AN EVALUATION OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC 
EFFECTS OF POVERTY IN THE NORTH WEST 
PROVINCE: 2011 
GAOPALLWE STANLEY TLHALERWA 
SUBMITTED IN FULFILLMENT OF THE 
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTERS DEGREE 
IN ECONOMICS: NORTH WEST UNIVERSITY­
MAFIKENG CAMPUS 
SUPERVISOR: DR. MIKE SIKWILA 
OCTOBER 2011 
DECLARATION 
I declare that the thesis submitted for examination titled an evaluation of the socio economic 
effects of poverty in North West Province is my own work and that all the sources that I have 
quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references 
Stanley Gaopallwe Tlhalerwa 
Signed: . ... . ..... . .. . ... .. . . . . ... . ..... . ....... . . . Date: .................... . ....... . ... .. .. ..  
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
I would like to thank God the almighty for giving me the opportunity through prayers to compile 
this research project with the hope that it will be of beneficial to the poorest of the poor. 
I would like to thank the following people in advance for the encouragement and advices they 
have given me in the course of compiling this report. 
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr Mike Sikwila, Mr. Modise 
Sedupane who is a lecture at the Department of Statistics who helped my compute and analyze 
the data. 
Thanks to all those respondents participated and devoted their time for me by making time to 
answer all the questionnaires and sharing their experience on issues pertaining to their lives. 
Many thanks to my family who were supportive during my absence from their lives when I was 
busy working night shifts in order gather as more information as possible. It was indeed a 
tiresome but fruitful exercise. Thanks guys you were emotionally involved and have contributed 
to my research project. 
Mr. SG Tlhalerwa 
North West University Mafikeng Campus 
November 2010 
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ABSTRACT 
The aim and objective of this study is to investigate the cause of poverty, assess the rate of 
poverty, the relationship between poverty, and income inequality and income deficiency in South 
Africa. The get to the objective the primary data was collected using a survey and a 
questionnaire was administered to the respondent. Thirty respondents managed to answer the 
questionnaire out of a total of forty. The response rate was 75% of the total questionnaires 
distributed. Chapter two interrogate the literature, whilst chapter three discusses the research 
methodology, that is ; General Household Survey(GHS), October Household Survey(OHS), 
Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), Income Expenditure Survey (IES) all collected and 
analysed by Statistics South Africa were used to review the income expenditure patterns of South 
Africa. A body of literature review of previous similar studies on poverty and income inequality 
is contained in this study to try and expand the broad definition of poverty and inequality. 
Primary data collected from the households is computed and analysed using SPSS statistical tool 
and the results are presented through frequency tables and graphs. The results from the analysis 
is grouped and compared and conclusions are made on what is perceived as a solution to the 
problem. The results indicate that people from the villages perceive their poverty as a result of 
government's lack of policies directed at creating sustainable employment opportunities and lack 
of monitoring and evaluation of pilot projects aimed at alleviating poverty. Lastly, the last 
chapter close by summary of events throughout the study, conclusions and recommendations are 
brought forward. The necessity for future research regarding this topic is mentioned. 
iii 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 
No. Headings Page 
1.1 Introduction 1 
1.2 Background of the study 1 
1.3 Problem Statement 3 
1.4 Purpose of the Study 4 
1.5 Aims and Objectives of the Study 4 
1.6 Research hypothesis 4 
1.7 Significance of the Study 5 
1.8 Limitation of the Study 5 
1.9 Research Methodology 6 
1.10 Definition of Concepts 6 
1.11 Study layout 10 
1.12 Summary of contents 11 
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 
2.1 Introduction 12 
2.2 Why do we need to measure Poverty? 13 
2.3 What are poverty perceptions in South Africa? 14 
2.4 The Socio- Economic context of Poverty 15 
2.4.1 Economic opportunities: Growth and rising incomes of the poor 16 
iv 
2.4.2 Various types of asset endowments that directly influence the well-
Being of the poor 16 
2.5 Who are poor in South Africa 18 
2.6 Where are the poor located? 20 
2. 7 Inequality in South Africa 20 
2.8 Conceptualisation of poverty 22 
2.9 Poverty as a concept 22 
2.10 Poverty aspects 23 
2.10.1 The social aspect of defining poverty 23 
2.10.2 Economic aspect of defining poverty 24 
2.10.3 Political aspect of defining poverty 24 
2.11 Global poverty 24 
2.11.1 The global view of poverty 25 
2.11.2 World Bank's view of poverty 27 
2.11.3 The faces of poverty 27 
2.11.4 The devastating effects of poverty on women 29 
2.11.5 What is poverty? 30 
2.11.6 Understanding the meaning of extreme poverty 30 
2.11. 7 Voices of the poor 31 
2.11.8 Effects and miseries of poverty 31 
2.11 .9 A day in the life of Saroja 32 
V 
2.12 History of Inequality and poverty in South Africa 35 
2.13 Theories of poverty 38 
2.13 .1 Three theories of poverty 3 9 
2.13.1.lPoverty caused by individual deficiencies 39 
2.13. l .2Anti-poverty Programs from Individual Theory of Poverty perspective 41 
2.13. l.3Poverty caused by Cultural belief system that support Sub-cultures of 
Poverty 42 
2.13.1.4 Anti-poverty programs from a culture of poverty perspective 43 
2.13.1.5 Poverty caused by Economic, Political and Social Distortion or 
Discrimination 44 
2.13 . l.6Anti-poverty programs from structure of poverty perspective 46 
2.114 Conclusion 47 
CHAPTER THREE: SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMY 
3.1 Introduction 48 
3.2.1 International Economic Perspective of South Africa 48 
3.2.2 Comparison of Global Economic Growth 49 
3.2.3 South African GDP by sector between 1994 and 2000 50 
3.3 South African Macro Economic Policy overview 51 
3.3.1 Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) 51 
3.3.2 Growth, Employment and Redistribution policy (GEAR) 52 
3.3.3 Overview of GEAR Policy 53 
vi 
3.3.4 The post- apartheid Economy: Growth, Inflation and Investment 53 
3.3 .5 South African Jobless Growth 56 
3.3.6 Population and Labour Force Participation 57 
3.4 Success and Critics of the Macroeconomic Policy 57 
3.5 Poverty reduction programs by the private sector 58 
3.5.1 What is the role of CSIR? 59 
3.6 Conclusion 60 
CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH DESIGN 
4.1 Introduction 61 
4.2 Case study as methodological frame work 61 
4.3 The questionnaire as a structured tool 61 
4.3 .1 Advantages of questionnaires 62 
4.3 .2 Limitation of the questionnaires 62 
4.3.3 Questionnaires construction 62 
4.3.3.1 Development of questionnaires items 62 
4.4 Population and sample selection 62 
4.5 Conclusion 63 
CHAPTER FIVE: RAMATLABAMA VILLAGES- CASE STUDY 
5.1 Introduction 64 
5 .2.1 Location of South Africa in the African map 65 
5.2.2 Brief discussion of poverty 65 
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5.3 The North West Province at a glance 67 
5.4 The Ngaka Modiri Molema district Municipality' s Economic history 68 
5.5 Government Policy on poverty 69 
5.6 Status of infrastructure in the villages 70 
5.7 Conclusion 72 
CHAPTER SIX: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND PRESENTATION 
6.1 Introduction 73 
6.2.1 Demographic information 73 
6.2.2 Age analysis of the respondents 74 
6.2.3 Marital status of the respondents 76 
6.2.4 Family size by the number of children 77 
6.2.5 Number of extended family 79 
6.3 Socioeconomic status of respondent 80 
6.3.1 Socio- economic status 82 
6.3.2 Economic burden 84 
6.3.3 Average income 85 
6.3.4 Expenditure on transport 87 
6.3.5 Types of transport to work 87 
6.3.6 Additional income of households 91 
6.4.1 Shelter or type of dwelling 92 
6.4.2 Water resources 93 
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6.4.3 Type of house 94 
6.5.1 Level of education attained 95 
6.6.1 Health care facilities 97 
6.6.2 Ambulance services 98 
6.6.3 Type of illness suffered by residents 100 
6.7.1 Nutrition 103 
6.7.2 Going to bed without food 105 
6.7.3 Government' s social responsibility 106 
6.7.4 Nutritious food 107 
6.8.1 Quality of life, safety and security 109 
6.8.2 Availability of sporting facilities 111 
6.8.3 Types of crime in the area 114 
6.8.4 Perceptions about unemployment, poverty and crime 116 
6.8.5 High mast lights in the area 118 
6.9.1 Efficiency of poverty alleviation programs 120 
6.9.2 Integrated development programs 121 
6.9.3 Stakeholder participation 122 
6.9.4 Sustainability of projects 123 
6.9.5 Ownership of Projects 126 
6.9.6 Possible solutions to management of projects 127 
6.10 Conclusion 130 
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CHAPTER SEVEN: SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION 
7.1 Summary 131 
7.2 Recommendations 132 
7.3 Conclusion 136 
8 List of references 137-142 
LIST OF TABLES 
Table2.1 Poverty indicators by the Province 21 
Table 2.2 People living on less than a dollar a day 26 
Table 2.3 The Gini coefficient by population group 36 
Table 2.4 Poverty income by household size (Rand per month) 37 
Table 3.1 Gross National Product of South Africa 49 
Table 3.2 Sectoral GDP for South Africa of 1994 and 2000 50 
Table 3.3 Growth and Expenditure components 54 
Table 3.4 Social and Economic Indicators of South Africa, 1994- 2002 55 
Table 6.2.1 Gender respondents 74 
Table 6.2.2 Age analysis of respondents 75 
Table 6.2.3 Marital status of respondents 77 
Table 6.2.4 Family size by number of children 78 
Table 6.2.5 Extended family living respondent 79 
Table 6.2.6 Number of extended family living with respondent 80 
Table 6.3.1 Source of income 81 
X 
Table 6.3.2 Family members depending on income 83 
Table 6.3.3 Average income of household 85 
Table 6.3.4 Average expenditure on transport to work 87 
Table 6.3.5 Mode of transport used when going to work 89 
Table 6.5.1 Highest level of education 95 
Table 6.6.1 How far is the nearest clinic? 97 
Table 6.6.2 Effectiveness of ambulance service when called 98 
Table 6.6.3 Type of chronic illnesses 100-102 
Table 6.7.1 Nutrition 103 
Table 6.7.2 Going to bed without food 105 
Table 6.7.3 Food parcel from the government 106 
Table 6.7.4 Food taken daily is nutritious for health 107 
Table 6.8.1 Accessibility of sporting facilities 109 
Table 6.8.2 Matters aggravating crime in the area 111-113 
Table 6.8.3 Types of crime 114-115 
Table 6.8.4 Relationship between unemployment, poverty and crime 116 
Table 6.8.5 Provision of high mast lights as tool for crime prevention 118 
Table 6.9.1 Efficiency poverty alleviation projects 120 
