NDZ knows something we don't, and she's using it to win an election

This week, Statistician-General Pali Lehohla revealed one of the biggest failures of the ANC-led government. Poverty has deepened. Statistics South Africa’s Poverty Trends report shows that more than 30.4m of us are living in poverty. This is three million more than in 2011, two years after President Jacob Zuma took over from his predecessor Thabo Mbeki.

The numbers have shocked many, but you just have to go to some of our country’s many townships and rural areas during the day, to see how many young people, who are supposed to be economically active, are roaming the streets. If you do, it will be clear to you that half of our citizens live in poverty.

The number of unemployed graduates sitting idle at home is also an indicator that education does not lead to the great escape of poverty’s vicious cycle. You also have to listen to the black middle class that is buckling under debt, because even though, on paper, they are now active participants in the economy, they carry the heavy burden of looking after their relatives.