A Brief Look at Stokvel, Taxi Association & Black Tax.

Stokvels, Burial Societies and Black Tax in the South African context all have one purpose upliftment. Self-help organizations that are community driven and designed for a deprived class of citizens previously excluded from economically participation. They developed and adapted the informal financial structures to overcome the inaccessibility of formal structures of apartheid. 

The origin of stokvel comes from the English settlers performing cattle auctions called stock fairs in the Eastern Cape during the early 1900s. The mutual financial assistance pooling clubs also known as stokvels, stokies, estokini, gegoois, gooi-goois, doodsgenootskap, burial society, mahodisana, mogodiso or kuholisana.

Clan Commonwealth

Financial structures like black Tax and stokvels have been in existence for thousands of years under different names in different languages like in Botswana: Poor members of the community were assisted by more affluent members through systems such as Mafisa (a financial scheme whereby people with lots of cattle loaned out livestock to those  who had none). The chief, the highest political authority, occasionally collected levies from his subjects to be used to sustain the community in times of famine and drought. The sort of similar system in Zimbabwe "Kubika Chiutsi" rather than taxes or levies collected, it is an act of giving thanks or prayer of gratitude to the chief for being the custodian of tradition, customs and practices for the Shona, Kalanga and Ndau cultures.

Mafisa and Kubika Chiutsi systems act like mutual financial associations, Banks or Insurance bodies. If your house burnt down and you had an insurance policy, the policy would given you fees to rebuild the house but in these clan commonwealth systems. If it was in ancient times, the banks position would have been the chieftaincy rather than money, the chieftaincy system would give you cows, grain and the community could help rebuild your homestead.

The negatives of  commonwealth systems: High taxes, chief growing mad with power, relative of the chief becoming more popular or even war generals, clan administrators and headmen starting rival clans. The braking off clan would create wars thereby orphans who'd be raised by aunties, uncles, grandparents, sisters, brothers or close friends of a particular family. 

Kasi Society 

Fast forward to colonization then in 1913, the natives land act was passed, it aims to regulate the acquisition of land, it prohibited the sale of land from whites to blacks and vice-versa. The act created black reservations then on laws divided South Africa into separate areas for whites and blacks, forcefully removed from areas not designed for their racial group. Yet indigenous cultures maintained much of their vitality the succeeding generations developed new traditions, cultures and communities to answer their needs , new religious groups, burial societies, stokvels & Co-operations formed.

Mashonisa: Loan Sharks

The creation of the black township, cramped spaces, lack of greenery and far from cities. Lets focus on the two cramped spaces and the distance from cities. Cramped spaces ko kasi were plagued by lawlessness and violence, criminal societies emerged. With a class denied from financial activities, informal financial structures were the way to go.

Illegal money loaning syndicates in other words "Mashonisa" offering quick and easy access to small short-term loans with high interest rates between 50%-30%. Mashonisas are embedded in today's social fabric. Some loan sharks say they have more customers today than they did in previous years due to increased cost of living. This is form a business tech  article titled: There's a shocking number of loan sharks in South Africa - 2018.

Taxi Association

The township being far from cities resulted in a money pooling societies gathering fees to buy a taxi, therefore a taxi association. The taxi industry has been in existence as far back as the early 1930's but under the policies of segregation and because of insufficient capital resources, were blacks were prevented from entering the taxi industry in significant numbers what was then called one-bantu-one-business. Deregulation in the 1970's & 1980's allowed for individuals with capital to enter in the minibus market. Thus the minibus taxi industry becoming a critical base for black capital accumulation with many taxi operations buying fleets.

Black Tax

Black tax is a financial responsibility young black adults bear in supporting their extended families by sending money home or other actions involving financial upliftment. Black tax is a collective culture that addresses the generational legacies of poverty and inequality in South Africa. Another cause is the disappearance or death of parents or a parent. 

Keep in mind HIV/ AIDS played a particular in South African demographics and the cultural impact it had on communities. 

In African culture how death of a parent is handled uncles, aunties, or grandparents step in to raise the children of the deceased. In modern times cousins would stay over at a relatives home until they found a job or school . Even sending old clothing to the less fortunate relatives. One form of black tax is passing on skills to the next generation like knitting, hairdressing, livestock keeping, agriculture, story telling, building or trading. 

Then the dysfunction of Black Tax with exploitive family members, like the always drunk uncle, non-cooperative relatives at a family business, financially reckless relatives or sending money home where relative build nothing.

 

The ethos of sending money home is to build a safe space if the main breadwinner is unemployed. Sending money home in South Africa should be like an insurance policy for unemployment where family members buy livestock, property or machinery for that is wealth circulation or clan commonwealth.

Video: Stokvel, Taxi Associations and Black Tax

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