A worldwide crisis – income disparity – a letter from a Zimbabwean

Posted on December 11th, 2007 by Richard Catto 1,771 views

I love getting emails from my readers and a couple of days ago I received a rather lengthy one from Crosby, a Zimbabwean staying in London, who expressed his enjoyment of my blog articles. Here is a quote from his email:

Most white and black people still live parallel lives more than a decade after the end of Apartheid. Considering that the majority of black people live in poverty while their white counterparts enjoy relative prosperity. That is wrong and the importance of interaction between black and white people cannot be over-emphasised. A hungry man is an angry man and this interaction will hopefully help prevent a surprise scenario where one day the level of anger and resentment felt by the majority of blacks one day spills to the surface.

I agree with those sentiments. Income disparity is something which is on my mind often. I believe the chief reason why the gulf opens between the wealthy and the poor has much to do with ENTRY BARRIERS to the economy. For instance, trading in the property market is an excellent way to become wealthy. Buying, selling, improving and renting out property makes many people very rich. The problem is that to enter the property market is extremely difficult for most people, the world over, because property is so expensive, and few affordable opportunities exist. So for a person without the capital stake to begin with, they have to be able to qualify for a mortgage, and that is out of the reach of most people. Most people cannot afford to own property. The people who really benefit are those that can buy property for cash, improve it and sell it within 5 years for massive profit. Some of them then purchase land and build shopping malls and make absolute fortunes. But those who cannot afford to own even the smallest property are kept locked out and in poverty. This is a problem in every country and I believe it is the cause of enormous frustration.

When the farm seizures started happening in Zimbabwe I was completely shocked by the level of anger felt by my disenfranchised fellow citizens, and I’m black. Imagine how much more of a shock this was for the white Zimbabweans.

I wasn’t shocked. Rich white people are hated in Africa. They love their wealth so much. They love it more than life itself.

In addition I think that to further encourage this interaction, everyone (black, white, Zulu, Xhosa – everyone) should learn at least one vernacular language (that means an additional local language for the black people other than their own). Speaking another person’s language tears down social and racial boundaries like you would not believe. It says "I am one of you". You can ask any white farmer/supervisor/manager who works with black employees for proof of this.

I agree, yet in South Africa it remains compulsory to learn Afrikaans at school to graduate. I don’t know why we haven’t changed that to allow people to choose English and any one of the other 11 official languages to study.

I have a lot of respect for the way you see racism in South Africa and I think you are a brilliant impartial social observer. I therefore think that I speak for many of your readers if I suggest that you run for Member of Parliament or Mayor of Cape Town – whatever takes your fancy.

Haha. Politics is not for me. I’ll stick to writing. Thank you for writing in, Crosby. I appreciate the time you took.

Tags: Afrikaans, barriers to entry, Income Disparity, property, Racism, reader's letters, wealth, Zimbabwe
Filed under Income Disparity, Reader's feedback, Zimbabwe |

4 Responses to “A worldwide crisis – income disparity – a letter from a Zimbabwean”

1. esvl Says:
   December 11th, 2007 at 08:40

   I often think South Africa might become the next Rwanda. I hope I am wrong.

    

2. Richard Catto Says:
   December 11th, 2007 at 09:52

   Who would be the Hutus and who would be the Tutsis?

   Rwandan Genocide

3. Susan Sonnen Says:
   December 11th, 2007 at 16:15

   I learned things from you and Crosby today. Thank you.

    

4. SheBee Says:
   December 14th, 2007 at 14:10

   Crosby sounds like he should participate in this website more often actually. We could his your positivity.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.