Nevertheless, there is a concentration of poverty in regions shaped by administrative flats, called the homelands, and largely occupied by children women. The elderly are not involved in any sector of the economy that is formal. The per capita income for these areas is a mere fraction of that dominant in the country's urban areas. In previous days, there was some progress made by the black population to try catching up with the existing standards of the white population by moving to sectors that were economically active and also on the economic regions. This was due to the South African progress in the economy that had vigorous growth and its connected shortages of labor, which allowed the black population to increase employment and form unions that saw their wages realize an increase.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Afrikaners were a nation that was defeated after they dared to challenge the British in the Anglo-Boer war. The great depression and World War two brought economic troubles that were increased in South Africa and persuaded the government to have its policies strengthened about racial segregation. The national party of the Afrikaner won the general elections in 1948 under the apartheid term. Their primary goal was not just to separate the white minority of South Africa from its prevalent of non-whites but also to separate non-whites from the other and divide south Africans that were black with tribal lines to take away their pollical power. Apartheid was an official barrier that separated various races of South Africa, which were the black south Africans and the South African white Afrikaans. Even after it ended, after Nelson Mandela was elected the president, Apartheid played a vital role in the history of South Africans. Even before it was officially named, it was still in existence. Apartheid began due to two races who had different views on living. The white Afrikaners thought and believed they were superior to the black South Africans. Due to the perspective of the Afrikaans, there was an enhancement on Afrikaans nationalism because they carefully believed that segregation had to happen. After all, God needed the Boer nation to be apart. Also, the Afrikaners believed that they were straight decedents of the Israeli nation or otherwise thought they were God's chosen nation. The issue that was major for women in South Africa was always poverty. During those years of Apartheid, women of color were forced into rural areas and communities and lived off the land with no opportunities or choices, permitting them to have lives that were decent and with no choice. Only a few were lucky enough to receive money from their working husbands in towns and mines. This has left a devastating poverty legacy on the women of color and where the poorest of the poor still live under extremely bad conditions. The rural areas have been predominant by women because of the poor conditions.
A stat done on the South African people showed that half of all people of South Africa were living in poverty. This is because they were disadvantaged by inequality and their insecurity. Even with progress to liberate most South Africans since the end of Apartheid, it looks like it has been undone, with more than half of the country now living in poverty. According to a study done, since 2011more than three million South Africans have gone below the poverty line (du Plessis, 2015). More than thirty million residents of South Africa live with less than 992 rands each month. In recent days, collected data show that two-thirds of South Africans live in abject poverty. This captures the painful steps of one step forward and two steps backward that the nation has employed to improve the population's lives. The country has been found most times living in conditions of extreme poverty. A few years back, the country was found not to improve and had entered into a recession which saw its sovereign ratings adjusted to junk status, which made everybody's life hard, particularly the poor. All its efforts for eradicating poverty are being undone. The most legacy of Apartheid that is enduring is the poverty that the south Africans went through its the majority of people were black. Social spending on healthcare, housing, and a grant system was precisely designed to bring South Africa back out of poverty (Hughes & Irfan, 2007). Even after Apartheid, South Africans from the black population continue to be the worst affected by poverty, with half of them being considered under south Africa's line of poverty as they sacrifice food for other essentials. In addition, white South Africans who are less than one percent live below this line is very dire. Also, the South African youth are in this poverty trap from an early age, with youth living in households that earn less than seven hundred rands in a month. This is the beginning of a cycle that is vicious and which continues to adulthood, with half of these youths that are below the age of thirty-five being unemployed.
When sustainable goals development was aired in 2015, it was very clear that these goals would succeed in eradicating extreme poverty in Africa while these goals depended on the performance of Africa. After a forecast by the world bank and the United Nations suggested that Africa will not make it, it is sad to see that. This brings concerns to all of us on what can be done. The report says that Africa's minimal growth translates into reducing poverty because of high initial poverty and includes asset levels that are low and access to public services that are limited and prevent opportunities from being realized by households. Africa's high increase in reliance on natural resources for income growth and not agriculture and development in the country eliminates eighty-five percent of the poor population and lives in the rural areas (LODGE, 1998). In addition, the high fertility of Africa has resulted in population growth that is high and which interprets into wages that are less per person. And this is a point that mostly gets ignored when these discussions are held. When addressing these trends that are worrying, the report has four main parts that have more attention, these parts are, reduction in fertility, agricultural productivity increase and especially on the food crops, speak out on conflict and risk, and domestic supply mobilization growth while focusing resources on the poor. All these areas are primary sources for the welfare and livelihoods of poor people. Despite this being an important aspect of economic growth and reducing poverty all through Asia and Latin America, agriculture in a big way remains a sector neglected in Africa. The sustainable goals development report climaxes this gap and emphasis putting the focus on transforming the livelihoods of the holders of small farms and their households (Makdisi, 2018). The failure of various interventions in the rural areas has resulted in the current neglect. Agriculture is still the foundation for the revolution needed in Africa because of the imported foods that in large shares. In addition, poor farmers produce foods that they consume and have low-profit margins. This discourages private areas from investing in bringing value chains to the agricultural sector. Like in South Africa, the past decades of Apartheid have brought considerable change (Merrett, 2005). Since democracy was introduced, it has produced vital socioeconomic and political transformations that have affected most of its population.