Table 6.9.2 Integrated Development Projects 121 
Table 6.9.3 Stake hold participation 122 
Table 6.9.4 Sustainability of the previous poverty alleviation programmes 123-125 
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Table 6.9.5 Proposal of projects ownership 126 
Table 6.9.6 what government should do to overcome projects problem 128-129 
LIST OF GRAPHS 
Figure A Pie Chart: correspond with table 6.2.1 74 
Figure B Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.2.2 74 
Figure C Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.2.3 76 
Figure D Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.3.1 82 
Figure E Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.3.2 84 
Figure F Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.3.3 86 
Figure G Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.3 .4 88 
Figure H Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.3.5 90 
Figure I Bar Chart: Additional income 91 
Figure J Bar Chart: shelter/ type of dwelling 92 
Figure K Bar Chart: water facilities in the village 93 
Figure L Bar Chart: type of house 94 
Figure M Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.5.1 95 
Figure N Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.6.1 97 
Figure 0 Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.6.2 99 
Figure P Bar Chart: correspond with table 6. 7 .2 105 
Figure Q Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.7.3 106 
Figure R Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.7.4 108 
xii 
Figure S Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.8.1 110 
Figure T Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.8.4 117 
Figure U Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.8.5 119 
Figure V Bar Chart: correspond with table 6.9.5 127 
LIST OF DISTRIBUTION CURVES 
Lorenz Curve of income distribution 38 
LIST OF MAPS 
South African Map 66 
North West Map 67 
APPENDIX A 
Covering letter to the respondents 143 
APPENDIX B 
Questionnaires to residents of Ramatlabama villages 144-151 
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 
1.1 Introduction 
The first chapter introduces the study outline in sequence. South Africans still perceive 
themselves as lacking enough food and income to meet all their households need (Human 
Science Research Council, 2003 , 2004 and 2005). The background of the study introduces the 
reader to the area in which the data was collected. It is then followed by the problem statement 
which helps construct the question why the study should be conducted. The purpose of the study 
introduces the reader as to why the study should be conducted. This is followed by the aim and 
objectives of the study. That is, what is it that we want to achieve by conducting this study? 
1.2 Background of the study 
The focus of the study is limited to Ramatlabama villages in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district 
municipality. Ngaka Modiri Molema district Municipality is the second largest of the four 
districts in the North West Province in terms of both population and size. The size of the 
population is estimated at around 691000. The area of Ngaka Modiri Molema district 
municipality spreads over 4 7 square hectares in the North Central part of the province, bordering 
Botswana in the North. Ngaka Modiri Molema comprises of five local municipalities; that is: 
Mafikeng local municipality, which is the Provincial capital ; Ditsobotla local municipality; 
Setla-Kgobi local municipality; Tswaing local municipality and Ramotshere Moilwa local 
municipality (formerly Zeerust). Ramatlabama villages are named after the border between 
South Africa and Botswana and comprise of Tsetse, Makgokgwane, and Botshabelo which is 
popularly known as Six Hundred, lkopeleng and Miga. All the above mentioned villages are the 
victims of forced removal of 1977 from the old white South Africa to the former Bantustan of 
Bophuthatswana. The inhabitants of the villages suffered hardships of change as they have to 
start new lives and had to fend for new jobs in a new environment. When they arrived in their 
new places, they were allocated tents and tin houses as temporary shelter. There were street taps 
of running water and the source of energy was wood as there was no electricity because all the 
villages received electricity only in 1993. Currently, almost all the households have running 
water inside their dwellings, even though there is a problem of payment for services as there are 
1 
no metering facilities and possibly because of the high rate of lack of income and poverty 
incidence. 
The legitimacy of this study is that the inhabitants of Ramatlabama villages are mostly doing the 
same types of jobs, such as being police men or women, soldiers or teachers. After 1994 a 
process of restructuring in the South African defence force saw a lot of public servants opting for 
severance packages, of which most of them are now jobless. The police force also underwent 
restructuring process from a police force to police service. Most police men left the jobs as they 
were not prepared to relocate to other areas of need. 
Under Bophuthatswana regime there was a broiler farm next to Ramatlabama border named 
Agrichicks. Most of the households around this villages depended on this project as their means 
of employment. Under the regime agrichics was bailed out more than twice by the then 
government under the auspices of Agricor (agricultural corporation) which was under 
department of agriculture. The then government bailed out as a form of the so-called artificial 
economy in order to keep the workers working. The bail out was done repeatedly despite the fact 
that the culprits were mismanaging the company resources and were never brought to justice in 
all instances to account for the missing funds . 
Things changed when the new African ational Congress led government took power and 
emphasised that the Bophuthatswana government was never legitimate and its economy was 
therefore artificial. The company was put under a judicial management for almost two years and 
never managed to make profit, until it was liquidated and sold to new owners. The most 
unfortunate part was that the new management could not absorb the original manpower of more 
than 3000 workforce, and they had to be laid-off. The consequence of the judicial management is 
still felt and can be seen on all those former employees. It can be seen that the dismissal of the 
workers would have exacerbated the poverty situation in the Ramatlabama villages. 
The research will assess the extent of the poverty as well as the poverty gap that exists in the 
Ramatlabama villages. The study will also assess the prevalence of unemployment in the area. 
The study will also provide detailed analysis of the socio-economic development trends and 
development programmes aimed at eradicating poverty in Ngaka Modiri Molema district 
municipality. 
2 
Poverty is a political issue because it relates to the effective allocation and distribution of 
resources by the government for its people and also reflects on the impact of the past and present 
policy choices (Meth 2006). The conceptualisation, definition and measurement poverty in a 
society are like a mirror image of the ideals of that society. Society means a shared life. If some 
individuals are poor and others are not poor, then the principles on which life is shared are at 
issue: society itself is in question (Halsey 1985). After 1994, a number of reports on poverty 
were commissioned by various bodies including the office of the Deputy President. These 
includes the 1995 key indicators of Poverty in South Africa, the Participatory Poverty 
Assessment- south Africa report and the Poverty and inequality report, both published in 1998. 
These studies and reports were part of a national commitment to eradicating poverty that was 
embodied in the "War on Poverty" declared by then President Nelson Mandela on behalf of the 
state in 1996. 
It is imperative to note that according to the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration, South Africa has a 
commitment to adopt an official measure of poverty. Different measures have been developed 
and used by different researchers as well as different government departments and agencies. 
Meanwhile, the lack of absolute consensus on the issue of poverty definitions and poverty 
measurements has negative and positive consequences. That is the reason why there is a need for 
more research projects on poverty dimensions. 
1.3 Problem Statement 
The Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality community has experienced hardships with 
regard to the provision of education, health, housing, water and sanitation which are ingredients 
and basic needs of all humans. This problem manifests itself in low incomes prevailing in the 
community and the district. 
The distinct problem that characterises South Africa even after fifteen years of democratic 
elections of 1994 is the high unemployment rates which manifest itself in the high poverty rate 
and the fact that South Africa has one of the worst income inequalities in the world (World Bank 
Report 2006). It is important to note that in reality these two variables are different and their 
differences have important policy consequences. The first objective of the study will focus on an 
overview of the previous studies on poverty and income distribution in South Africa. The focus 
3 
will be on various definitions of poverty and income inequality. The most common indicators 
used to measure poverty and inequality will be outlined as well as forms of deprivation. 
1.4 Purpose of the study 
The purpose of the study is to explore the deep effects of poverty in the lives of the people of 
Ramatlabama. The Six Hundred, Miga and Ikopeleng areas of Ramatlabama provide a good case 
for evaluating poverty incid~nces as they became some of the most underprivileged areas of 
Mafikeng after they were forcefully removed from their original land of birth in 1977 by the then 
apartheid government. 
1.5 Aims and Objectives of the Study 
The aim of the study is to investigate the nature and dimensions of poverty in conjunction 
income inequality and lack of employment opportunities. 
The objective of the study will be to: 
1.5.1 Investigate the socio-economic profile of households of Ramatlabama, outlining the 
nature, character, dynamics of poverty levels and also highlight the issues that force 
people to be trapped in poverty in the area; 
1.5.2 Provide a critical assessment of poverty measurements and poverty gaps; 
1.5.3 Suggest recommendations and identify available Poverty Alleviation Programmes 
(PAP' s) and policies that can be used to reduce the levels of poverty and which 
involve the community at large. 
1.6 Research hypothesis 
1.6.1 Relative poverty is present among South Africans and it 1s due to government's 
inability to create decent jobs for its inhabitants. 
1.6.2 Absolute poverty is as a result of government's lack of monitoring and evaluation 
mechanisms. 
