Poverty in South Africa

A symptom of the inhumanity of the apartheid era was the exclusion of the black majority from surveys of social and economic status. Measuring progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the new South Africa is therefore a challenge because no data exists for the baseline year of 1990. The starting point for poverty indicators has been shifted forward to 2000 at which point the measure of extreme poverty (less than $1 per day) was 11.3%, with a target of 5.7% by 2015.

By UN classification South Africa is a middle-income country with ample resources and by far the most developed country in Africa. In its "Vision 2014", the government sets out a strategy for fighting poverty through high rates of economic growth in parallel with direct welfare payments to the poor and high investment in education. The Mid-Term MDG Progress Review published in 2007 offers no update of the extreme poverty indicator but claims that the Goal is likely to be achieved. However, the most recent UNDP Human Development Report presents a figure of 10.7% for extreme poverty in 2005, almost unchanged from the baseline position. Over 43% of the population remains under the poverty line based on the cost of essential food and non-food items.

Table Mountain primary school © IRIN News

Despite the poor quality of facilities in many schools, the MDG targets for education are already close to being achieved. The country has also made impressive strides in the area of gender equality with over 30% women's representation in both parliament and in the cabinet. There has been good progress in the provision of safe water and sanitation and the government promises universal access to these services by 2008 and 2010 respectively, far beyond the MDG targets.

The extensive social grants system is unique in Africa in the extent of its reach - over 12 million poor and vulnerable people, nearly 25% of the population, receive child support, benefits and pensions. Depending on the method of assessment, unemployment stands between 23% and 40%, upwards of 5 million people, the majority from black communities. Given that UN-Habitat has assessed South Africa’s cities to be the most unequal in the world, there is understandable frustration at the slow rate of progress in overcoming the legacy of apartheid.
Health and HIV/AIDS in South Africa

AIDS billboard, South Africa © Daily Mail & Guardian

There were 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa at the end of 2007, the highest of any country in the world, almost 1 in every 5 adults. 29% of pregnant women in 2006 were HIV-positive and there are approximately 1.2 million AIDS orphans. A contributory factor may have been the South African national HIV/AIDS programme which has been marred by controversy, the government being accused of causing unnecessary deaths through not taking the epidemic seriously. Supplies of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) only started after pressure by various civic groups and in 2008 fewer than 50% of the 900,000 in need received state-sponsored ART. It took a court order in 2002 to make nevirapine readily available to pregnant women, whose access to treatment and care continues to fall short of expectations.

Women's rights activists in Johannesburg © Jaspreet Kindra / IRIN News

Heavy criticism at the Toronto AIDS conference in 2006 prompted South Africa to turn over a new leaf. Guided by former deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the country launched a new HIV/AIDS and STI Strategic Plan for 2007-2011 backed by a substantial budget and promises to strengthen the National AIDS Council. The plan, which received input from civil society, aims to reduce new infections by 50% and to deliver 80% of the eventual goal of universal prevention, treatment and care.

Pressure on overstretched health workers will be a constraint on the programme. Most South African doctors work in the private sector or leave the country – there are 4,000 vacancies in state hospitals. South Africa is one of very few countries where infant and child mortality rates are rising, largely as a result of HIV transmission at birth.
Food Security in South Africa

Are biofuels a panacea or curse for the poor? © IRIN News

South Africa has enjoyed a bumper harvest of its staple maize crop in the 2007/08 season and is traditionally an exporter of the grain. Nevertheless, high food prices are causing hardship especially amongst the poorest families who spend a high proportion of their income on food. Although the government has responded with increased social grants, the incidence of poverty is likely to rise.

There is political tension between an opportunist biofuel industry and the government, wary of its responsibilities for the availability and price of domestic and regional food supplies. The industry is unhappy with a decision to reduce the target for biofuels to 2% of total fuel consumption, with maize ruled out as inefficient and unsuitable.
Climate Change in South Africa

A further complication for food security strategy is the uncertain impact of climate change in South Africa. One prediction is that the west will become more prone to drought whilst the east will suffer storms and floods. Agriculture yields and freshwater supplies are very sensitive to rainfall patterns and debate as to how to adapt to climate change is slowly gaining momentum.

South Africa is also a major contributor to climate change, being 11th on the list of carbon dioxide emitters, ahead of France and Spain. Although it has no commitments to targeted reductions under the current Kyoto protocol, the government has put forward initial plans for energy efficiency and a carbon tax. However, a public survey has shown that South Africans have the lowest awareness of climate change issues in the world, ranked alongside China and US.
The Legacy of Apartheid

South African history is unique in Africa in that its black majority experienced the most extreme and repugnant form of repression by white rulers. In 1948 the Afrikaner-led National Party instituted a racial segregation policy known as "apartheid" which graded citizens by colour. The white minority had a very privileged life generously subsidised by the state; the Indian and Coloured community were allowed a lower middle class lifestyle whilst the black majority lived in abject poverty. Apart from prohibiting the right to vote or own land, the laws that marked apartheid included pass laws which compelled black people to show a passport to leave and enter certain areas. Discrimination extended to all spheres of life including job opportunities, education and health. Put simply, the non-white majority were not recognised as citizens of the Republic of South Africa.

Nelson Mandela © Geographical

In 1990 after many years of violent struggle, marches, protests and activism a process of abolishing apartheid began. The African National Congress (ANC) was the most influential political party in the anti-apartheid movement whose activists were killed and jailed in the name of freedom. Amongst them was Nelson Mandela who won the Nobel peace prize for his role in ending apartheid after spending 27 years in jail. In 1994 he became president after the first multi-racial elections held in South Africa.
The Constitution in South Africa

South Africa's Constitution was fashioned to correct the wrongs of the past and is regarded as one of the most progressive in the world. It is founded on a backbone of human rights, social justice and democracy, the clear separation of executive, judiciary and legislature symbolised by the dedication of a separate capital city for each, respectively Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Cape Town.

Progressive features of the Constitution include the right to access to water and the right to sexual orientation, which recently opened up the opportunities for homosexuals to marry under the civil unions act. It also has an equality clause and a strong bill of rights - if an individual or group believes that their human rights are being violated, they can approach the constitutional court for a verdict. To date, the court has ruled in favour of many otherwise poor and disenfranchised people thus forcing the state and other parties to conform to the values provided for in the constitution.

South Africa is unique in that has enshrined institutions in its constitution that are mandated to deal with human rights violations and support democracy. There are permanent and temporary commissions of which the best known was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) whose primary mandate was to document gross human rights violations in the period from 1960 to 1994 and to provide reparations. Perpetrators of crimes were encouraged to be accountable for their actions, seeking forgiveness from their victims and their families in the hope that the nation as a whole would eventually heal. The TRC was hailed as a template for reconciliation in post-conflict nations, its achievement all the more noteworthy given the subsequent reluctance of so many countries to follow the lead in transparent acknowledgement of past injustices.
Politics in South Africa

The country is a parliamentary democracy, ruled by a two chamber parliament made up of a 400 member National Assembly and a 90 member National Council of Provinces which represents the provincial interests in national legislation. Elections are held every 5 years and the National Assembly elects a president from its members - normally the leader of the majority political party.

The ANC has dominated the political arena, winning over 60% of the votes in the 2004 elections, enabling a second for Thabo Mbeki, who took over from Nelson Mandela in 1999. Identifying with the middle class of South Africa and the english-speaking white minority, the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, is not yet strong enough to defeat the ANC, securing less than 15% of the vote in 2004.

Since 2006 when Mbeki sacked his former deputy president, Mr Jacob Zuma, for alleged corruption in a 1999 arms deal, the ANC has for the first time in the post-apartheid era been fractured. Harnessing left wing support of the ANC youth league together with ANC partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party, Zuma upset the applecart by defeating Mbeki in the internal election for president of the party at the end of 2007.

Jacob Zuma, former Vice President of South Africa © allAfrica.com

Radically altering the composition of the ANC's influential "top six" officials, Zuma was able to force Mbeki out of office by September 2008. Kgalema Motlanthe has been elected by the National Assembly as a caretaker president. Zuma himself is ineligible as he is not an elected MP but he remains the most probable South African president-in-waiting. Whereas Mandela and Mbeki are from the Xhosa tribe, Zuma has a Zulu tribal origin. A controversial populist politician, Zuma has for the time being shaken off the corruption charges on a technicality. He has also been acquitted on rape charges.

The ascent of Jacob Zuma has come at a heavy price. Ten members of the cabinet resigned with Mbeki. Plans to form a new South African Democratic Congress party led by former defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota are progressing. Already it has gained significant support and could pose a real challenge to the ANC in the 2009 elections.
Human Rights in South Africa

Asylum-seekers in Tshwane, South Africa © IRIN News

The unconventional circumstances of Mbeki’s departure have raised questions about possible shortcomings in the Constitution which is already under scrutiny for failure to address the issue of xenophobia towards migrants and refugees. It is estimated that South Africa is host to a migrant population of between 2.5 and 4 million people of whom fewer than 40,000 have status as registered refugees. The migrants are mostly nationals of Mozambique, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, the latter especially escalating out of control through 2008 as Mugabe unleashed his electoral strategy of hunger and political violence.

These migrant groups face much hostility and resentment from the local South Africans who perceive them as competing for scarce resources and jobs. Longstanding tensions eventually spilled over into an orgy of violence across 5 provinces in May 2008 which resulted in over 60 deaths and massive displacement. Over 40,000 Mozambicans returned home. The UN Refugee Agency and international human rights groups have pleaded with South Africa to overhaul its lethargic administrative capacity for asylum applications, to end forced deportations and instead consider refugee status for Zimbabweans, and discourage the widespread discrimination experienced by foreign workers.

South Africa has one of the highest levels of violent crime in the world - there were 18,000 murders in 2006, every 26 seconds a woman is raped and every 6 days a woman is killed by her intimate male partner. In response to criticism of the criminal justice system for its failure to deliver rights to victims of rape, the government has introduced a number of courts specialising in sexual offences.
The Economy in South Africa

South Africa has two economies, the formal economy, dominated by big corporates attracting the largest volume of foreign direct investment in Africa, and the informal cash economy which is dominated by small business traders. The government is trying to merge the two in part by affirmative action laid down in the Employment Equity Act and Black Economic Empowerment Act. These Acts compel employers to favour job applicants from previously disadvantaged groups, with black women and men as the top priority. These laws have been met with much resistance from companies and the white minority who argue that they are "reverse apartheid" and that they enrich only a tiny black elite. However, strict enforcement is giving a chance for affirmative action to work.

Long term economic strategy in South Africa is dominated by two issues. The chronic $100 billion shortfall in investment in power generation capacity was exposed after a major shutdown in January 2008. And land reform is an important tool for redressing historic economic inequality. The government has a target of 30% redistribution to black ownership by 2014 but has achieved less than 5%, so far acquiring land only on a “willing seller” basis.


Anesu Makina has a degree in International Relations and Political Studies from the University of Witwatersrand and is actively involved with civil society in South Africa.

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