Gap between rich and poor a problem: Ibrahim

MickeyD

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The gap between rich and poor in South Africa is of great concern, philanthropist Mo Ibrahim said on Saturday.

"After [nearly] 20 years of independence, one can ask 'what is going on here?'. South Africa is the most unequal country in the whole world," he said.

Ibrahim was delivering an annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Pretoria.

He said the country's land policy and the willing seller willing buyer principle should be revisited.

"Isn't it time to find an equitable solution within the Constitution? This is an important issue that needs serious attention."

It was also time to re-visit the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy to see whether it had achieved what it had set out to do.

"Did it [BEE] bridge the gap between the rich and the poor? We need to have a conversation on that for the sake of social cohesion."

Ibrahim said that half of the continent's population was below the age of 19.

African youth could become the best in the future in terms of production.

This was because the population of countries such as China and many European countries were ageing, Ibrahim said.

"But to do that, we need good education and training to equip these youngsters for the future. Through that, Africa can become the future factory of the world."

The African Index of Governance published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, showed that South Africa moved from 31st position out of 54 African countries in 2000 to 22 last year.

The index measures the African countries' performance in terms of governance.

South Africa showed great improvement, but still needed to do more, he said.

Source : Sapa /gm/aa/mr
Date : 17 Aug 2013 16:27
 
DreamKing said:
where this idiot come from?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Ibrahim

images
 
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Yip he's right there is a huge gap between high and low income groups if you consider gravy, window dressing and corruption as part of those groups/income levels.
 
Hemi300c said:
Yip he's right there is a huge gap between high and low income groups if you consider gravy, window dressing and corruption as part of those groups/income levels.
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Yes, but he doesn't say that in his speech, possibly chooses to avoid the topic to avoid being politically incorrect, the article talks about inequality and then in the same vein talks about land, I assume farm land and the willing buyer willing seller principle and how it should be re-looked at in our Constitution.
In other words all he is saying is change our Constitution and take the land from the farmers. One would then deduce this land would go to the poor people he talks about and this is where one can say he knows nothing about South Africa other than what he himself reads in the media, he doesn't understand the dynamics of commercial farming for one and that this measures out as food security for the country, fiddle with that security and the poor will just get poorer as the cost of food will exceed their means. It also makes the assumption that any land that is taken after this purported amendment to the constitution will go to these poor people and that is a very big assumption in Africa and especially in South Africa using Zimbabwe as case in point. One of the richest if not the richest farmers in South Africa is Cyril Ramaphosa, will they take his land too.

Sorry, but this man brings nothing new to the table, he just rehashes what has already been in the media domain for years.
In actual fact it smacks to his credibility in general by rehashing old news to sound politically correct, it might make for sensationalism, but does nothing to actually get to the bottom of South Africa's issues, there is enough money, there is enough spare land, however the money is mismanaged and the spare lands stands fallow.

I notice Jay Naidoo sits on Mr Ebrahim's board.
Wolf in sheep’s clothing....
 
After [nearly] 20 years of independence, one can ask 'what is going on here?'. South Africa is the most unequal country in the whole world," he said.
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Where is the research and statistics that reflect this information? I understand that there is a problem with regards to poverty in our country but it's annoying when people like Mo Ibrahim trivialise it by turning it into a race issue.
 
theone said:
Where is the research and statistics that reflect this information? I understand that there is a problem with regards to poverty in our country but it's annoying when people like Mo Ibrahim trivialise it by turning it into a race issue.
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And Mr Ebrahim taking that and extrapolating it out into our constitution with farmland and the willing buyer willing seller clause, needs to be challenged.
Who put these words in his mouth, did he simply read some old media articles and restate them.
The rich vs poor inequality scenario is a world wide phenomena, not specific to South Africa.

Mr Ebrahim either speaks from an uninformed platform or has another agenda and when I see that sheep in wolfs clothing on the board, the mind boggles.

Personally if I was a farmer in this country and the constitution was to be amended to take my land it would be a game changer, not only for South Africa's future, but for the legacy of many generations of hard working boers who against many odds stuck it out for a place in the African sun with no outside help other than their wits and bare hands.

