Black middle class 'only a myth'
Johannesburg - Although it looks as if there's a black middle class, the group doesn't really exist.
"It is a conceptual construction," Saki Macozoma told the Wits Business School on Tuesday.
Macozoma, former MP and current chairperson of Stanlib, asked the same question DF Malan asked 57 years ago - "Quo Vadis?" - but this time not about the Afrikaner, but about the so-called black middle class.
He reckons the group doesn't have enough of a "class awareness" and must rather be called a "category".
The group cannot ensure its own survival, he argued. Members of the group move up too quickly to form part of the high-income group, or fall back into a lower-income group.
Lacks political mobilisation
Moreover, the group lacks organised political mobilisation to defend the economic progress it made.
Recent criticism from ANC- and labour ranks targeted at the black middle class did not elicit a co-ordinated reaction.
The white bourgeoisie also don't see that their existence depends on the success of the black middle class.
The private sector can benefit most from a growing black middle class, still there's a subtle degree of resistance from business leaders, reckons Macozoma.
"The so-called middle class is greatly dependent on government's goodwill."
Cheque away from poverty
Macozoma also reckons that the group's position in the economy is very vulnerable. "Many people under the umbrella of the black middle class are actually only a cheque away from poverty."
The group doesn't hold many assets and continuously falls into the trap of reckless spending. "Education is the ticket to be part of a black middle class and a lack thereof makes one falls out of the bus."
What is known as the black middle class must at least grow at the same tempo as the economy, says Macozoma.
In this regard, he reckons black South Africans must not see Africa migration as a threat, but rather as an opportunity to grow the black middle class and build ties outside the country's borders.
"In every bar where I went in the rest of Africa, I heard someone speaking Afrikaans. The continent is open, the black middle class must also use it."
News source: www.news24.co.za
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