Read Time: 2 minutes
The anti-poverty charity Oxfam warns that growing inequality in Africa is hindering democracy. The four richest Africans have more wealth than half of the continent’s population.
The four most affluent Africans hold $57.4 billion (€48.9 billion) and are richer than approximately half of the continent’s 1.5 billion inhabitants, according to a report released on Thursday by the anti-poverty organization Oxfam.
According to the report, Africa had no billionaires in 2000. Today, the continent has 23 billionaires whose combined wealth has soared by 56% in just the past five years, reaching a staggering $112.6 billion.
Furthermore, the top 5% of Africans possess nearly $4 trillion in wealth, which is over twice the total wealth of the rest of the continent combined.
The report also states that nearly half of the world’s 50 most unequal countries are in Africa.
In January, Oxfam reported that billionaire wealth was growing faster than ever worldwide.
Policies are biased against the poor
Oxfam contended that government policies are biased against the poor and allow the continent’s super-rich to accumulate even more wealth.
“Most African countries are not fully leveraging progressive taxation to effectively tax the super-rich and address inequality,” the organization’s report said.
According to Oxfam, Africa’s tax systems are nearly three times less effective at redistributing income from the richest one percent than the global average.
Imposing an additional 1% tax on the wealth and 10% on the income of the richest 1% in Africa could raise $66 billion annually. This amount is more than enough to close the funding gaps for free, quality education and universal access to electricity, the report said.
The continent also loses an estimated $88.6 billion annually through illicit financial flows.
Who are the richest Africans?
In its report, Oxfam named Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote as the richest man on the continent, with an estimated wealth of $23.3 billion.
Among the top four are also South Africans Johann Rupert and Nicky Oppenheimer, as well as Egyptian businessman Nassef Sawiris.
The NGO cautioned that inequality hinders democracy, impedes poverty reduction, and exacerbates the climate crisis in Africa.
“Political capture” by the wealthy undermines “pro-poor government policies and the effectiveness of public institutions,” the report said.
In Africa’s largest democracy, Nigeria, for example, exorbitant fees demanded by political parties often price people seeking political office out of running.
Meanwhile, vote-buying is rampant in a country where tens of millions of people live in desperate poverty.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the population of Africa, which is approximately 1.5 billion, not 750 million as previously stated.
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah