P. J. van der Merwe

Central problems of economic development of the Transkei

Abstract In this article the argument has been advanced that the economic development of the Transkei is being retarded by a number of important barriers or factors which act and re‐act upon one another in such a way as to prevent development from getting underway on a broad front. The main factor is the lack of inducement to invest, which results from the limited size of the local market on account of the low level of per capita income. The level of per capita income is determined by productivity, which in turn depends largely on the availability of capital goods as a result of past investments. In the case of the Transkei, the circular relation between the above barriers is reinforced by the high rate of population growth, the high dependency burden, outward migration, the leakage of purchasing power, the system of land tenure and traditional attitudes and practices. Provisional reference only, has been made to possible ways and means of removing the barriers and of breaking the circular relation betwee...

Individual Economic Responsibility: a Necessary Condition for a Stable Order in South Africa

There can be no doubt that people living in South Africa are on the threshold of a new experience in interpersonal association. Until very recently the social structure of Southern Africa was strongly characterised by what is known in economic literature as ‘dualism’. Historically, this dualism manifested itself in the form of a highly developed and economically dynamic core, functionally closely tied to the European economy, but geographically surrounded by a numerically preponderant but economically backward population. Functionally the economic growth, cyclical fluctuations, institutional arrangements, technological processes, etc., of this core were dependent upon conditions in Europe. In fact this core was no more and no less than an integral part of the traditional Western international economy. To the managers and other important decision-makers in this core, Europe and the United States of America were spiritually much nearer than was the Africa around them.