Forget BEE: the middle is what needs to multiply

30 December 2017 - 00:00 By FARREN COLLINS

It's a new year's resolution for South Africa as much as for Cyril Ramaphosa: to create a bigger middle class.
And it's what economists believe should be at the top of the new ANC leader's list.
Data from a National Income Dynamics Study shows that only one in five South Africans have a disposable income of at least R2,900 per month and little to no chance of falling into poverty.
The study, compiled by the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit at the University of Cape Town, said this was considerably lower than previous estimates of the country's middle class.
And among that 20%, it said, many faced "black tax" - distribution of their earnings to family members.
Professor Murray Leibbrandt, director of the research unit and holder of the DST-NRF National Research Chair of Poverty and Inequality Research, said a "burgeoning black middle class" was a figment of the national imagination...

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