of without grounds” politicized and violent one does not develop in the country. The victim of expropriation is a farmer afrikaner of Lichtenburg (province of the North-West) and the expropriés goods are its cattle-breeding farm of 500 hectares, its small slaughter-house and its house. Its family had repurchased these goods in 1968 with the preceding owner who had bought these grounds in 1942.

However, this redistribution should not affect the economic profitability of these grounds because the restitution with Blacks of the majority of the farms of the fertile valleys of Limpopo turned to the disaster, for lack of technical and financial framing.

The development of black capitalism

Since 1994 and on the basis of voluntariate, practically all the great mining groups and the banks yielded between 10 and 26% of their capital to blacks, Indians and mongrel. Initially, a small black elite, resulting from the leaders of the ANC, was reconverted successfully into the businesses while profiting from large transfers of capital of companies. Richest of them is Patrice Motsepe which accumulated a fortune of more than 500 million dollars in hardly ten years.

Since 2000, precise objectives were negotiated in certain sectors (mines, banks, distribution of oil, etc). Thus, according to the mining charter of 2002, all the companies must yield 26% of their capital from here to 2014. The Blacks will have to account for 40% of the executives in 2009. The companies which will not observe these conditions will be able to lose their rights of exploitation.

It is within this framework that De Beers, first world producer of Diamant, announced the November 8th 2005, qu ' it yielded 26% of its mines in South Africa to a black consortium, Ponahalo (held to 50% by Beers) chaired by Manne Dipico, former Prime Minister for Cape-North. With the end of the year 2005, Jonathan Oppenheimer, the executive director of Beers, should leave its station to a black to keep only the presidency. The others bénéficiares of the operation are then the former South-African ambassadress in Great Britain, just like the 18.000 employees of Beers, who hold 50% of Ponahalo. This consortium does not gather less than 80.000 people. he announced that he will reinvest part of his dividends in social projects. These changes should thus dissipate the climate of mistrust which weighs on the relations between the government and De Beers. It could thus prevent the government from putting in action its threats of tax on diamond exports.

The government of the ANC adopted in February 2007 a code of best the practices of Black Economic Empowerment, in order to guide the companies which wish to carry out a transformation with the profit of the blacks. Charters having legislative power were adopted for mining, oil, financial industries and of construction. Other charters are being studied industries of the maritime transport, import-export, tourism and information technologies. All the companies including SME will have to fill a report card (those which will have the best notes will be likely more to gain the government contracts). The multinationals are however exempted.

Natural resources

South Africa has a basement very rich in rare natural resources. It is in particular the first producer country of Or in the world and has some more than 25% of the mining reserves world. It is also the 5th producer country of Diamant and approximately the three quarters of the Titane present on planet comes from South Africa. One finds there also platinum, uranium, copper, coal and nickel.

See too

Vine growing in South Africa

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