1.6.3 Poverty is due to lack of government policies aimed at supporting the poor. 
4 
1.6.4 Income poverty and income inequality is due to lack of sound redistributive policies. 
1.6.5 Poverty is due to lack of decent education and skills acquisition backblocks. 
1. 7 Significance of the study 
Changes in poverty and inequality are key dimensions of transformation in South Africa after the 
legacy of apartheid. The majority of people are poor. There are various dimensions of poverty in 
this country such as racial, geographic, and gender. 
This study is significant because it can help bring appropriate policy intervention measures 
needed to eliminate the scourge of poverty in Ngaka Modiri Molema district Municipality, the 
North West Province and South Africa. The study of this nature will also enhance our 
understanding of the concept of poverty as a whole and its effects on the population in general. 
Indeed, it is a critical task for South Africa as a country, with its majority of its inhabitants living 
under the abject poverty, to come up with sound economic policies which will help alleviate 
poverty. Sound economic policies relevant to the current situation could only be realised through 
extensive research, government and non-government initiatives as well as private-public 
partnerships. Other researchers will also benefit from this investigation of income poverty and 
income inequality at Ramatlabama villages in the North West Province, South Africa. 
1.8 Limitation of the study 
The focus of the study is limited to Ramatlabama villages in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district 
municipality which is the second largest of the four districts in terms of both population and size. 
The population size is estimated at around 691000 and its area spreads over 4 7 square hectares in 
the North Central part of the province, bordering Botswana in the North. Ngaka Modiri Molema 
is comprised of five local municipalities; that is: Mafikeng local municipality which is the 
Provincial capital, Ditsobotla local municipality, Setla-Kgobi local municipality, Tswaing local 
municipality and Ramotshere Moilwa local municipality (formerly Zeerust). Ramatlabama 
villages are named after the border between South Africa and Botswana and comprises of Tsetse, 
Makgokgwane, Botshabelo or Six Hundred, Ikopeleng and Miga. All the above mentioned 
villages are the victims of forced removals of 1977 from the old white South Africa to the former 
Bantustan of Bophuthatswana. The reason for the selection of these villages is because of their 
5 
close proximity to the researcher, lack of funds to travel the whole district or all villages and 
accessibility of the area. 
1.9 Research methodology 
After the literature review of the theory of poverty, a survey methodology was employed to 
collect primary data on households. A sample of 30 households was randomly picked from the 
population of the villages. This was followed by in-depth interviews using questionnaires 
prepared by the researcher. In addition, secondary data of General Household Survey (OHS), 
October Household Survey (OHS), Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), Labour Force 
Survey (LFS) and Income Expenditure Survey collected and computed by Statistics South Africa 
was used. 
The research used quantitative and qualitative methodology strategies. The study focuses on the 
quest to find solutions to the problems of the socio-economic impact of poverty on the lives of 
ordinary South Africans. The study will also focus on the evaluation of the effects of poverty, 
obviously with the intention of bringing new concepts into the literature. 
In order to test the respondents ' response the pilot study was undertaken in the Botshabelo and 
Makgokgwane. The sample size comprised thirty households who all participated and responded 
well in the questionnaires that were distributed in time. The method of sampling was a simple 
random sampling, which means there was no bias in the selection of the respondents. Testing of 
the questionnaires was done and also accurate. Tables and graphs were used to analyse the data 
collected and to get the inferred statistics. 
1.10 Definition of Concepts 
Quantitative research includes singular, unambiguous interpretations, which are aimed at 
thorough precise operationalisation of variables, accuracy in data collection. (Mikkelson 1995). 
Thus, the method helps the researcher to be at the same level of understanding with the 
participant and the research outcomes become more practical. 
Qualitative methodology allows the researcher to look at settings and the people in a holistic 
manner. It also studies the respondents in the context of their background and the situations they 
6 
find themselves. Fil stead ( 1995) defines the qualitative methodology as an outcome where the 
researchers obtain the firsthand knowledge about the social world and experiences of people in 
poverty. It also develops the analytical, conceptual and categorical components of explanation 
from the data itself. 
Case study approach includes both qualitative and quantitative methods meant to explore the 
investigation fully . The surveyor takes every aspect to be considered. The researcher also collect 
and examine as much information as possible regarding the subject of the study. Babbie (1986) 
defines a case study as a comprehensive description and explanation of many components of a 
given social situation. The researcher will learn about the history of the community, its religious, 
political, economic, geographical and racial makeup. 
Questionnaire is a formalised schedule (or collecting data from the respondents so that it can 
meet the aims of the research. It accurately reflects the information on the topic of study (Centre 
for Science Development, 1993). Questions are closed and are pre-coded and the alternatives are 
listed on the questionnaire and the interviewer ticks a box next to the appropriate response. This 
is done in order to minimise the role and influence of the interviewer and to enable a more 
objective comparison of the results (Bless and Higson-Smith 1997). 
Poverty definitions are immense and are debatable. There is, however a common agreement 
about the degrees of poverty. These are absolute or extreme poverty; moderate poverty and 
relative poverty. Absolute poverty implies that households are unable to meet their basic needs 
for survival. This means that they are chronically hungry, unable to access health care, they lack 
of amenities of safe drinking water and sanitation, cannot afford education for some or all 
children and sometimes even lack basic shelter and basic article of clothing like shoes (Sachs 
2005). Moderate poverty refers to conditions of life in which basic needs are met, but just 
barely. While relative poverty is generally perceived to be household income level below a 
given proportion of average national income. 
Inequality is measured by the Gini coefficient, which can vary between "0" and " l ". The closer 
to 1, the more unequal is a society and the closer to 0 the more equal a society is. In a perfectly 
equal society 10% of the population will receive 10% percent of the income, 20 percent of the 
population will receive 20% of the income and so on, and for such a society the Gini coefficient 
7 
will be zero. If the 10% of the population receives 30% of the income or 20 percent of the 
population receives 60% of the income then the income distribution of that society is said to be 
more unequal and the Gini coefficient is higher. The Gini coefficient of South Africa is 
calculated at 0.6 which makes South Africa one of the most unequal societies in the world. The 
Gini coefficient among blacks is higher than in the whites. The living conditions of the people in 
the area will be assessed. 
Inequality is also present if membership of different social groups is linked to highly differential 
power relations. Inequality is closely linked to the notion of social exclusions, in that unequal 
power relations may be linked to differential access to political or socio-economic rights. In a 
narrow economic sense, inequality can refer to an imbalance in the distribution of particular 
resources such as income, in a specific population. If a country is well resourced, poverty can be 
said to be manifestation of inequality. Inequality can be measured using the Gini coefficient, 
which is the measure of distributional inequality in a population. Inequality can also be measured 
using the mean log deviation and the Theil index. 
Poverty can mean a number of different things to different people. An important variable of 
poverty is that of material lack- more significantly the lack of resources necessary for survival. In 
a narrow or broad sense, poverty can be construed as a lack of income. In a broader sense 
Poverty can be seen as a multi dimensional, encompassing other issues such as housing, health, 
education and access to services like electricity, fresh drinking water and sanitation. A more 
expansive way of understanding poverty is that people are poor if they are unable to participate 
in society as full citizens. 
Deprivation refers to the effects of poverty in a person' s life. It also takes account of how being 
poor limits what a person can do or cannot do both in terms of immediate or future actions 
(Alcock 2006). Indicators of Poverty Deprivation include lack of access to services like basic 
electricity, fresh drinking tap water and lack of decent housing. 
Vulnerability is the state of being that is defenceless to threats to someone's wellbeing. People 
are vulnerable when they cannot cope when there is a shock in their lives and cannot recoup or 
recover from financial losses during recession or disease outbreak. An example is when there is a 
8 
cholera outbreak, the casualties are most likely to be the poor who are most hit by the outbreak 
when compared to the rich. 
Poverty gap refers to the level of resources required to bring everybody out and above the 
designated measure of poverty. It is a measure of poverty severity within a population. 
Poverty definitions serve two functions in the public area. First, such definitions allow policy 
makers to identify the poor: to determine, for example, the appropriate allocation of antipoverty 
funds across regions or individuals (Oster 1975). Secondly, poverty definitions also serve second 
policy function which is to help policy makers design and evaluate programmes to help the poor. 
Stats SA defines poverty as the denial of opportunities and choices that are most basic to human 
development to lead a long, healthy, creative life and to enjoy a decent standard of living, 
freedom, dignity, self-esteem and respect from others. 
Chronic poverty is the state of poverty that exists over time. According to chronic poverty 
research centre (CPRC 2004) developed in Manchester, chronic poverty is when an individual 
experience poverty for extended period of time or throughout their entire lives. According to 
these definitions, chronic poverty is likely to be transferred from generation to the next and 
probably affecting the children of adults living in a state of chronic poverty. 
Poverty relief, poverty alleviation, poverty reduction and poverty reduction are terms which 
are often used interchangeably and can sometimes lead to confusion. 
Poverty relief refers to policies and interventions that seek to give short term assistance to 
people who are living in poverty, the negative consequence is that it is linked to external shocks 
and sometimes pushes the poor to a more severe state of vulnerability than before. 
Poverty alleviation aims to reduce the negative impact of poverty on the lives of the poor 
people, but in a more sustained and permanent way than poverty relief programmes. An example 
is the social grant programmes which have longer term goals than the social relief programmes. 
Poverty reduction refers to the strategies and policies that reduce the number or percentage of 
people living in poverty or the severity of the impact of poverty in the lives of poor people. 
9 
Poverty eradication in its simplest definition, means ending the existence of poverty. The South 
African government has been mandated to halve the rate of people living in poverty by 2014. 
1.11 Study layout 
The research problem is discussed in chapter one, which also sheds light on research design, 
objectives of the study, aims of the study and selected research methodologies. The introductory 
chapter gives us the understanding of the research. It further provides the impetus of chapter 
progression of this study will be as in this format. 
