EDITORIAL | Politicians must listen to what we need, not tell us what we want

When it comes down to the value of every cent spent — and how big the economic divide can be - two reports just a month apart paint a vivid picture of how different the experience is for people on opposite sides of the coin.

In August, the South African Centre for Inequality Studies and the World Inequality Lab released a study on how wealth was spread across the adult population in the country. It showed the top 10% owned 86% of the aggregate wealth — and the top 0.1% close to one-third.

“The top 0.01% of the distribution — about 3,500 individuals — concentrate 15% of household net-worth, more than the bottom 90% as a whole,” the authors said, adding the levels of inequality were found in all assets, such as housing and pension funds.

In September, Stats SA’s latest National Poverty Lines 2021, showed the extreme poverty line increased to R624 in April, up from R585 last year. This amount per person per month is how much money an individual will need to afford the minimum required daily energy intake.

Sadly, about a fifth of South Africans are estimated to live below the extreme poverty line. 

Even in the country’s economic heartland, Gauteng, the proportion of people who live in poverty has shown a marked increase during 2020 and 2021, the Quality of Life Survey 2020/21, released by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) on Thursday, found.

The latest unemployment figures sit at 44.4%, including those who have stopped looking for jobs.

That is the real picture of the everyday struggle people of this country face. Little surprise, then, the clamour for a mere R350 social relief in distress grant that barely covers the essentials, but is the lifeline for families with nowhere else to turn.

Other findings by the GCRO showed one in four respondents (25%) reported that an adult in their household had skipped a meal in the past year because there was not enough money to pay for food.

The economic impact caused by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has been extensive, with many workers having their salaries and working hours reduced, or having lost their jobs.

But those more fortunate than others cannot afford, for the future of this country, to sit back and wait for politicians to deliver. Each citizen can make a difference.

It would be easy to park the problem of poverty and inequality before government’s door, but that will not bring us closer to any solution. At best, shifting blame would turn the focus away from finding the solution and relief millions of people need.

With local government elections around the corner, we should send a message to politicians. Before they come to us with their grand promises, let us tell them what we need and not passively listen to what they think we should hear. Show those with a shoddy track record the door. 

But those more fortunate than others cannot afford, for the future of this country, to sit back and wait for politicians to deliver. Each citizen can make a difference.

This was proved again by the Rebuild SA volunteers who, within hours of the looting and protests that rocked Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal in July, mobilised friends and strangers to help with cleanup operations, but also to assist in getting small and micro businesses up and running again.

Their efforts have become more streamlined, informal groupings have become registered organisations and small acts are growing into larger aid missions.

One such initiative is the newly formed splinter group Khanyisa uMzansi (Light Up SA), run by six strangers who joined forces to help father-of-five Nomfundo Sibanda, after he was badly beaten and his tuck shop looted.

From there, their projects took off. Small things making big differences.

They have changed the life of one family, the only requirement being that everybody who gets help must pay it forward.

If the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is to prioritise the important things and discard that which does not add value.

You may find yourself in the bracket of people who can go to bed at night on a full stomach and wake up in the morning to a good job. Your neighbour might not be as fortunate.

And it is for them, and the millions who dread each new day, that we have to use our collective conscience to find solutions.