Oxfam has called on countries worldwide to curb the political power of the superrich as well as their ownership of the media, warning that they are increasingly subverting democracy. Oxfam, an international non-governmental organisation that focuses on the alleviation of poverty, this week released a report, “Resisting the Rule of the Rich: Protecting Freedom from Billionaire Power”,whichillustrates how income inequality is eroding democracy globally. The report is pertinent in countries such as South Africa, characterised by high inequality and at high risk of capture by elites.
“The model predicts that a more egalitarian country such as Sweden has a 4% chance of democratic backsliding. The US, with a higher inequality, has an 8.4% chance, while in a highly unequal country such as South Africa the risk is 31%,” the report states. The report was released on Monday at the World Economic Forum, where some of the world’s most powerful and wealthy people meet every January.
Business Day in December reported on the latest data from theWorld Inequality Report, which found that South Africa’s inequality has not changed in the past decade, with the richest 10% holding about 86% of the country’s total wealth, underlining the huge task for the government in lifting millions of citizens out of poverty. The World Inequality Report also pointed out that inequality is a political choice and warned of the enormous influence of the wealthy in society and weakening of democracy. The most unequal countries are as much as seven times more likely to experience democratic erosion,it added.
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“Today’s billionaire boom makes one of its particular corrosive effects very clear: the gulf between the rich and the rest is driving political inequality. “It is creating a billionaire class with inordinate access to power and the ability to control our economies and societies, alongside a politically poor majority whose rights and voices are suppressed in too many countries. “When a billionaire buys a politician, a newspaper, or impunity from justice, it gives them tremendous influence over all our future, undermining political freedom and eroding the rights of many.” Oxfam pointed to the moves by Elon Musk in his purchase of Twitter, now X, and Jeff Bezos’ acquisition of the Washington Post as some of the dangers of the rich exercising their influence over public opinion.
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