Chapter two contains the literature review and theoretical framework about the definition, 
experiences that people live in and thus presenting the overall view of poverty in South Africa in 
comparison to the global community. 
Chapter three covers the South African economic policy overview, its achievements and some 
critics regarding the policies. These entails GEAR targets, economic growth, inflation status and 
employment created or lost during the policy cycle. 
Chapter four covers the research methodology. 
Chapter five briefly presents the case study of the Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality by 
looking at the socio-economic impact of poverty in the municipality. 
Chapter six is the data interpretation of the survey sample. 
Chapter seven concentrates on the summary, conclusion and recommendations of alternative 
policy strategies. 
1.12 Summary of contents 
Chapter one is the introductory chapter whereby the reader is introduced to the research topic in 
order to have a better idea of what is exactly going to take place in the development of the 
research. It gives the overview and the background of the study. It outlines the research problem, 
significance of the study, objectives of the study, aims of the study and the methodology that will 
be used in the progress of the research. The next chapter will deal with the literature review and 
the theoretical framework of the study. The chapter focuses on the theories of poverty, concepts 
10 
of poverty, definition of poverty, poverty dimensions and other academic findings related to 
poverty. 
11 
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 
2.1 Introduction 
The government of national unity, led by the African National Congress (ANC), which took 
power in 1994, inherited a country of gross inequalities with high unemployment. Even though 
much has been achieved with regard to education, health care, housing and provision of basic 
services like electricity and water, poverty still continues to be rampant and widespread across 
the whole population. Income disparities and unemployment still remains high and visible across 
the population as many still lack access to basic necessities. Although the country is self-
sufficient in food production, about 14 million people are said to be vulnerable to food insecurity 
and 43 percent suffer from food poverty (National Treachery, 2003). According to Marais (cited 
in F AO, 2004 ), South Africa is classified as an upper middle-income country with one of the 
most skewed distribution of income in the world with an estimated Gini coefficient of 0.68 
which was calculated from the 1996 population census data. That was higher than the mid-l 990s 
Gini coefficient of 0.58. This compels the government to give attention to the large income gap 
between the poor and the rich. A number of policies aimed at bridging the income gap and 
promoting economic empowerment of previously disadvantaged communities are already in 
place but seem not to be meeting the required obligations of poverty alleviation. According to the 
Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC, Fact sheet no: 1, 2004), the new estimates of poverty 
show that the proportion of people living in poverty in South Africa has not changed 
significantly between 1996 and 2001. It also states that those households living in poverty have 
sunk deeper into poverty and the gap between the rich and the poor has widened. The Human 
Sciences Research Council (HSRC) generated these estimates in collaboration with South 
African economist Mr. Andrew Whiteford. The HSRC has used a measure called poverty gap to 
measure the required annual income transfer to all poor households in order to bring them out of 
poverty. According to the study, the poverty gap has grown from R56-billion in 1996 to R81-
billion in 2001 , which clearly indicates that poor households have sunk deeper into poverty over 
that period. 
The study also indicates that the poverty gap has grown faster than the economy, indicating that 
the poor households have not shared in the benefits of the economic growth. That is, in 1996 the 
12 
total poverty gap was equivalent to 6.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); and in 2001 it 
had risen to 8.3%. This is also evident from the fact that poorer households have not benefited 
from the proceeds of the economic growth reflected in the rise in inequality between the rich and 
the poor. It is also evident from the results that South Africa's Gini coefficient has raised from 
0.69 in 1996 to 0.77 in 2001. Even though poverty rate measures the proportion of a region's 
population living below the poverty line, it does not give any indication of how far below the 
poverty line poor households are (HSRC, 2004). The HSRC has used a measure called the 
poverty gap. The poverty gap measures the required annual income transfer to all poor 
households in order to bring them out of poverty. 
2.2 Why do we need to measure poverty? 
In cases were poverty is severe and apparent, people might not find the necessity and relevance 
of poverty measurements. It is evident from previous research works by a number of government 
and non government institutions that poverty in South Africa is huge and there is a need for 
politicians to do something to eradicate the causes of poverty and to alleviate its effects on the 
poorest of the poor. Even though the existence of poverty might be all clear, it is evident that the 
government is spending billions of Rands in social spending in an effort to reduce the impact of 
poverty to the most vulnerable. Some critics argue that social security has failed to provide 
income security for the majority of the unemployed, as such the safety nets is not all 
encompassing (Taylor, 2002; Samson 2004 ). It is stated that economic policies are unable to 
resolve the issue of more job seekers than available jobs. This spending is all directed to the 
poor, such as the social grants programme. However, for the government to assess whether its 
allocated budget on social spending meets its targeted poverty alleviation programme there is a 
need to measure poverty. This is essential as part of design of policy and government 
interventions. Clarifying what is meant by Poverty can contribute to effective poverty 
eradication in the following ways: 
• By being able to measure poverty, the government can also be able to map 
geographically where poverty is more severe and direct resources accordingly. 
13 
• By understanding the various dimensions of deprivation experienced by people living in 
poverty, government can focus its resources on specific programmes, such as housing, 
basic services like water, sanitation, electricity, clinics and education. 
• By having measuring poverty, the government is able at appropriate intervals to evaluate 
whether the poverty alleviating programmes are being effective and then be able to move 
people out of poverty and improve their wellbeing both in the short term and extended 
period of time. 
• By placing information about the levels of poverty and the resultant inequality in South 
Africa in the public domain, the government can build a national commitment to 
eradicate poverty that goes beyond it. 
In addition, South Africa is bound by a number of international institutions such as the World 
Bank and the UNDP to adopt a poverty measure and to work towards ending the current levels of 
poverty. 
2.3 What are poverty perceptions in South Africa? 
A participatory poverty assessment was undertaken in South Africa in 1997. It important to note 
that in order to get a clear picture about who are the poor, then assessment has to be done among 
the poor. 
How does the Poor characterise their poverty? 
They characterise their poverty as: 
• Food insecurity: Households where children go hungry to bed or are malnourished are 
seen as living in poverty. 
• Alienation from kinship and the community: The elderly without care from younger 
family members are seen as poor. 
• Crowded homes and living in shacks: individuals who live in overcrowded homes 
which need maintenance or living in shacks regard themselves as poor. 
14 
• Use of basic forms of energy like woods: Individuals with no access to efficient sources 
of energy and having to travel long distances to fetch wood are perceived as poor. 
• Lack of adequate paid, secure jobs: the poor perceive lack of employment 
opportunities, low wages and lack of job security as a major contributing factor to their 
poverty. 
• Fragmentation of the family: many poor households are characterised by absent fathers 
or children living apart from their parents. Households may be split over a number of 
sites as a survival strategy. 
The focus will be on the fact that money supports improved access to basic education, basic 
health care and food security. The essay also focuses on the following: 
• The relationship between unemployment and income poverty 
• Knowledge about household income 
• The role played by social assistance m boosting household mcome and thereby 
alleviating poverty 
South Africa has one of the most unequal distributions of income in the world (UNDP 2004). 
The level of inequality is confirmed by the Gini coefficient. A Gini coefficient of one indicates 
perfect inequality whereas a Gini coefficient of 0 indicates perfect equality. The report notes that 
Gini coefficient had risen from 0.596 in 1995 to 0.635 in 2002. The United Nations Development 
Programs (UNDP) report states that steep wealth contributes to persistent and rising income 
poverty and inequality. 
2.4 The Socio-Economic Context of Poverty 
Structurally, poverty is deeply rooted and presents itself as one of the major problems and 
challenges of the social ills of the apartheid era. Many observers agree that almost half the 
population of South Africa is poor and lives below the poverty line regardless of poverty 
alleviation initiatives undertaken by the ANC-led government since the democratic elections in 
1994. Taylor' s report of March 2002 also notes that between 45 and 55 percent of the population 
15 
lives in poverty, depending in the poverty line that is used. The poverty line is also complicated 
by a variety of indicators like income, expenditure, consumption and assets that is used to 
measure poverty. The report goes on to clarify that "the choice of indicators depends on whether 
one is interested in the absolute poverty or relative poverty." Identifying poverty lines requires 
analysts to make assumptions about acceptable levels of income or consumption or inequality. 
2.4.1 Economic opportunities: Growth and rising incomes of the poor 
It should be stated that numerous statistical studies confirm that rapid economic growth is the 
engine of poverty reduction, using both income and non-income measures of poverty. 
Macroeconomic policy's stability provides an important precondition for higher growth rates and 
also helps prevent the balance of payment crises and resurgence of inflation, both which have 
negative consequence for poverty (Klugman, 2002). It is also noted that high inflation can also 
stifle economic expansion and thus limit the poor people's opportunities to acquire assets 
necessary to hedge against income shocks. Removing barriers to access to new goods, 
technology and investment opportunities have generally been associated with economic growth. 
Similarly, it can be said that good governance is crucial for accelerating private investment and 
thus economic growth. 
2.4.2 Various types of asset endowments that directly influence the wellbeing of the poor 
• Human capital: It is academically accepted that the most widely accepted way of 
improving the asset base of the poor is through investment in human capital. Shifting 
budget allocations in favour of the poor will encourage human capital accumulation in 
favour of the poor. When employment opportunities are widened, this could also lead to 
skill acquisition among the low- income earners. 
• Infrastructure: Lack of access to infrastructure services like water, sanitation, transport, 
electricity and information technology can lead to unhealthy living conditions for the 
poor and reduce their ability to use these services, engage in productive activities and 
also access employment opportunities. 
