Understanding consumption patterns of the established and emerging South African black middle class: Ronelle Burger, Megan Louw, Brigitte Barbara Isabel de Oliveira Pegado & Servaas van der Berg

Much has been said about the levels of income inequality in South Africa, which do

indeed remain amongst the worst in the world. Thabo Mbeki, soon thereafter

president, described it eloquently back in 1993 when he first referred to South Africa

as a country of two nations: one wealthy and historically white; and the other

completely excluded from the economic mainstream, impoverished and black (Mbeki,

1998). After 20 years of democracy a large proportion of South African remains

excluded from the labour market and the mainstream economy. South Africa’s

unemployment rate and Gini coefficient have remained stubbornly high. Increases in

the frequency and violence of protest marches calling for improved service delivery

and better economic conditions may be evidence that frustrations amongst the

marginalised are escalating (Alexander, 2010; Office of the President, 2013).