Famed French Economist Piketty Talks About SA Inequality

JOHANNESBURG – The much praised and often vilified French economist Thomas Piketty delivered the 13th Annual Nelson Mandela lecture at Johannesburg’s Soweto campus on Saturday, spending much of his well-applauded speech on inequality.

Pointing out that up to 65 percent of all income earned in South Africa goes to the top 10 percent, he said the country would benefit from greater transparency about wealth and about who owns what. He also said South Africa needed more ambitious land reform and he agreed with moves to introduce a minimum wage.

He said he did not think the country should look to private finance to solve its education and health system problems, and he spoke about land reform and a tax on wealth.

“What I has worked in history to have sustainable and equitable growth is to have a well-functioning public education and health system and South Africa should go in this direction,” he said.

Piketty, 44, who shot to fame with the publication of his blistering critique of capitalism, ‘Capital in the 21st Century’, is professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics. He is controversially known to argue for wealth redistribution as a means of addressing inequality.