16 
• Land: Lack of access to land affects the poor negatively as it prohibits them from at least 
producing even small scale farming. This could be solved through land reform and 
improvement in the functioning of land markets. Security of tenure can stimulate 
investment to improve agricultural productivity and promote development of effective 
land market. 
• Credit: Access to finance or micro credit is one of the major constraints that affect the 
poor as in most cases they lack physical collateral necessary to obtain loans. Often, it is 
difficult to extend credit access to the poor as they lack access to formal or informal 
financial institutions through which credit and information about credit schemes is 
available. 
It is important to understand the extent to which escapees from poverty tend to possess a 
combination of assets or have gained access to catalytic asset in each local context, in order 
to break the vicious circle of poverty. An example could be the security of land tenure should 
facilitate access to credit. Simultaneous improvements in access to financial services and 
provision of training on small business management skills or novel farming techniques can 
enhance the impact of increasing land tenure security among smallholder farmers . 
• Capabilities: Health and Education 
Low levels of educational achievements, illness, malnutrition and high fertil ity (high population 
growth) are major contributors to income poverty. Education and health are among the primary 
dimensions of individual well-being. The child health outcomes depend on the dietary choices at 
the household level and access to- and the quality of - health services. Government policies and 
actions should be designed to improve literacy and health among those who need it the most. 
• Security 
Insecurity is understood as vulnerability to decline in well-being. The shock triggering the 
decline could be the illness or death at household level. Declines in incomes have a more 
devastating effect on the poor than on the rich. Poverty analysis could be linked to information 
17 
on food shortages and relative price changes in order to identify specific social protection 
strategies needed to reduce the risk faced by vulnerable groups. 
• Empowerment: The Influence of the Poor 
One important dimension of empowerment is access to, and influence over state institutions and 
social processes that set public policies. As the level of empowerment among the poor increases, 
they gain access to economic opportunities, develop human capabilities, and establish greater 
income security. The more the poor become empowered, the more they are likely to influence 
public policy discussions on how well and effective policies and programmes that constitute 
poverty reduction strategies meet their needs. 
According to (Klugman, 2002), the Empowerment is an active process that occurs at different 
levels and is influenced by different but overlapping sets of factors: 
• At the household level, empowerment refers to intrahousehold inequality, access to and 
control over resources, and decision making processes ( example, desired number of 
children or whether to use contraception). 
• At the community, regional and national levels , inequality in access to resources and 
social interactions affects gender inequality as well as the empowerment outcomes of 
different income, ethnic or religious groups. Empowerment also entails representation in 
decision making bodies at the local and national levels of government. Klugman further 
argues that, greater transparency and accountability increase the ability of the poor to 
gain access and influence state institutions and social processes. 
2.5 Who are poor in South Africa? 
South African population with an average of 40 and 50 percent can be classified as living in 
poverty (Terblanche, 2002). Although the country is self-sufficient in food production, an 
estimated 14 million people are vulnerable to food insecurity and 43 percent of households suffer 
from food poverty (National treasury, 2003). 
18 
Undoubtedly, poverty is multi-faceted. It can be linked to hunger, unemployment, exploitation, 
and lack of access to clean water, sanitation, health care or schools. It is also attributed to 
vulnerability to crisis and homelessness. 
According to the working paper prepared for DFID (SA), July 2002, by Dr Ingrid Woolard "the 
living standards of South Africans are closely correlated with race". Woolard (2002) further 
states that poverty is not confined to one racial group in South Africa. It is concentrated among 
blacks, particularly Africans. According to the 1999 October household survey: 
• 52% of Africans are poor. 
• While Africans make up 78% of the population, they account for 95% of the poor. 
• 17% of the coloureds are poor compared to 5 % among Indians and whites. 
The survey has also its shortfalls as it did not include in the small ethnic minorities such as the 
San community who also live under extreme poverty. Poor households lack access to basic 
services, even though there have been remarkable strides in the provision of clean water and 
adequate sanitation since 1994. The October Household Survey (OHS) of 1999 found that: 
• 75% of the non-poor had electricity, compared with 27% of the poor; 
• 73% of the non-poor had access to adequate sanitation (flush, chemical or VIP toilets), 
compared with 38% of the poor; 
• 77% of the non-poor have piped water, compared with 47% of the poor. 
• There study also found that there is a very strong correlation between educational 
attainment and standard of living. According to 1998 IES and OHS, 
• 58% of adults with no education are poor; 
• 53% of adults that have less than seven years of primary education are poor. 
• 34% of adults with incomplete secondary schooling are poor. 
19 
• Poverty rates drop significantly with the attainment of "matric" and further 
qualifications. 15% of those with completed high school are poor whilst only 5% of those 
with tertiary education are poor. 
2.6 Where are the poor located in South Africa? 
According to the October Household survey of 1995 and the Income and Expenditure Survey 
(IES), the poor are mainly concentrated in the former homelands- Bophuthatswana (North West 
province), Ciskei and Transkei (Eastern province), Kwazulu (Kwazulu-natal), Lebowa & Venda 
(Limpopo province) the sub-urban areas and the townships. 74% of the poor live in rural areas, 
15% live in small towns and 4% live in the secondary cities. 62% of the rural population are 
poor, compared with 32% of those living in small towns and 25% in the secondary cities and 
13% live in metropolitan areas. 
According to OHS 1999, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo are the poorest provinces whilst the 
Western Cape and Gauteng have the lowest rates of poverty. According to the 1996 census, the 
poorest magisterial districts in the country are both in the Eastern Cape and are Elliotdale and 
Willowvale. 
2.7 Inequality in South Africa 
The trend in global unemployment has continued to exacerbate the rate of global inequality. It 
has been established that the divisions between the global rich and global poor continue to grow 
(Haines, 2001). The income discrepancies between a fifth of the world ' s population who live in 
the world' s richest countries and a fifth who live in the poorest countries was 30: 1 in 1960, and 
has grown to 74:1 in 1997 (UNDP, 1999). 
The United Nations Development Program' s report maintains that 2.5 billion of the world ' s 
poorest people have a collective income which is roughly equal to the wealth of the world's 
richest 225 billionaires (Ukpere and Slabert, 2007). 
Vast number of studies has been carried about South Africa' s income inequality and there is no 
doubt that South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in distribution of income. The fact 
that the poorer households have not shared in the country's economic growth is reflected in the 
20 
rise in inequality between the rich and the poor. According to the Human Sciences Research 
council (HSRC) 2004, South Africa' s gini coefficient has risen from 0.69 in 1996 to 0.77 in 
2001 . 
During the apartheid era inequality was largely defined along racial lines. The white population 
has a gini coefficient of 0.60 which is extremely high for a group whose education and 
occupational profile matches that of societies in highly industrialised countries (HSRC, 2004). 
Table 2.1: Poverty indictors by Province 
Province No. of poor % of population Poverty gap (R Share of 
persons in poverty billion) poverty gap 
(million) 
Eastern Cape 4.6 72% 18.8 18.2% 
Free State 1.8 68% 5.9 7.2% 
Gauteng 3.7 42% 12.1 14.9% 
Kwazulu-Natal 5.7 61% 18.3 22.5% 
Limpopo 4.1 77% 11.5 14.1% 
Mpumalanga 1.8 57% 7.1 8.7% 
North West 1.9 52% 6.1 7.5% 
Northern Cape 0.5 61% 1.5 1.8% 
Western Cape 1.4 32% 4.1 5.0% 
South Africa 25.7 57% 81.3 100% 
Source: HSRC 2004 
21 
From the table above, it is clear that Kwazulu-Natal is the province with the highest poverty gap 
followed by the Eastern Cape and Gauteng, respectively. North West is ranked number five with 
1.9 million people living under poverty. 
2.8 Conceptualisation of poverty 
Developed and developing countries have put their efforts and focus into the study of poverty as 
a subject for theoretical exploration as well as empirical investigation. This has been done with 
the collaboration of academics, government and civil society. It is clear from the books depicting 
the intensity of poverty written by different authors that the topic is receiving the relevant 
attention. The rate of global poverty has indeed increased owing to global inequality. Salvatore 
(2004) argues that increases in income inequality and poverty in the poorest developing countries 
has been attributed to globalisation during the past decades. Ukpere and Slabert (2007) also state 
that most of the incidents of increasing the rate of poverty around the world today cannot be 
attributed to nature but to man and the selfish capitalist institutions created by man. 
2.9 Poverty as a Concept 
It is important for me to state that poverty has different meanings to different people based on an 
individual ' s experience. Politically, when defining poverty, people are considered to be poor if 
their income is intolerably so low. The problem may arise in defining what intolerable means to 
different people as it may depict different responses from different individuals. What could be 
tolerable as a basic need to some might be intolerable to some. 
Some writers also state that poverty is greatly influenced by an individual ' s background, 
experience and environment. This is escaped by the fact that South Africa as broad as it is, both 
rural and urban areas have populations which differ according to age, gender, race and other 
characteristics. Budlender (1998) further notes that poverty is not only lack of money but also 
more centrally about the scarcity of favourable occasions meant to allow people to build 
themselves decent lives. 
There has been a lot of disagreement about the definition and nature of poverty. But poverty is 
generally classified as absolute or relative. 
22 
Absolute poverty implies that households are unable to meet basic needs for survival. According 
to Sachs (2005), poverty means chronically hungry, unable to access health care, lack of 
amenities of safe drinking water and sanitation, being unable to afford education for some or all 
children and perhaps lack of shelter and basic clothing like shoes. 
Relative poverty is generally perceived to be a household income level below given proportion of 
average national income. Or according to Buckingham (1991), poverty is relative implying that 
poverty is about being poor in comparison to the standard of others and about being unable to do 
things that are generally accepted. Singh ( 1980) elaborates by saying that relative poverty is 
defined in terms of its relation to the standards which exist elsewhere in the society. 
