The impact of apartheidon urban poverty in South Africa: What we can learn from history

Abstract

South Africa's present day configuration of poverty and inequality bears overriding racial and gender dimensions as a result of the country's history. The distortions created by the now defunct apartheid system are still visible and continue to perpetuate poverty in South Africa, reducing people’s ability to improve their standard of living. This article provides a historical review of the impact which the apartheid system had on urban poverty in South Africa. Three aspects of apartheid policy that caused black urban poverty are highlighted, namely racially enforced re-locations, the nature of housing provision for blacks, the character and regulation of urbanisation.