Since the end of apartheid in the early 1990s, South Africa has made progress toward establishing a more equitable society. In particular, advances in areas such as electrification and access to education have increased equality of opportunities (World Bank 2012). In recent years, poverty has decreased significantly. Between 2006 and 2011, the proportion of the population living below the national poverty line fell from 57.2 percent to 45.5 percent. 1 Inequality of per capita household consumption also declined during this period: the Gini coefficient fell from 0.67 in 2006 to 0.65 in 2011.2

In spite of this progress, South Africa continues to be one of the most unequal countries in the world. In 2011, the top 20 percent of the population accounted for 61.3 percent of national consumption, whereas the bottom 20 percent accounted for 4.3 percent (Stats SA 2014). South Africa also has higher poverty rates than other middle-income countries with similar per capita gross domestic product (GDP). For example, using the international poverty line of US $2.50 per person per day, South Africa’s poverty headcount ratio was 34 percent in 2011, whereas it was 11.7 percent in Brazil and 5 percent in Costa Rica the same year. 3 In large part, progress toward greater income equality has proven elusive because of the enduring legacy of the apartheid system. This is true even though South Africa’s government has tried to attack the inequality inertia on several fronts, most prominently through taxation and social spending. The 1996 Constitution’s Bill of Rights established citizens’ rights to health care, food, water, social security, and social assistance. It required the state to fulfill these rights progressively and to the best of its ability. Since the end of apartheid, the government has expanded social assistance programs and spends sizable resources (by the standards of middleincome countries) on health and education services. By 2013/14, total government spending amounted to 33.2 percent of GDP, more than half of which was devoted to