Cycle of poverty is a social problem which reproduces itself from generation to generation; the 
reason poverty is still the topic of cycle of poverty is visible today. It is a fact even though 
debatable that in most times when one comes from a poor background (born to poor people); the 
chances of being rich are very slim. These could be as a result of cultural backgrounds of which 
some when they start working have to fend their parents as well as their siblings. It is clear that 
the cycle of poverty is more like a permanent situation, where people are trapped and unable to 
escape. According to Dinitto and Dye (1983), poverty is a way of life passed from generations to 
generations in a self-perpetuating cycle. 
2.10 Poverty Aspects 
2.10.1 The social aspect of defining poverty: Poverty in South Africa manifests itself in all 
racial groups, but its severity is mostly seen in the black community. During the apartheid era, 
exclusion was based on race and class. Even after fifteen years of democracy, the wounds of 
apartheid economic policies are still itching and take long to heal. Black on black violence is 
prevalent and children who are malnourished and dying from hunger or malnutrition are 
countless. Even though we experienced years of economic growth, poverty and income 
inequality is on the rise like a runaway fire. The poor are still being denied their right to 
resources needed for an acceptable quality of life. According to Blackburn (1991 ), the dominant 
explanation in the past regarded poverty as a consequence of the moral weakness or the 
psychological or social inadequacy of the individual. 
23 
2.10.2 Economic aspect of defining poverty: It is evident that lack of growth and decent 
employment opportunities exacerbates the extent of poverty in all societies, as forms of human 
organisation depend on human labour to realise their full potential. Individuals trade their labour 
to produce goods and services in exchange for wage and salaries. If we have surplus labour not 
being fully utilised, this result in waste of resources such as human capital. 
2.10.3 Political aspect of defining poverty: Poverty does have its own historical origins that are 
based on capitalism. It implies a devastating situation or state and suggests that individuals, 
groups, families and communities at large who are in poverty need assistance so that their 
situation is changed to a better life. Budlender states that poverty is not about lack of money 
alone, but also a dearth of opportunities and choices that allow people to build a healthy 
environment and decent lives for their own good. 
2.11 Global Poverty 
Global poverty is the scourge and disgrace of our affluent era, but it can be effectively alleviated 
as we know it in our times (Smith, 2005). It is important to focus on the awareness of these basic 
facts about poverty. It is noted that, the dimensions of extreme poverty are huge but an equal 
amount of progress has already been made. (Smith, 2005) brings to light the fact that we need to 
follow through already working strategies whilst carefully evaluating both new and old strategies 
and learning from their lessons. 
The scale of Global poverty is immense. Both measures and nature of poverty are more 
complicated that the ones we have read and learned. According to the World Bank survey, about 
1.25 billion people subsist on less than $1 a day whilst some 2.8 billion-nearly half the world 
population live on less than $2 per day. In addition, the global poverty which is affecting nearly 
3 billion people worldwide is by most standards the biggest challenge of our age (John Weis and 
Haider Khan, 2006). The Millennium Development Goals (MDG)'s targets set by international 
community states that the first and most fundamental priority is the halving of extreme poverty 
by 2015. 
24 
2.11.1 The Global view of Poverty 
It should be emphasised that the past decade has seen most developed and developing countries 
putting their focus on poverty alleviation, and yet income inequality has also been on the 
increase in the last two decades in both the developed and emerging countries (WIDER, 2001). 
Economists see greater income concentration as a source of greater incentives and a faster capital 
accumulation thus, creating income for all, including the poor. This comes as an opportunity for 
social mobility by those disfavoured minorities. 
It should also be noted that for the past decade, the global economy has put a lot of emphasis on 
poverty reduction, though inequality has been absolutely ignored. According to World Institute 
for Development Economics Research, Discussion Paper No.2001 /93, inequality has been 
mostly ignored, possibly because it raises uncomfortable questions about the social impact of 
bank and fund programmes. Definitely sure, poverty reduction can be achieved mainly through 
economic growth thus, targeting basic social services to the poor and social security agencies. 
But poverty reduction through growth is limited when income and assets inequalities are high, 
growth is then concentrated in a few selected groups. Although inequality raises many 
contentious issues, little progress can be made in poverty reduction when inequality is high and 
rising (WIDER, 2001). 
Below is a table depicting the global trends of poverty as provided by the World Bank in the 
World Development indicators of 2005? 
25 
Table 2.2: People living on less than a dollar a day 
Poor m Poor m Poverty Poverty 
millions millions headcount @ headcount @ 
% % 
Year 1990 Year2001 Year 1990 Year 2001 
East Asia and Pacific 472 271 29.6 14.9 
China 375 212 33.0 16.6 
Europe and Central Asia 2 17 0.5 3.6 
Latin America and the Caribbean 49 50 11.3 9.5 
Middle East and North Africa 6 7 2.3 2.4 
South Asia 462 431 41.3 31.3 
Sub-Saharan Africa 227 313 44.6 46.4 
Total 1218 1089 27.9 21.1 
Source: World Bank, World Development Report 2005. 
It is evident from the table above that in the East Asia Pacific region, the number of people in 
poverty has decreased by almost 15 percent between 1990 and 2001. China' s poor· has decreased 
by 16.6 percent within the same period. Europe and Central Asia' s poor has increased by 3.1 
percent during the same period. Latin America and the Caribbean' s poor have increased almost 2 
percent. The Middle East and North Africa's poor has increased by 0.1 percent. South Asia' s 
poor has decreased by 10 percent. The Sub-Saharan African people living under a dollar a day 
has increased by 1.8 percent. In general, when using the notion of a dollar a day then the figures 
above shows that between 1990 and 2001, the poverty incidence has decreased by 6.8 percent. 
26 
2.11.2 World Bank's view of Poverty. 
According to the World Bank 2002, poverty is multi faceted. However, the one thing that 
underlies and causes all these facets or symptoms is the lack of wealth or money among the poor. 
Thus, out of all measures of poverty, the economic measure seems to be the most important. 
Below is the citation from the World Bank of 2002: 
• Poverty is hunger. 
• Poverty is lack of shelter. 
• Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. 
• Poverty is not being able to go to school and not knowing how to read. 
• Poverty is not having a job, is fear of the future, living one day at a time. 
• Poverty is losing a child due illness brought about by unclean water. 
• Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom. 
2.11.3 The Faces of Poverty 
Fast Facts on World Poverty 
According to the United Nations ' Millennium Development goals of 2005 , more than one billion 
people live on less than one dollar a day. In total, 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than two 
dollars per day. The survey further reveals that poverty in developing countries goes beyond 
income poverty. It means individuals have to walk more than a kilometre everyday simply to 
collect water and firewood, suffering from diseases that were eradicated from rich countries 
decades ago. Every year eleven million children die most under the age of five from preventable 
diseases like malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia. 
Basic facts outlining the roots and manifestation of poverty affecting one third of our world: 
27 
Health 
• Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their birthday. 
• More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and 
infant diarrhoea. 
• Everyday HIV/ AIDS kills 6,000 people and another 8,200 are infected by this deadly 
virus. 
• Every 30 seconds an African child dies of malaria more than one million child deaths a 
year. 
• Each year, approximately 300 to 500 million people are infected with malaria. 
Approximately three die as a result. 
• TB is the leading AIDS-related killer and in some parts of Africa, 75 percent of people 
with HIV also have TB. 
Hunger 
• More than 800 million people go to bed hungry everyday ...3 00 are children. 
• Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other 
emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long term malnourishment and 
micro nutrient deficiency. 
• Every 3 .6 seconds another person dies of starvation and a large number are children 
under the age of 5. 
Water 
• According to the United Nation Development Programme (2006) more than 2.6 billion 
people over 40 percent of the world population do not have basic sanitation and more 
than one billion people still use unsafe sources of drinking water. 
• Four out of ten people in the world do not have access to a simple latrine. 
28 
• Five million people, mostly children, die each year from water-borne diseases. 
Agriculture 
• The study further reveals that in 1960, Africa was a net exporter of food; today the 
continent imports one third of its grain. 
• More than 40 percent of Africans do not even have the ability to obtain sufficient food on 
a day to day basis. 
• The declining soil fertility, land degradation and the AIDS pandemic have led to 23 
percent decrease in food production per capita in the last 25 years even though the 
population has increased dramatically. 
• And, for the African farmer, conventional fertilisers cost two to six times more than the 
world market price. 
2.11.4 The Devastating Effects of Poverty on Women 
The study further reveals that 80 percent of farmers in Africa are women, though 40 percent of 
them are illiterate or do not have access to basic education. If a girl is educated for six years or 
more, as an adult her prenatal care, postnatal care and child birth survival rates will dramatically 
and consistently improve. It is argued that educated mothers immunise their children 50 percent 
more often than illiterate mothers. AIDS spread twice as quickly among uneducated girls than 
those who have some years of schooling. Children of a woman with five years of schooling have 
40 percent chances of survival than the woman with no schooling. The study also states that a 
woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy. This compares 
with 1 in 3,700 risks for a woman from orth America. There are an estimated number of 
529,000 women who die each year from pregnancy-related causes. It also reveals that almost half 
births in developing countries take place without the help of skilled birth attendant. 
29 
2.11.5 What is Poverty? 
• Poverty is hunger. 
• Poverty is pervasive poor health and early death. 
• Poverty is loss of childhood in which the resultant is child labour. 
• Poverty is the denial of the rights to basic education. 
• Poverty is an awareness and fear of becoming destitute as a result of shock of such illness 
or death of someone related to one. 
• Poverty is vulnerability. 
• Poverty is powerlessness; it 's the lack of access to real markets that could offer a way out 
of poverty. 
