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<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>J<\/strong><strong>EREMY MAGGS:<\/strong> Oxfam, the global organisation that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice, is out with a new warning that extreme wealth is no longer just an economic issue. It says it\u2019s now becoming a political one as well.<\/p>\n<p>The argument, as I understand it, is that billionaire wealth is surging while billions of people face hardship, and that this concentration of money can bend media policy and even elections.<\/p>\n<p>Read\/listen:<br \/>Call to \u2018tax the rich\u2019 as global finance ministers meet in Zimbali [Jul 2025]<br \/>Labour leaders push G20 to act on AI, inequality and tax justice [Sep 2025]<\/p>\n<p>The provocative question, I guess, is can democracy survive that kind of imbalance? Or does everything quietly drift into oligarchy? I\u2019m in conversation now with Pooven Moodley from Oxfam South Africa. Pooven, a very warm welcome to you.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe without going into a political science lecture here, maybe quickly, the direct link between extreme wealth and weaker democracy. How does Oxfam see it?<\/p>\n<p><strong>POOVEN MOODLEY: <\/strong>Yeah, thanks, Jeremy, for having me on. I think in South Africa we have very clear examples. But what the report brings out is the fact that, for example, 74 of the 2027 billionaires held government positions in 2023, as an example.<\/p>\n<p>What we\u2019re starting to see, the US, with Trump\u2019s election and his inauguration was quite clear about where the billionaires sit in terms of closeness in proximity.<\/p>\n<p>But also, in spaces like the climate conference where governments come together to make decisions about how best to protect the planet and deal with the impacts of climate change.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p>What we\u2019re seeing is in that in Brazil, there were 1600 oil and gas billionaires as part of a delegation, which was the biggest delegation, more than any government delegation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>So, as I was saying, in South Africa, we know how wealth, through the state capture years and so on, how wealth has such power and influence on government policies and decisions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>So let me challenge you, if I can, without taking sides, billionaires will turn round and say they build companies, they create jobs, they fund innovation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>POOVEN MOODLEY: <\/strong>Yeah, and all of that\u2019s true. But I think the key point being here that there are two sides of the coin, as people get wealthier and wealthier, there\u2019s an impact on the other side.<\/p>\n<p>Listen\/read: \u2018Obscene\u2019 CEO packages spark fresh outrage amid SA\u2019s harsh realities [Nov 2025]<\/p>\n<p>What you get is people living in poverty without food because there\u2019s, let\u2019s say a limited amount of resources, and every time those resources are extracted, and if only a few people are benefiting from that, then it has an impact on everyone else.<\/p>\n<p>Read:<br \/>South African executive pay rises amid global talent race [Oct 2025]<br \/>Why wage inequality matters [Nov 2024]<\/p>\n<p>The point of the report is showing both sides, as the billionaires are increasing their wealth, which has been 81% since 2020, and as more billionaires come on stream, it does mean that what\u2019s at play is exploitation and extraction.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>If you look at wages of the lowest income earner to CEOs, for example, those are increasing and increasing.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But also, a lot of this wealth that\u2019s being generated isn\u2019t going to universal public services or to look at the health of a nation. If you\u2019re doing oil and gas extraction off the Wild Coast, as an example, it\u2019s not people who are locally benefiting. It\u2019s wealth extraction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>As you\u2019ve outlined to me, Pooven, your report points to mass hardship. I understand that one in four people are facing hunger, nearly half the world lives in poverty, and that is shameful. But is inequality the only cause of this, or is there a danger, maybe, that we mix inequality with poverty and also poor governance?<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>POOVEN MOODLEY: <\/strong>Yeah, I think there are a lot of correlations. In a sense, you could take each one of those separately. Poor governance on its own is a big issue.<\/p>\n<p>But where you have big influence in terms of economics, finance and so on, as we\u2019ve seen in South Africa, it muddies the waters because then it\u2019s poor governance, sometimes incompetence, but often someone\u2019s extracting and benefiting from that poor governance.<\/p>\n<p>Read: A deregulation task force could set business free<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s really important that each part, so government should strengthen itself and be independent to make decisions on behalf of the people of our country.<\/p>\n<p>So with our local government elections coming up, for example, there\u2019s been a clear correlation, and you can see it in the Auditor-General\u2019s report about how municipalities are failing, and that\u2019s got a direct correlation with money being extracted from the system.<\/p>\n<p>Read\/listen:<br \/>Bill proposes tougher new laws around money flow monitoring<br \/>From cigarettes to cars: Illicit trade is SA\u2019s existential threat<\/p>\n<p>Or if you take issues like crime, there\u2019s a clear correlation. If you look at Brazil or South Africa, why the crime rate is much higher than countries in Europe, for example, where there\u2019s greater equality within the country. So those correlations are there, and a lot of research has been done around them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>Do you have a sense then of what rule of the rich looks like in South Africa? Is it about tax avoidance? Is it cartel pricing, political funding? Maybe capture of procurement? What do you think it is?<\/p>\n<p><strong>POOVEN MOODLEY: <\/strong>Yeah, I think a big part of it is how money leaves the country. A lot of work has been done to look at illicit flows of funding, where not everything is declared, not everything is taxed so that money doesn\u2019t go back into the pool that can be used for the country.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I think, for me, a starting point is ensuring at a very basic level that money isn\u2019t illicitly leaving the country.<\/p>\n<div class=\"visible-sm-block visible-xs-block m1010\">\n<div class=\"ad-container-wrapper\">\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n<p>CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I think, two, is that there\u2019s obviously generational wealth, some of that wealth, based on apartheid, based on structural economics. A lot of other wealth is new wealth and so on.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>But ultimately, it\u2019s a question of, on the one hand, the extraction, and often on the backs of poor people based on labour.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>For me, the appeal to billionaires, to people with wealth, is to look at how do we do this collectively because ultimately, we\u2019re all going to face the same social ills based on the economics, and whether that\u2019s failing healthcare or failing other systems, which will have an impact on the rich and the poor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>I just need a quick answer to this. But many critics would say we\u2019ve tried redistribution before. It doesn\u2019t fix growth. What\u2019s Oxfam\u2019s answer to the fear that tougher rules or changed policy simply drive investment away?<\/p>\n<p><strong>POOVEN MOODLEY: <\/strong>Yeah, I think it\u2019s very clear that in most situations, companies will try and go to places with the least amount of regulation. I do think ultimately, it\u2019s going to be about resources. If you need platinum, you\u2019re going to come to South Africa for platinum.<\/p>\n<p>Read: Global inequality is as urgent as climate change \u2013 Stiglitz<\/p>\n<p>For me, it\u2019s more a question of ensuring, based on policy, based on all of the other social factors, that governments are in a position to have fair deals where companies will make whatever they need to do fairly.<\/p>\n<p>But at the same time, there are plans to ensure some of that funding goes into basic infrastructure services and so on, which will benefit everyone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>In conversation with Pooven Moodley from Oxfam South Africa. I appreciate your time today. Thank you.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Moneyweb\u2019s in-depth finance and business news on WhatsApp here.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\">\n !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n fbq('init', '779812924991616');\n fbq('track', 'PageView');\n <\/script>#extreme #wealth #quietly #pushing #democracies #oligarchy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can also listen to this po… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[10698,6628,10699,8179,606,81],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16242"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}