So, how does South Africa measure up on the banana barometer?
The only criterion, for which we get an outright yes, is that of large wealth inequalities. There is no doubt that South African society is very clearly divided along wealth lines and that the gap between the rich and the poor is slowly increasing rather than decreasing. When it comes to revolutions, foreign capital, infrastructure and the law, South Africa enters a murky grey territory. Yes, the country underwent a major political revolution, but despite the revolutionary rhetoric of the ANC and its alliance partners, this does not necessarily mean that we are “prone” to revolutions. And while the ousting of Thabo Mbeki as president last year felt somewhat like a bloodless coup, it fell well within the ambit of the law. South Africa is dependent on foreign capital to fund its imports and current account deficit (7.4 percent of GDP in 2008), however, it is not completely reliant on the inflow of foreign capital. Similarly, while there are definitely shortcomings in South Africa’s infra