• Poverty is the systematic exploitation, theft and abuse, not only by the rich but by the 
government officials who are there to help the poor but instead defraud them by 
requesting bribes for access to free basic services. It is the debilitating and deliberately 
created psychological feeling of hopelessness and dependence on whatever minimal 
remuneration may be offered by a rich family in your sphere of life. 
• Poverty is the violence from within the family and without. 
• Poverty is the powerlessness to stop the things that are hurting you and your family and 
keeping you poor. These conditions of poverty needs a concerted effort and action from 
policy makers, private entities and affected households. 
2.11.6 Understanding the Meaning of Extreme Poverty 
Smith (2005) also notes that for government or policy makers to end poverty, they need to 
understand what poverty is and what it means to be trapped in poverty. 
30 
Poverty trap or structural poverty is described as something much more than just the lack of 
income, as it is not a temporary problem that people can eventually escape from through 
sustained efforts. 
It is further stated that impoverished households are characterised by suffering from 
malnutrition, poor health and illiteracy. The poor live in environmentally degraded areas with no 
proper roads, houses in a form of shacks or built by mud. They have little or no political voice at 
all, even if they needed to raise concerns about their living conditions. This exploitative living 
condition absolutely means that the children are also likely to be trapped in poverty when they 
grow up too. 
2.11. 7 Voices of the Poor 
In order for us to understand the extent of poverty and the conditions attached to it, we have to 
listen to the poor on their terms. Talking to the poor in their homes and their workplaces and 
observing how they go about their lives breathes some life into the whole effort of ending 
poverty (Smith, 2005). It provides an inspiration for better policies and programme of action for 
policy makers. 
2.11.8 Effects and Miseries of Poverty 
To give a clear picture about the miseries of the poor, it is advisable to quote paragraph from 
Kabeer (1994) 
Quote from a poor woman in Bangladesh and it reads: 
' When I can, I give my husband and sons more. Men don't understand if foods run short, so I 
wait till they have eaten. ' 
' A good wife is one who makes sure her husband has enough to eat. ' 
' If a woman eats before her husband, she shortens his life. ' 
' Men work harder than women, they need to eat more. ' 
31 
' How can you explain to children that there is not enough food? When my son cries, I feed him. 
It is easier to make daughter understand. ' 
' If there is less, I eat less. You have to feed the men more or they beat you. Even my son beats 
me if there is not enough food (Kabeer, 1994). ' 
2.11.9 A day in the Life of Saroja 
It is necessary to bring to the reader's attention that the following paragraph is extracted from the 
site from the internet called Microplace in order to protect the writer the name of the place and 
the person are fictitious. This short essay is brought up here in order to give full sight of the 
conditions under which poor people live in. 
A day in the Life of Saroja 
Meet Saroja. She is forty-two years old and a resident of Chennai, in India. She and her family 
rent a small room on a side street off Greenways road, a busy thoroughfare in the city. Follow 
her through a day in her life for a unique perspective on the life of the working poor. 
5:40 am 
The strident horn of the water truck rattling down the street jolts Saroja awake from a fitful sleep. 
She fights the urge to ignore its summons. Five additional minutes in bed, and she and her family 
will not have water to drink or cook that day. Forcing herself to get up, she picks up the 
aluminium water pots and stumbles out of the house. There is already a queue of people waiting 
in front of the yellow and green truck, elbowing and jostling each other to make sure that they 
get their share of water. She manages to fill both her pots today. Cradling one on her hip and 
carefully the other on her head she walks slowly back home. 
6:15 am 
Saroja makes breakfast on a small kerosene stove. She carefully ladles the watery gruel into two 
tin plates. Her husband sprawls in a comer, snoring loudly fast asleep. Her daughter, Prabha asks 
to borrow Saroja' s slippers. Prabha old pair is falling apart. She is afraid her employers at the 
garment factory will not approve if she comes to work in bare feet. Saroja' s younger son Suresh 
32 
comes in from outside. He is in his school uniform. He gulps down his breakfast and wipes his 
mouth on his shirt sleeve. On his way out he reminds his mother that it is the last day for him to 
buy his books. Prabha slips into her mother' s well worn sandals and silently follows him out. 
7:10 am 
The coal in the iron burn brightly as Saroja fans them with a piece of cardboard. When he is 
sober, her husband manages a small business pressing people's clothes. But he has been out 
drinking every night for the past three days and has not been awake enough to work. Clothes 
from last week's orders are still stacked in one comer. Saroja knows that she will have to press 
and deliver them herself today, or her customers will stop giving her work. After three hot and 
sweaty hours, the clothes are pressed and folded. She sorts them into bundles, ties them with 
newspaper and a string and loads them on to the family cart. To run their clothing business, they 
purchased the cart and the iron last year using a loan from the local moneylender. Far bigger than 
Saroja, the cart is difficult to push, but she manages to manoeuvre it through the street. She 
hopes her customers will not be too upset that she is late with their orders. She will have to lie 
again about her husband being ill and unable to work. 
12: Noon 
She is done with her clothing deliveries. It has been a good day. Most of her customers have 
given her more clothes to press and she has earned 400 Rupees (about $9). Saroja tries to 
calculate how much she will have once she has paid the rent and purchased her rice and lentils 
for the week. She may have money left over to buy Suresh's school books but not enough to get 
Prabha new slippers. She worries about Prabha, almost twenty. Who would marry her if they did 
not have money for dowry? They would have to take another loan. She passes her son's school 
and decides to give him money for his books. She has to spend the money when she has it. She 
plans to go to the grocery shop to get her weekly ration of rice and lentils after she has dropped 
her cart. As she turns into the street her heart sinks. She has forgotten that it is the first of the 
month. Her landlord and his ruffians are standing at the far corner of the street. They are on their 
monthly collection spree. They see her pushing the cart and moving forward feeling threatened. 
Silently she hands over the remains of what she earned that morning. It would be futile to resist. 
33 
Besides, she is three months behind on her rent payments. This is so much for her weekly rations 
and her daughter's slippers. But she is glad that her son will get his school books. 
2:00 pm 
Saroja arrives at her job at Mrs Subramanian's house and is greeted with expletive for being late. 
She makes her way to the pantry where there is mound of vessels to be washed. The family is 
eating lunch and the smells from the kitchen are tantalising. She has not eaten all day. She will 
have to wait till they have finished eating before she can satisfy her hunger. But they are soon 
done and she sits down with the other maid servant to her first meal of the day. She always looks 
forward to Thursdays when she comes to Mrs. Subramanian's house to assist in the house work 
because of this one meal. There is rice and stew and vegetables and yogurt. There will even be 
some left to take home to her family. She spends the afternoon scrubbing floors, washing dishes, 
doing laundry and polishing the brass trinkets that dot the house. Mrs Subramanian is hosting a 
party that evening and needs Saroja to stay and help with the cooking. Saroja peels and chops 
onions, grates coconut, shells peas and makes the flatbread that will be served for dinner. It is 
almost seven o' clock by the time all the work is done. Mrs Subramanian pays her 200 rupees 
(about $5) for helping out. 
7:30 pm 
Saroja catches the 42 bus home. The fare is two Rupees. It is luxury she does not usually indulge 
in but she is exhausted after a long day. And it is not over yet. She still needs to stop at the 
grocery store to pick up food, coal and kerosene and then prepare evening meal for her family. 
8:25 pm 
Saroja and her family eat their evening meal. Suresh is memorising maths tables from his text 
book while he eats. She has high hopes for her son. Perhaps one day he will get a steady job and 
his income could help support the family. She hopes that he won't develop his father ' s habits of 
alcohol. She looks across towards her husband. He is moody and sullen. He truculently asks her 
how much money she has earned. She does not answer. She knows what is coming. He will 
demand the money, asserting his right as her husband to have it. They will argue. He will yell 
34 
and scream. It could come to blows. She is too tired to fight today. She gives him what she has 
left over. He takes it and leaves. 
9:35 pm 
Saroja walks down the community restroom. It is dark and the night is warm. She splashes water 
on her hands and face wipes them with the edge of her sari . She pops some bitternut into her 
mouth as she makes her way back home. Her children are already asleep. She lights a mosquito 
coil in the vain hope that it will keep the insects away. She pulls the string that turns off the 
single bulb that hangs from the ceiling. 
Saroja falls asleep as soon as her head touches her makeshift pillow. She will sleep until the 
strident horn of the water truck jolts her awake at 5:40 am the next day. 
The perspective is based on a true story of Saroja's life as told by Ashwini Narayanan, General 
Manager of Microplace. Names and locations have been changed. The main purpose of this 
article is to depict the harsh conditions under which the vast majority of the poor lives on. 
2.12 History of Inequality and poverty in South Africa 
The past policies of apartheid (segregation and discrimination) have left a legacy of inequality 
and poverty and more recently low economic growth. The apartheid system was absolutely 
leaned towards providing health, education and housing services to the white minority at the 
expense of the large majority of the black population who were denied the opportunity to 
accumulate human and physical capital. By then labour market policies were aimed at protecting 
positions of white minority workers through active policies such as job reservation, while 
inferior education, influx control and the Group Areas Act ensured little competition from other 
race groups. The system also used laws to unequally distribute resources (which included land, 
mining rights and access to capital) thereby marginalising the largest sector of the population to 
poorly paid sectors of the labour market. This massive investment in state education for white 
schoolchildren in the 1950s and the 1960s enable white workers to acquire skills that empowered 
them regardless of the policies such as job reservation. This restrictive economic practices 
prevented large population from actively engaging in labour markets and resulted in skewed 
35 
mcome distribution which was m turn reinforced by an unequal distribution of skills and 
training. 
Historically, South Africa has had one of the most unequal distributions of income in the world. 
This rise is likely to place it at the top of the world rankings (Woolard, 2004 ). Though inequality 
was defined along the race lines in the past, it is now defined within population groups. The gini 
coefficient for the African population has risen from 0.62 in 1991 to 0.72 in 2001, while the 
white population has a gini coefficient of 0.60. 
