Inequality drives crime in SA, even at the workplace
The Marikana tragedy would never have happened were it not for the severe levels of economic and social inequality between miners and mine bosses
High unemployment — 29% in the second quarter of 2019, according to Statistics SA — is a major reason SA is one of the most unequal countries in the world. Besides being a human tragedy in itself, inequality also has a strong correlation with violent crime. Studies show that about a third of any country’s homicide rate can be attributed to high economic inequality.
Arguably, the same trend is playing out in organisations in the public and private sectors: intra-organisational “inequality” (the difference in income, status and benefits between executives and general staff) is a likely contributing cause of intra-organisational “crime” (unethical conduct and counterproductive work behaviour)...
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