There is an ominous development in Zululand which will hold serious economic and social repercussions in time to come.
It’s not a new phenomenon, but an escalating one.
A Zululand labour consultant this week made a telling remark that served as a disturbing reality check.
He said the number of workforce retrenchments currently taking place in our region has reached an all-time high.
One can safely assume that the majority of the people who suddenly find themselves without employment and income are breadwinners.
Multiplying the number of dependents being directly affected paints a grim picture of what lies ahead – more poverty, hunger, crime and social disruption.
More frightening is the realisation that the shrinking local economy will offer most of those shoved into the unemployment queues with virtually no hope of finding work.
Good government stories about hundreds of thousands jobs to be created by the time Jesus comes, economic recovery plans, stock market gains and property price increases are macro issues of which the struggling masses have little understanding.
Frankly they couldn’t care a fig.
In their micro world they stare at empty food cupboards with no hope and nowhere to go.
And the numbers are increasing by the day.
Ticking time bomb
This, of course, is not a uniquely Zululand problem. It is a global issue.
While capitalism is accepted as the only sensible economic model for prosperity, try selling that to the despairing masses.
Whose prosperity they will ask?
Rapidly increasing income inequality the world over is the defining challenge of our time American President Barack Obama said recently.
In a BBC interview last week, renowned American economist, Deirdre McCloskey said a rethink of market economies is urgently needed.
She advocates the enduring power of innovation rather than wealth distribution and believes the single-minded emphasis on capitalist competitiveness should be replaced by a more sensible approach driven by ‘cooperation’.
To restore economies to working order, decisive political and economical leadership will be required, but in McCloskey’s view, such leaders are virtually non-existent.
The underlying message is clear, the greed factor has overtaken sensibility. The rich are enjoying parties to which no one else is invited.
This is mirrored in South Africa – big time.
If our leaders choose to ignore the rising tide of inequality, continue to stifle job-creating entrepreneurial development with red tape and steal the population’s funds through corrupt practices, we’ll reap the whirlwind.
