Ruminations on the Gini coefficient, the Zipf law and schools

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies

122/284 days of load shedding in 2022 (A weekend without load shedding!)

South Africa has the dubious distinction of having the worst Gini coefficient in the world. This is based on data from 2014. Since then, things have probably got worse. The last eight years have not been kind to the poor in South Africa and they have got significantly poorer. It has not necessarily been that great for the rich, however you define that, in South Africa either but they have done better than the poor. One can therefore safely assume that South Africa’s position at the top of the log seems secure.

So, for those unfamiliar with the Gini coefficient what is that all about? The Gini coefficient measures the extent to which the distribution of income among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Gini coefficient of one means one person or household gets all the income in the country and everyone else gets nothing. On the other hand, a Gini coefficient of zero means everyone gets the same income. The reality lies between these two extremes. There is some fairly complicated mathematics involved but you can leave all of that to the statisticians or nerds like me.

It turns out that the distribution of incomes can be described by the Zipf law which is related to power law distributions.  The law is named after the American linguist George Zipf based on the empirical observation that the most common word in English (or any other language), “the” occurs twice as often as the next most common word, “of” and three times as often as the 3^rd most common word and so on. 135 words make up fully half of all written text and rumination is not one of those words. Bear in mind that there are currently about 60 000 recognised words in the English language. There are many phenomena including incomes which can be described by the Zipf law. There are about 30 000 dollar millionaires in South Africa out of a population of  60 million. This constitutes 0.05% of the population.

So, dearly beloved, this is all rather cool in a mathematical and nerdy sense but what does this mean in practical terms in South Africa? Our boys went to the same elite private school, St Stithians College,  that both my father and I also attended. It is a world-class school with a magnificent and spacious campus and all the amenities you could wish for. The alumni of St Stithians have become prominent people in South Africa and all over the world. But St Stithians is not representative of what schooling for the majority is like in South Africa. Let’s consider the other end of the spectrum where there are thousands of schools. You see the Zipf law applies to schools as well.

I have recently had the privilege of becoming involved with Allanridge Secondary School and you can see what comes up if you Google that. There are over 2500 high school learners at this school. It is in a poor area in Rabie Ridge which is in Midrand between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The school is extremely crowded and must do the best it can with the resources available. Class sizes are often over 60. South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world at around 34%, and it is getting worse. Communities like Rabie Ridge bear the brunt of this. There is endemic poverty with all the associated societal problems of gangsterism, crime, alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic and gender violence, and teenage pregnancies.

So, what is my enduring memory of my first visit to this school? It is the kitchen. It is a room of about 50 m² (540 ft²) where two meals a day (breakfast and lunch) are prepared. There are some gas cookers along one wall allowing meals to be prepared during load shedding. There are enormous catering pots and some stainless-steel tables. There is a storeroom where food is stored. There is no crockery or cutlery or place to sit. This kitchen together with a small satellite kitchen in a container feeds 2500 people a day. The learners bring their own plastic bowls and utensils to receive their food.

The amazing, feisty, enthusiastic Nicky and a few volunteers staff the kitchen. They arrive at 06h00 every day and leave after lunch. The volunteers receive a stipend of R1500 ($82) per month. The kitchen was spartan but spotless. They greeted me with warmth and pride and answered all my questions.

This poor-quality, image is a photograph I took of the menu. This brings the message home powerfully. Look at the menu for Monday. Think about opening 688 cans of pilchards in tomato sauce at 06h00.

Add 142 kg of maize meal and 189 kg of pumpkin and voila you have breakfast for 2500 people.

For many of these children, it is necessary for them to be fed at school to enable them to survive and to be able to concentrate on schoolwork. This is what a Gini coefficient of 0.63 means at the coal face.

What do I make of this? On the one hand, there is anger and frustration that almost 30 years after the fall of apartheid South Africa finds itself in this position. Why are we here? On the other hand, there is intense respect and admiration for the kitchen staff at Allanridge secondary school. They are worth more to society than corrupt government ministers who travel at 160 km/hr (100 miles/hr) in blue light convoys, with tinted windows, and sirens blaring ignoring traffic regulations and who are exempt from load shedding and the realities of life in South Africa.

There are also, of course, those in the private sector who have access to the executive lift and spa, but they need to focus on running the businesses and looking after shareholder returns.

This is a topic that I will discuss with my friends over a nice bottle of cabernet sauvignon and grass-fed properly aged fillet steak at one of the many good restaurants in my area.

Thank you for all the ideas and comments. I really appreciate them and please keep them coming.

Regards

Bruce