Why Indian South Africans are no longer a 'middle-man minority'

LIFE OUTCOMES

- PROFESSOR DASARATH CHETTY

THE term "Indian" defines a highly visible social group that is often perceived as homogeneous by outsiders.

Research indicates that negative stereotypes of Indian South Africans persist in the post-apartheid era, and media reports sometimes fail to challenge racial profiling and stereotyping, particularly concerning economic or crime issues, reinforcing historical prejudices.

Indian South Africans, in 2025, are no longer a sociological "middleman minority" created by apartheid to serve as a physical, cultural, commercial and ideological buffer between whites and Africans, but rather a profoundly diversified and structurally integrated component of the new South Africa.

The economic stratification, characterised by visibly high wealth on one side and significant unemployment on the other, demonstrates that the community has splintered along class lines, with material interests aligning with those of similar class segments across the national demographic.

This is now no different for all "race" groups in South Africa.

The unemployment rate for Indian and Asian South Africans stood at 19.5% in 2021.

While significantly lower than the rate for Africans (38.2%) and coloureds (28.5%), this rate is more than double that of white South Africans (8.6%).

This high unemployment figure directly contradicts the image of a stable, economically privileged "middleman" group.

The presence of a relatively high average income alongside a nearly 20% unemployment rate is the statistical signature of deep class division. The material interests of the unemployed and lower-skilled Indian working class are structurally identical to those of the working classes of all other groups.

Their struggles are defined by job access, housing and social welfare, fundamentally divorcing them from the entrepreneurial interests of the high-income Indian cohort.