DA questions inequality report
2010-02-02 21:29
Cape Town - A government report stating inequality within South Africa's black population group dropped over the past decade is at odds with an international finding it is increasing, says the Democratic Alliance.
In this regard, a paper published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) stood in "stark contrast" to the presidency's 2009 Development Indicators report, DA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The DA will therefore be writing to the Minister in the Presidency of National Planning, Trevor Manuel, requesting an official explanation for this disparity," he said.
According to the 2009 Development Indicators report, "inequality within the African population has declined since 2000".
Paper suggests otherwise
But a working paper released last month by the international OECD, titled "Trends in South African Income Distribution and Poverty since the Fall of Apartheid", suggests otherwise.
It notes South Africa's "high aggregate level of income inequality" increased between 1993 and 2008, and says "the same is true of inequality within each of South Africa's four major racial groups".
The paper further calls into question race-based redistribution policies.
"From a policy point of view it is important to flag the fact that intra-African inequality and poverty trends increasingly dominate aggregate inequality and poverty in South Africa."
"Race-based redistribution may become less effective over time relative to policies addressing increasing inequality within each racial group and especially within the African group," it states.
Trollip said that while there had been some improvements made over the past 16 years, "it is clear from the OECD's findings that the ANC government's socio-economic policies have not done enough to adequately address the yawning gaps of the past".
The gap between rich and poor continued to increase.
"This is largely due to the fact that many of these policies have only served to reward a handful of people based on their position in, and ties to, the ANC government, while the majority of South Africans continue to live in abject poverty."
One of most unequal countries
Trollip said the OECD report also revealed, among other things, that South Africa was one of the most unequal countries in the world, and that poverty in urban areas had increased.
"[It] estimates that only seven million people across all race groups earn comfortable salaries and enjoy proper access to education and health."
The report was merely the latest in a string of international reports and indicators highlighting worsening conditions in South Africa.
"The ANC government chooses to ignore these trends and instead releases its own set of indicators - the presidency's Development Indicators Mid-term Review Report - that uses manipulated data and cherry-picked information to paint a glowing picture of its own performance and South Africa's economic, political and social development."
It was imperative President Jacob Zuma's administration acknowledged these international findings, and started re-evaluating government policies that had directly contributed to the increasing levels of inequality in South Africa, Trollip said.
- SAPA