By Dominique Herman
It is a misconception that the majority of the black middle class in South Africa are "buppies", or black yuppies, a survey has found. In fact, the segment of the black middle class driving economic growth is the 35-50 year age group: the original affirmative action recipients who have worked their way up the corporate ladder and now have families.
Of the 28,8 million adult South African population, 21,9 million are black. Of those, two million are what Patience Muyambo, of Research Surveys, labels "black diamonds" - a group characterised by a certain amount of wealth, education and other middle-class determining factors.
"'Black diamonds' make up 10 percent of black South Africans, but are responsible for 43 percent of claimed black consumer buying power amounting to a value of approximately R130-billion," she said.
"This black population is very driven, very goal-oriented in comparison to other race groups in South Africa - particularly the women. They're sure where they're going and they're hungry for success," Muyambo said.
The black middle class was identified as a market that existed, but there was no understanding of their motivations and aspirations and it was commonly thought this group was driven by "flashy cars and designer labels", moved from the townships to townhouses as soon as they obtained wealth and mimicked what whites bought - the "black-follows-white syndrome", she said.
In fact, the black middle class was not a homogeneous group. Many, despite embracing modern lives, retained aspects of their traditions and culture and maintained close ties with the townships, even if they did not live in them anymore.
Through what she described as the largest and most representative quantitative survey of this nature in South Africa, conducted in conjunction with the University of Cape Town, it was revealed from 750 face-to-face interviews that home ownership was very important, with 91 percent of participants viewing property as an important financial investment.
Only 41 percent had access to cars and of those 34 percent drove Toyotas and six percent drove BMWs.
Although 90 percent formally banked - as opposed to 50 percent of the black population at large - there was a "mistrust of banks" and less than a fifth bought financial products, including insurance.
Most felt a minimal benefit from BEE policy and instead thought they had to work much harder than their white counterparts to prove themselves.
There was an average job tenure of between three and five years, which contradicted the myth that this group job-hopped gratuitously in search of the best opportunities, Muyambo said.
While 98 percent had at least one cellphone, only a quarter had a fixed line. At the top of their home wish lists was a computer and all owned a television and music system.
Their role models were business people and politicians. President Mbeki was the most popular followed by Jacob Zuma, their mothers and the Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.