Viewpoint: Will South Africans’ anger boil over?

There has been no genuine effort to lift black South Africans out of poverty by giving them quality state education and technical skills, or to help small businesses grow.

Neither has economic growth been accompanied by serious moves to diversify the economy – from exporting raw materials to developing industries that would boost employment.

The impact of the global economic crisis has made things worse. Economists estimate that between 2007 and 2009 nearly one million jobs were lost, while the chief executives of top companies continued to get huge bonuses.

Poor South Africans are caught up in a sense of despair and frustration, which explains the frequent protests over a lack of services in residential areas and now the violence at the Lonmin-owned mine.

But South Africa’s leaders seem to believe that the country’s mineral wealth – gold, platinum and diamonds, among others – will see it through its economic problems.

They are being complacent – and risk social upheaval on a scale they will not be able to manage.

William Gumede is Honorary Associate Professor, Public and Development Management at the University of the Witwatersrand and author of Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Times