Professor Dudley Seers (1969, also 1979) views development in terms of the reduction in the severity of poverty, inequality and unemployment. Unfortunately, the three elements cited by Seers appear to have become more severe (not less) in the case of South Africa in spite of our experimentation with democracy since 1994.

While inter-racial inequality may have marginally declined, intra-racial inequality appears to be on the rise. The most recent red-flag was hoisted by the UN-Habitat in its survey of 109 countries in different regions of the world (www.unhabitat.org). Buffalo City (East London), Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni (East Rand) earned the dubious distinction of being ranked among the most unequal cities in the world (with Gini coefficients of 0.71 or more).

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