Special Issue: Redistribution for equitable development in South Africa

Post-apartheid South Africa, 20 years on, still resembles post-colonial Africa in that years of institutionalised discrimination created highly unequal societies, making the issue of redistribution for equity compelling. Although South Africa has a number of policies that have been put in place to facilitate the redistribution of wealth, there is a general feeling that this has not proceeded at a pace that allows for significant reduction in inequality. These sentiments have emerged as hotly contested pronouncements on the nationalisation of mines, land redistribution and a general agreement that broad-based economic empowerment is yet to achieve its goals with respect to equity in employment, ownership and equity at senior management level. Coupled with high levels of racial inequality, South Africa's high levels of inequality in income distribution are also very persistent. South Africa's social indicators (e.g. life expectancy, quality of education and infant mortality) are similar to those of lower-middle-income or even low-income countries although it is an upper-middle-income country, a reflection of highly unequal distribution of both resources and opportunities (van der Berg, 2010:3).

The National Development Plan 2030 states that while some progress has been made in reducing poverty in South Africa, poverty is still pervasive and insufficient progress has been made in reducing inequality (National Planning Commission, 2011). It goes further to declare that South Africa has the potential and capacity to eradicate poverty and decrease inequality over the next two decades (National Planning Commission, 2011). The New Growth Path also mentions growing employment, increasing income and undertaking measures towards improving equity and income distribution as major goals.

Given the importance of distribution in development, it becomes imperative that this theme be thoroughly analysed with a view to sharing insights as well as policy suggestions. The topics of this special issue of Development Southern Africa mix both rigorous and policy-relevant research and thus appeal to a wide range of audience, from students to policy-makers to academics. As South Africa prepares to celebrate 20 years of democracy in 2014, this special issue comes at the right time for the country to reflect on areas that still need much attention as we look beyond the first 20 years.

A central theme from many of the papers in this special issue is the importance of creating jobs for the skills that South Africa has; that is, unskilled workers. This can be done by promoting small-scale agriculture, labour-intensive industries, trade, and through improving labour market regulations. However, it is also critical to improve education outcomes because evidence shows that the educated are the main beneficiaries of the post-apartheid dividends. At the same time, it is also important to look at critical institutions and organisations such as municipalities and unions in the fight to reduce inequalities in our society. The articles allude to the fact that in all of these the importance of government's policies is central, including employment, education, trade and government revenue-sharing policies. Social grants continue to be important in alleviation poverty and an expansion to cover youths needs to be considered.