In South Africa, corruption uses public resources in improper ways. The Republic of South Africa has a robust anti-corruption framework but has inadequate laws to enforce and be accountable in public sectors like health care, which remain low. In this regard, few seem to express shock because, for the longest time, corruption has been like an old tradition. Citizens have shown their anger about corruption, a theme that keeps on repeating itself in the pollical debates and reacts to very real problems. This was recently put out on the news that persons that were very well connected had taken equipment meant for the corona pandemic to enrich themselves. What is not true is that corruption is something that is new and it is easy to fix (Özler, 2007). Corruption reactions show an African national congress product that demonstrates the prejudice that people who are black are not capable of leading. All this will change when the party in the lead loses power or when the governing party will take corruption seriously. Over the past, more than three hundred years ago, corruption has been a feature that was constant in the political life of South Africa. Since it is an embedded culture, it will take time and effort to conquer it. In addition, there have been internal sanctions, which have been used to daunt whistle-blowers from telling out on activities that are corrupt in both sectors of private and public. Citizens of South Africa believe that ordinary people face revenge and other negative consequences in case they report corruption cases. The Gupta family scandal and former South African president Jacob Zuma saw Zuma lose his seat and kicked out of the presidential office because of major corruption cases (Spracklen, 2007). The system of segregation and discrimination during Apartheid, which was based on racial grounds, took the lead on South Africa's ideology and its political systems.
Having access to education is the most efficient way of alleviating poverty at the international and national levels. As research would have it, education is one of the greatest apparatuses that can be used to decrease inequity and poverty and arrange the foundation for continued economic development. Education is important because it helps achieve sustainable economic progress through investing in human capital. Education helps to promote self-awareness; the quality of life is advanced, and also there is an increment in populace and resourcefulness which encourages technological and entrepreneurship developments. In South Africa, levels of inequality and poverty rate are very high, while in terms of progress and economic growth in Africa, it's the least. Carried-out research that was qualitative showed that these methods allowed low-income homes participants in South Africa to share the original experiences about education as a means for easing poverty. The South African department of education can provide many specialized programs. Besides training and educating, a labor market policy has been evaluated and raised. Creating jobs and minimizing poverty and unemployment are the primary economic and social challenges in South Africa (Walker, 1990). The South African administration very well knows this. The rate of unemployment in South Africa has increased by twenty-four percent. To be more precise, this has not gone below twenty percent in the last twenty years. This has seen more youths being jobless and has raised concerns. This is the key determinant of south African poverty levels. Inequalities in opportunities that portray personal fortunes in the labor market reflect structural inequalities deep-rooted in South Africa. Most affected citizens are those of the population of color with most unemployment and poverty cases. This has left South Africa feeling like two different countries rubbing up against each other, one for the poor and another for the rich. Apartheid brought this separation, but South Africa has fought to bring the divide together post-apartheid. At present, South Africa is faced with education disparity, skill, and income. A bank report has continued to reveal that not only is the gap widening, but also it has become intergenerational. Circumstances that worsen the inequality of South Africa are both historical and as an outcome of policy uncertainty through the years and have made it hard for the South African who is ordinary to get themselves out of poverty. More than half of the population live in poverty, while twenty-seven percent are in a state of vulnerability of going to poverty. This country has just a mere four percent of the population considered elite, and twenty percent are considered middle class. The earning bracket of South Africans on the top is nearly five times more than those in average jobs that are low-skilled. Because of the disparity, there is a gulf of two economies in a single country, where those who earn more are compared to those of the developed countries while those in lower scales are like those of needy countries.
South Africa's most area of concern is education. Without a population that is educated, the progress of a country remains in shatters in terms of economic and political development. Like any part of the world, South African parents have a strong desire to see their children progress and have a good life, and hence families make sacrifices for their children's education. This calls for the government to offer enough classroom spaces and other facilities in low-income communities. In addition, the economy of South Africa is the second-largest in Africa, while Nigeria is the first because of its substantial infrastructure that is better. It brags of a high GDP that is relatively high compared to other sub-Saharan Africa and has its share of poverty and wealth. There has been criticism drawn by the empowerment of the black economy by the government from various economists because it has benefited a few individuals and left out the majority masses. Restrictive labor regulations, lack of skills, and the lack of education development have largely contributed to the large-scale unemployment and still possess as a problematic issue. Through the government mobilization, they can build tertiary teaching institutions that will equip tits country people with skills and knowledge that can help grow the economy and reduce unemployment issues. Also, South Africa can build coherent and philanthropic culture. Because the country has a huge natural, wealthy, and potential human assets, if they are mobilized in effective ways, they can go a long way in helping eliminate and reduce poverty.
South Africa has come a long way in liberating its people and country. But most work is yet to be realized. It can only be achieved if all the involved parties come together, find solutions, and use the available natural resources to upgrade the economy.
References
Hendricks, E. A., & Thengela, N. (2020). The role of education in alleviating poverty, inequality and promoting economic development in South Africa. African Journal of Development Studies, 10(3), 215.
Carter, M. R., & May, J. (2001). One kind of freedom: Poverty dynamics in post-apartheid South Africa. World Development, 29(12), 1987-2006.
Wills, G., van der Berg, S., Patel, L., & Mpeta, B. (2020). Household resource flows and food poverty during South Africa's lockdown: Short-term policy implications for three channels of social protection. Stellenbosch, South Africa: Department of Economics, University of Stellenbosch.
Fransman, T., & Yu, D. (2019). Multidimensional poverty in South Africa in 2001–16. Development Southern Africa, 36(1), 50-79.
du Plessis, Georgia Alida. "Apartheid, Religious Pluralism, and the Evolution of the Right to Religious Freedom in South Africa." Journal of Religious History, vol. 40, no. 2, July 2015, pp. 237–60, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12297.
Hughes, Barry B., and Mohammod T. Irfan. "Assessing Strategies for Reducing Poverty." International Studies Review, vol. 9, no. 4, Dec. 2007, pp. 690–710, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2486.2007.00731.x.
LODGE, T. "POLITICAL CORRUPTION in SOUTH
You must be logged in to post a comment.