The inequality of wealth

The distribution of wealth in South Africa is always a hot topic, especially when considering the current atmosphere created in the country by the #feesmustfall movement and the inequality uncovered. With a sense of inequality felt throughout the country today, it seems that the wealth held the population holds will always come into question.

In a recent report by New World Wealth, The World Cities Review 2016 (in US dollars), the statistics for Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban were shown, giving an idea of South Africa’s position on a global level of wealth. To give you a bit of an ideal of where we stand, here are some of the global stats:

• The total wealth held worldwide amounts to US$185 trillion (or ZAR5 quadrillion) as of June 2016
• There are 13.3 million millionaires on earth
• And 1,940 billionaires in total

While that seems like an insane amount, it is always important to remember that there are in fact 7.4 billion people living on the globe – this means that 0.18% of the world are millionaires. However when comparing the world to South Africa, we can see that we are not in the same league as many other countries, or even cities. Here are South Africa’s stats as they were compared in US Dollars:

• Total wealth held in South Africa is US$580 billion as of June 2016
• The country is home to 40,400 millionaires
• As well as seven billionaires
• Cape Town: holds US$243 billion
• Cape Town: 7,400 millionaires
• Johannesburg: holds US$130 billion
• Johannesburg: 17,600 millionaires
• Durban: holds US$45 billion
• Durban: 2,700 millionaires

These total wealth figures refer to the private wealth held by all individuals of the cities or countries- including all assets (property, cash, equities and business interests) – but excludes government funds from figures. While maybe not as insane a gap as many other countries, these figures can show us the inequality in wealth distribution in South Africa. Having an excessive amount of poverty across the land, the majority of our wealth is kept within roughly 40 000 individuals within a country of 52 million people.

It is this inequality that spurs on the current debt crisis in our country. With the majority of the wealth limited to the top, a huge weight of poverty on the bottom and living in a credit driven country, this is the perfect catalyst for reckless lending and bad credit lending practices. With a poorer population that until now could not defend itself from creditors, many were taken advantage of in their eagerness to become financially stable and sufficient.

With steps being taken to curb the inequality and end bad credit practices that take advantage of the poorer population, cracking down on reckless lenders is a step towards empowering our country for the future.