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Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) was conceived as a structural intervention to fundamentally reorganise the South African economy and address persistent economic inequalities. South Africa has the world's highest income inequality, and this is reflected by vast inequalities in salaries and wages both between high and low earners, but importantly between different race and gender groups. Despite a plethora of legislation aimed at addressing inequality in ownership (such as B-BBEE) and in the workplace (employment equity legislation), women and Black workers in South Africa continue to be paid less than men and white employees, even when doing the same work (the pay gap), and are more likely to work in precarious, low-paid jobs (occupational segregation). These factors are driven by differences in the characteristics of workers, and by structural discrimination in the economy. Conceptually, we can decompose structural discrimination into two forms -- that which discriminates against people who do the same job, based on race and gender (the pay gap) -- and that which discriminates indirectly by occupational segregation -- blacks and women concentrated in low paying occupations. In this paper, we ask whether B-BBEE -- while not explicitly a labour market intervention -- has had any positive impact in reducing labour market inequalities. We review the literature on occupational segregation and the gender and race pay gaps in post-apartheid South Africa, and examine the various policy interventions, with a particular focus on B-BBEE, that have attempted to address this enduring problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including Black economic empowerment, the labor market, and inequality in South Africa.

In 2019, South Africa implemented a national minimum wage (NMW) for the first time. This is an important intervention, given that the South African labour market continues to generate some of the highest levels of income and wealth inequality in the world. The minimum wage is intended as a structural intervention to transform the labour market by setting a wage floor, while highlighting larger issues that continue to reproduce inequality in the labour market. The process raises interesting questions about the role of social dialogue in the policy making process, especially at a time when the roles of experts and evidence are contested in political economy. This article reviews the national minimum wage process from two angles: assessing the economic evidence and examining the political economy of minimum wages in South Africa. We take this approach in order to better understand the roles of evidence and politics in the policy making process. While both processes were contested, important differences emerge from the analysis: the economic lens highlights the intersection of evidence and ideology, while a political economy review identifies important lines of contestation in the policy making process itself. The national minimum wage process shows that institutionalised social dialogue continues to be a central part of the policy making process, but that it cannot be taken for granted: the particular configuration of the social dialogue process and the roles assigned to each player matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is a paradox; on the one hand, it is one of the most unequal countries in the world. Half of all South Africans continue to live in poverty, economic growth has stagnated and inflation remains high, while the unemployment rate continues to climb towards 30%. On the other hand, it has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, with a bill of rights that foregrounds expanded socioeconomic rights. We provide an overview of the latest statistics on poverty and inequality in light of overarching economic policies, and the socioeconomic guarantees of the Constitution. We argue that South Africa's inability to meaningfully address the high levels of inequality is due to insufficient attention to the way power reproduces inequality. We present a definition of power that includes social and market power, and emphasise the importance of a theory of power in understanding the reproduction of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The articles in this special issue arise out of the inaugural inequality conference of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, in September 2018. The articles in this issue provide a compelling analysis of the different understandings of inequality and why it is continuing and intensifying despite years of democracy and government policy interventions in South Africa. The diverse articles in this issue provide a compelling analysis of the different understandings of inequality and why it is continuing and intensifying despite years of democracy and policy interventions in South Africa. [Extracted from the article]