…parents in nearby Johannesburg were themselves renting their children to beggars for as little as 20 Rand a day – just under £2.
The full story is here and I thank James Jenkins for the pointer.
Rental markets in everything
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In a country with 24%+ unemployment, this doesn’t surprise me.
Indonesian children sell their services as passengers in cars allowing the driver to use the carpool lanes. Good work for a kid in poverty, until you wind up in the wrong car.
Bill has a good point. South Africa has, after all, successfully implemented a complete free market. It ranks #2 or 3 on the Heritage Foundation’s free market ratings. So, given that this behavior occurs in this libertarian fantasy land, I’d say that this is pretty stunning proof that free market capitalism is undesirable.
@frank
zimbos might not be the #1 problem facing s.a., but they aren’t far from it
I have read reports in the local newspapers that it is a common
practice in the villas of Buenos Aires to rent out very young babies
to beggars. The babies are then given drugs to keep them asleep while
the beggar totes them between cars at traffic lights.
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