The Southern African Customs Union (Southern African Customs Union, SACU) – formed by Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa – is the region with the highest concentration of inequalities in the world, according to a recent World Bank report devoted to the union, which is based on the Gini coefficient, an indicator of income inequalities.
The Rainbow Nation, the largest country in SACU, provides sad leadership as it is “the most unequal country in the world, ranking first among 164 countries”, according to the World Bank. At the origin of this situation, the‘Ethnicity which is a determining factor in a society where 10% of the population owns more than 80% of the wealth. Previous reports had already placed South Africa in the sad first place of this ranking. Thus, thirty years after the end of apartheid, the‘Ethnicity “remains a key driver of high inequality in South Africa, due to its impact on education and the labor market”, summarizes the financial institution. Ethnicity contributes up to 41% to income inequalities and 30% to those in education.
The other SACU members are not immune to the weight of their past either. “The long history of spatial segregation (in the customs union) continues to be reflected in the strong influence of the of geography and the rural-urban divide on inequality of opportunity”. The unequal distribution of agricultural land is a source of inequality, especially in rural areas. In Namibia, 70% of the 39.7 million hectares of commercial agricultural land “still belong to Namibians of European descent”says the World Bank.
Botswana, Eswatini and Namibia are among the “15 most unequal countries” in the world and “despite recent improvements”, Lesotho is no better off. Consumption inequality in the SACU region is higher “by more than 40% to the averages of sub-Saharan Africa”, among others. In total, “with the exception of Namibia, thehe contribution of inequality of opportunity to overall inequality has increased over the past two decades”in all the countries of the Union.
In total“factors associated with where people are born and raised have a relatively greater effect on their life chances than their gender”. And this, even if in the region women remain economically disadvantaged: they earn on average 30% less than men at the same level of education. The pay gap between men and women reaches 38% in Namibia and South Africa. Note that the report was produced before the Covid-19 crisis which aggravated poverty.