South Africa: The growth of the Black Middle Class – slowly, steadily, the African National Congress delivering a better life for South Africans

African middle class family in Lusaka, Zambia. PHOTO/Georgina Smith/The Guardian

Press Release

The African National Congress welcomes the outcomes of the study by the University of Cape Town (UCT) Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing indicating that the black middle class in South Africa has more than doubled in the last five years. According to the study, the black middle class has risen from 1.7 million people in 2004 to 4.2 million in 2012.

Following on the heels of a report by the Center for Development and Enterprise that the number of graduates had more than doubled since 1995, these statistics are a clear indicator that socio-economic freedom in our lifetime is indeed achievable.

The African National Congress celebrates the successes of our deliberate and decisive socio-economic transformation policies which are yielding results. While we still have much more to do together, we have no doubt that we continue to be on the right track. Greater focus should go into our continuing efforts to dismantle the apartheid economy, ensure greater redistribution of the wealth of the country and change the face of the commanding heights of our economy as demanded by the Freedom Charter.

Source: African National Congress