If I look around South Africa at the old buildings, museums and the like I know who built them, I have yet to see an ancient ruin or foundation of a building that was built by a black man, that in itself speaks volumes. Lets face the facts, without the South African Boers, South Africa as we know it today, the economic powerhouse of Africa, would not exist, end of story, Mr Ebrahim should concentrate his efforts on other African countries that need it more, he could however point out that bribery and corruption in the South African Government is possibly the biggest contributor to the inequalities that he talks about. So much lost opportunity, so much time wasted and only a few benefiting.
 
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African youth could become the best in the future in terms of production.
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Not a chance in hell or heaven. The unions and the culture of "I want to have with the minimum effort or for free" are to entrenched in our "society".
 
The problem is that the minimum wage is too low. Current minimum wage is around 50% of GDP per capita in Europe, while it is around 30% in South Africa. You know about the golden age in America when the baby boomers were growing up, where most of the successful people from the generation existed, where the American middle class was the envy of the rest of the world? Yeah, the minimum wage in the 60s was above 100% of the GDP per capita.
 
Garson007 said:
The problem is that the minimum wage is too low. Current minimum wage is around 50% of GDP per capita in Europe, while it is around 30% in South Africa. You know about the golden age in America when the baby boomers were growing up, where most of the successful people from the generation existed, where the American middle class was the envy of the rest of the world? Yeah, the minimum wage in the 60s was above 100% of the GDP per capita.
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And some idiots think we can be the best and compete with China or India?

How quaint, stupidity defies the norm Mr Ibrahim.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_in_People's_Republic_of_China
 
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http://www.forbes.com/profile/mohammed-ibrahim/

This is why he, like every other billionaire, feels qualified to deliver commentary on sovereign states.

Cos he is filthy rich

Net Worth: 1.1 billion USD

Not that there isn't some truth in what he says. We do have too much economic inequality - problem is that neither he, nor many of the other commentators, are prepared to address corruption and wastage by politicians as a contributing factor.

There is also a sad lack of recognition that if you don't maintain your infrastructure you end up like most of the east, west and Central African countries where you have to sell off the richest parts of your country to the Chinese (and lesser extent, Indians) just to get back to where you were 20 years ago.

That said, those selfsame countries are outperforming us in the telecommunications innovation stakes, and, albeit off a low base, show impressive growth rates.
 
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Seriously said:
And some idiots think we can be the best and compete with China or India?

How quaint, stupidity defies the norm Mr Ibrahim.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_in_People's_Republic_of_China
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You mean like R6800 per month? I can cherry pick too.

Anyway the opportunity to develop the country during a period of low wages existed and was squandered by a bunch of stupid white men. It's come and gone, and unlike the Chinese the local people will not just roll over if the government tries to use force keep wages low.
 
theone said:
Where is the research and statistics that reflect this information? I understand that there is a problem with regards to poverty in our country but it's annoying when people like Mo Ibrahim trivialise it by turning it into a race issue.
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Where did he mention race?
 
Seriously said:
And some idiots think we can be the best and compete with China or India?
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Compete with the third world? What? That ship has sailed.

Australia is the de facto current day example of a country competing at the high end and importing at the low end. Their current account has been running in the red for more than three decades, their currency is going from strength to strength and they currently have the highest nominal minimum wage scheme in the world that sits at just above 50% of the GDP per capita.

The Australian economy is dominated by the services sector. A sector that can employ people of all skill levels. The exports they do make are still in the mining and agricultural sectors, and they export to poorer nations even - so where's that competition? We're in ****ing Africa. There's a swathe of poor countries on our doorstep. We can export fresh produce to these countries much easier than any other country in the world! We're a bit overly reliant on mining, but we should try and get ourselves or our neighbours to industrialise to use those minerals.

The most annoying aspect of our economy is that it has a working class attitude, trying to compete with the third world - trying to be the third world. It's time we mechanise farms and mines to push production and limit expenses. It's time to give those who are being employed at the lower levels better training, a bigger salary and more responsibility; stop treating the working class like children.
 
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‘South Africa should be pulling Africa forward,’ says Mo Ibrahim
A far better article.

Mo at least points out the obvious, like why is our neighbouring country electing a 90 year old man to another term in office, but alas our leaders congratulate the one who shall not be named.

"Here we have somebody in our neighbouring country who, at 90 years old, is about to start a new term. So what is wrong with us?"
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