Why are the South Africans still so poor even though they have diamond mines in their country?

Question

excuse me black south Africans.

Answer 1

That's not true, South Africa is the riches nation in Africa. Don't believe everything you hear about a entire continent of people. South Africa is rank 21 out 231 nations.

http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=003630

http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=003798

http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=003800#000016

Why do you never see these pictures of the nations of Africa?

Answer 2

There are a small portion of South African individuals who are some of the wealthiest people in the world. Not all are poor, social stratification, education, and a lack of diversity in relation to their export to import ratio are just some of the factors contributing to their poverty. The UN and other international organizations are attempting to reverse this unfortunate truth. This is not a quick process and will take the effort/money from a large majority of contributors. Globalization is taking place at an alarming rate. It is in the interest of many countries to reverse apartheid and see Africa become a healthy participant in the world economy for mutually beneficial reasons. These diamond mines hold potential for South Africans but can not hold such a large majority of it. South Africans realize they can not export one commodity and expect to be indefensilble to market values. The market is volatile and therefore South Africa must diversify their economy.

Answer 3

Look who controls the mines? and the land?

Only a very few owners make much money in the mines. Most South Africans gain no access to the financial success of the mines.

Some two-thirds of Africans live in rural areas, and most are without lifelines into the economy. Even in South Africa, which has the strongest economy on the continent, rural unemployment is about 70 percent.

Advocates say ending the cycle of poverty depends on putting farmland in the hands of blacks. About 96 percent of commercial arable land is still in the hands of South Africa's white farmers. But efforts to reform land ownership in places like the rural part of South Africa's Western Cape have been slow to get off the ground.

Answer 4

Poor south africans.

Answer 5

White south africans are all loaded. I wouldn't generalise the whole country without knowing all the facts. It is the black people that are poor and resort to crime - most white south africans live under lock and key to protect themselves and their belongings.

Answer 6

diamonds are still hard to find, and can be very expensive to dig for them. And also if every south african found a diamond, the price would go down tremendously, thus affecting the whole world.

Answer 7

Because of Aparthaid - even though the blacks are the majority, the white for most of the century controlled all the wealth, and didn't let the blacks hold government offices or major jobs. Thus, the whites essentially owned all the diamond mines while the average black was destitute.

Answer 8

Because of a corrupt gov't. There's like no middle class in South Africa or other African countries. Most of what South Africa experiences is what other African countries experience. The sad thing about that is South Africa is one of the most industrialized countries in Africa.

Answer 9

Why there are so many Americans so poor when this is the country whit the highest standard of living in the world, 40 millions without insurance, (you want me to go on?? ) the answer to this is the same that to your question, I think you know the answer

Answer 10

Because the diamonds don't get spread over South Africa. They remain in the hands of a super-upper class who pay African miners incredibly low wages to get them out.

Its a depressing scenario