An Economy of Miracle: Rotating Credit and Savings Associations in Townships of Johannesburg

Abstract

The article examines the phenomenon of South African stokvels and burial societies and the transformations that these associations are currently undergoing. Drawing on the sociocultural analysis of economic action, the article investigates the topic of mutuality by looking at the contemporary development in the field of rotating savings and credit associations in South Africa. The article is based on field research conducted in Gauteng Province, South Africa, in October–November 2014, 2015, 2017. We argue that, in the mid‑2010s, conventional stokvels and burial societies are becoming the characteristic feature of the “normalized” life of the middle classes, whereas the representatives of the urban underclass are increasingly engaging in the digital Ponzi schemes as a means of day-to-day survival, but also in the pursuit of the magical “instant enrichment”.