Renowned author and retired High Court judge Chris Nicholson said there is a deep need to address inequality in South Africa and called for the government to change the status quo.
Judge Nicholson, speaking on Saturday at the launch of the book Paddy Kearney,‒A Prophet for our times, at the 1860 Heritage Centre in Durban, said “two white families, the Oppenheimers and Ruperts”, own half the wealth in the country despite South Africa having a population of more than 60 million.
Judge Nicholson in 2008 presided over the corruption case against former president Jacob Zuma and set aside the National Prosecuting Authority’s decision to prosecute him. The charges included money laundering, corruption and fraud. His ruling was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
“The inequality permeates our society. If you are not too depressed already don’t forget that Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi said last week, ‘We live in a country of gross inequality.
R860 billion is spent on health in South Africa and 51% is spent on just 14 % of South Africans’.”
The former judge said that inequality was “not about the size of our wallets”.
“It is a socio-cultural order, which reduces our capabilities to function as human beings, our health, our self-respect, our sense of self, as well as our resources to act and participate in the world.
“South Africa has agricultural and industrial strength but originally depended on its resources, especially its diamonds and gold. These great benefits were never to be shared with the population and have led to great poverty and suffering,” said Judge Nicholson.
He added that over the years the majority of South Africans have been consigned to the role of menial ill-paid labourers.
He said that after the 1994 elections, the “goal was to change all that had bedevilled the past’’.
“It was made clear in the new South African Constitution, ‘We the people of South Africa, recognise the injustices of the past ... believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it ... adopt this Constitution so as to ... improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person ...’
“Thirty years later, how has this wealth been divided? Not very equally, according to Lesetja Kganyago, South African Reserve Bank Governor, in a lecture at the Nelson Mandela University Gqeberha on August 1, 2018, entitled Inequality and monetary policy in South Africa.
“He said, ‘The Gini coefficient of South Africa is around 0.7, which makes it one of the most unequal countries in the world, and certainly the most unequal large country.’”
Judge Nicholson said Kganyago pointed out that “most assets are owned by people at the top of the income ladder... 10% of the population owns more than 90% of all wealth while 80% have no wealth to speak of; a propertied middle class does not exist.”
He added that the late Paddy Kearney who was chairperson and founder of the Denis Hurley Centre, spoke out about social ills such as hunger and unemployment.
“Would it not be wonderful if President (Cyril) Ramaphosa called in his Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana and said when you draw up the Budget, top of the list must be enough money to feed everybody in this country, not one meal but three.
“How different this is to the ‘middle-class gated communities’ that Paddy Kearney spoke about. In a lighter vein I heard one such occupant of these gated communities talking about a portly friend. ‘What is her favourite food?’ asked one. I am not sure but I think it is seconds!’ Apart from hunger, what are the other effects of this huge inequality?” asked Judge Nicholson.
Judge Nicholson, who published the book, Who really killed Chris Hani?, said Hani was killed because he advocated for redistribution of wealth and equality.
“Hani had an ambition to redistribute the wealth of SA and for that reason those who opposed him clearly had a motive to kill him. In the book, I explore others who were also killed in that self-same endeavour of redistributing wealth: Patrice Lumumba, Dag Hammarskjöld, Olof Palme, Bernt Carlsson, and Namibia’s Anton Lubowski.”
Additional information regarding the Paddy Kearney Memorial Lecture: Judge Nicholson was giving the 6th annual Paddy Kearney Memorial Lecture presented by the Gandhi Development Trust, Denis Hurley Centre, DUT and Active Citizens Movement on Saturday at the 1860 Heritage Centre. The event also included the launch of Dr Raymond’s Perrier’s book about the life and work of Kearney: “Paddy Kearney, A Prophet for our Times!”. Dr Perrier is the Director of the Denis Hurley Centre, which Kearney founded. The date was chosen, as it would have been Kearney’s birthday on 28 August – he would have turned 82 years old. He passed away on November 23, 2018.
The Mercury