What is the matter with South Africa?

The promised fruits of ending apartheid have not materialized and there appears to be no clear path out of generalized political and economic malaise.

I: The sick man of Southern Africa

It is fair to say that South African democracy has not lived up to the dreams of the 1994 transition that ousted the abhorrent apartheid regime. Next year’s 30th anniversary of the end of apartheid will come at a time of generalized economic and political malaise. Growth has stagnated (see comparative trends below), hobbled by failing infrastructure, wasted human capital (in a moribund education system), entrenched inequality (worse today than in 1994), and the dearth of new policy ideas. The current global inflationary pressures are further depressing real incomes.

Source: Author’s calculations based on data from Penn World Table

The human toll of economic stagnation is evident in high unemployment rates (32.9%, much higher for youth), a deceleration of improvements in life expectancy, increasing political polarization, and a tattered social fabric.

Meanwhile, the people in charge seem to be out of ideas. The country’s political decay has exacerbated t…