Table 2.3: The Gini coefficient by population group in South Africa 
1991 1996 2001 
African 0.62 0.66 0.72 
White 0.46 0.50 0.60 
Coloured 0.52 0.56 0.64 
Asian 0.49 0.52 0.60 
Total 0.68 0.69 0.77 
Source: HSRC 2004 
From the table above, it is clear that in general, from 1991 to 2001 income inequality has been 
rising up steadily and does not show any sign of decreasing. This quantifies surveys that reveal 
that South African income is not fairly distributed even though the economy has been growing at 
a sizable margin. 
Aggregate poverty gap 
Poverty gap measures the difference between each poor household 's income and the poverty 
line. It thus measures the depth of poverty of each poor household. The aggregate poverty gap is 
calculated by adding up the poverty gaps of each poor household. It is therefore equivalent to the 
36 
total amount by which the incomes of poor households need to be raised each year to bring all 
households up to the poverty line and hence out of poverty. 
It is important to emphasise that the poverty line varies according to the household size, the 
larger the household the larger the income required to keep its family members out of poverty. 
Below is a table showing the poverty lines as at 2001 . 
Table 2.4: Poverty income by household size (R per month) 
Household size YEAR2001 
1 587 
2 773 
3 1028 
4 1290 
5 1541 
6 1806 
7 2054 
8 2503 
Source: HSRC 2004 
Gini coefficient 
Inequality is measured by the gini coefficient, which can vary between "0" and " 1 " . The closer 
to 1 the more unequal a society is, and the closer to 0 the more equal a society is. That is, in case 
of perfect equality (0), it is assumed that all households earn equal income, whereas in case of 
imperfect equality (1 ) the assumption is that one household earns all income and the other 
households earn nothing. 
37 
The gini coefficient is calculated using the Lorenz curve that plots the cumulative percentages of 
total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest 
household. The gini measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of 
absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Geometrically 
the gini is measured as: 
G = area between Lorenz curve and line of perfect equality 
Total area below line of perfect equality 
In a situation of perfect equality, the Lorenz curve would overlap the line of perfect equality and 
the Gini coefficient would equal zero. In a theoretical situation where one household is earning 
all the income, the Lorenz curve would coincide with the axes and the gini coefficient would 
equal to one. 
Lo:renz C iuNe o,f I c ,ome Distribution 
00 
00 
B 
20 
10 
0 
10 70 00 l 
hare ~ "¢' -) 
38 
2.13 Theories of Poverty 
Poverty as defined in its general sense is the lack of basic necessities. This includes basic food, 
shelter, medical care, safety and sanitation. These are generally thought necessary on shared 
values of human dignity. According to (Sen, 1999), needs may be relative to what is possible and 
are based on social definition and past experience. Valentine (1968) says that the essence of 
poverty is inequality. In slightly different words, the basic meaning of poverty is relative 
deprivation. A social (relative) definition of poverty allows community flexibility in addressing 
pressing local concerns while objective definitions allow tracking progress and comparing one 
area to another. The most common objective definition of poverty is the statistical measure 
defined by the national government as the annual income needed for a family to survive that is, 
poverty gap. 
2.13.1 Three theories of Poverty 
It is important to note that recent literature in poverty uniformly acknowledges the different 
theories of poverty, and that the literature has classified these theories in multiple ways. From 
literature by Blank, (2003); Goldsmith and Blakely (1992); Jennings and Kushnick (1999); 
Rodgers (2000); Schiller (1989); and Shaw (1996), it is clear that virtually the authors 
distinguish between theories that root the cause of poverty in individual deficiencies 
(conservative) and theories that lay the cause on broader social phenomena (liberal or 
progressive). Ryan (1976) addresses this dichotomy in terms of blaming the victim. Goldsmith 
and Blakely distinguish poverty as pathology and poverty as a structure. Schiller (1989) 
describes poverty in terms of flawed characters and restrictive opportunity. Jennings (1999) 
reviews a number of variants on the individual versus society conceptions thus, giving focus to 
racial and political dynamics. Rank (2004) says the focus on the individual attributes as the cause 
of poverty is misdirected and misplaced. The blame is put on the structural failings of the 
economic, political and social system as the main cause of poverty instead. 
39 
2.13.1.1 Poverty Caused by Individual Deficiencies 
The first theory of poverty is a large and multifaceted set of explanations that focus on the 
individual as responsible for their poverty situation. Typically, political conservative 
theoreticians blame individuals in poverty for creating their own problems, and argue that with 
harder work and better choices, the poor could have avoided their problems. The belief that 
poverty stems from individual deficiencies is old and is augmented by the religious doctrine that 
equates wealth with the favour of God as ascribed by (Weber, 2001 ). The blind, the crippled or 
the deformed people were believed to be punished by God for their parent's sins. Herrnstein and 
Murray (1994) are the modem uses and explanation of this theory. Rainwater (1976) critically 
discusses the individualistic theories of poverty as "moralising perspective" and notes that the 
poor are afflicted with_t he mark of Cain. They are meant to suffer; indeed they must suffer, 
because of their moral fai lings. They live in deserved hell on earth." 
Ironically, the Neo-classical economics reinforces the individualistic theory of poverty. Their 
core paradigm of the study is that the conditions leading to poverty arise from the concept that 
individuals seek to maximise their own wellbeing by making choices and investments and seek 
to maximise their wellbeing. When some people choose short term and low-payoff returns, 
economic theory holds the individual largely responsible for their individual choices. The 
example cited is a foregoing college education or other training that will lead to better paying 
jobs in the future. 
The economic theory that the poor lack incentives for improving their own conditions is a 
recurrent theme in articles that blame the welfare system's generosity on the perpetuation of 
poverty. Economists Gwartney and Mccaleb argue that the years of the war on poverty has 
actually increased poverty among the working age adults in spite of unprecedented increases in 
welfare expenditures. They conclude that "the simple economic theory'' suggests that the 
problem lies in the war on poverty programmes. According to them "the welfare programmes 
have introduced a pervasive incentive structure, one that penalises self-improvement and protects 
individuals against the consequences of their own bad choices." 
These theorists also cast the poor as a moral hazard and holds that the problem of poverty 
continues to fester not because we are failing to do enough, but because we are doing too much 
40 
that is counterproductive. According to Gwartney and Mccaleb, their economic model would 
solve poverty by assuring that the penalty of poverty was great enough that none would choose 
it. That is, welfare would be restricted to the truly disabled or otherwise those who are unable to 
work. 
A version of individualistic theory of poverty which has received less wide criticism is that of 
American values of individualism. The Horatio Alger myth states that any individual can 
succeed by skills and hard work, and that motivation and persistence are all that are required to 
achieve success Asen (2002). The literature reinforces the belief that individuals fail because 
they do not try hard enough. Another literature on individualistic theory of poverty comes from 
Frank Bettinger (1977) who tells how he got a list of self-improvement goals on which to focus 
in order to become one of the most successful and highly paid salesmen in America. It is further 
said that anyone can succeed by an easy formula: focused goals and hard work. This message is 
envisaged in all books of self-help articles and sermons. Simply written, the literature implies 
that those who do not succeed must face the fact that they themselves are responsible for their 
failure. 
2.13.1.2 Anti-Poverty Programmes from an Individual Theory of Poverty Perspective 
According to Maskovsky (2001 ), the community development practice on welfare and social 
policy are aimed at remedying poverty based on individual deficiency theories. It is further said 
that "Explicitly or implicitly, individual deficiencies have been an easy policy approach not 
always carefully explored as they get implemented". In terms of this view, the primary goal is to 
push the poor into work or "work list consensus." Indeed, this move is accompanied by an 
increasing emphasis on self-help strategies for the poor to help themselves out of poverty. 
The community development perspective shies away from blaming individuals. Thus, their anti-
poverty programmes in community development tend to oppose strategies that punish or try to 
change individuals as a solution to poverty, though working with individual needs and abilities is 
a constant objective. 
O'Connor (2001) and Quigley (2003), further collaborate that many contemporary anti-poverty 
programmes are not designed with compassion in mind but use punishment and the threat of 
41 
punishment in order to change behaviour and get people off public assistance. According to 
O'Connor and Quigley, the best example of response to poverty is to limit the number of years 
people can be on family assistance and to require participation in work activities after two years 
on welfare. From this strategy, the threat of a cut-off in assistance is believed to change 
behaviour since a person will lose assistance after five years. 
Another study that was done was the one which reduced assistance to parents if their children fail 
to attend school. This was done with a view that children will graduate from high school and not 
become another generation of welfare recipients. The study finds that punishment does little to 
change behaviour, while teachers and school administrators help identify more complex reasons 
for school attendance (Campbell and Wright, 2005). The example of punitive measures of 
individual theories of poverty is the one that justifies policies that restrict public assistance to 
services and goods instead of cash because there is a lack of trust in the discretion of poor 
people. Providing food at school for children or offering homeless people shelters rather than 
cash to pay for housing is another example. 
In conclusion, irrespective of the widespread societal view that individuals are responsible for 
their own poverty, community developers look to other theories of poverty for more positive 
approaches. 
2.13.1.3 Poverty Caused by Cultural Belief Systems that Support Sub-Cultures of Poverty 
The second theory of poverty is derived from the "Culture of Poverty". The theory is sometimes 
linked to other theories below. According to the authors, the theory suggests that poverty is 
created by transmission of a set of beliefs, values and skills that are socially generated but 
individually held by generations. 
Culture is socially generated and perpetuated, reflecting the interaction of individuals and 
community. Technically, the culture of poverty is a sub-culture of poor people in ghettos, poor 
regions, or social contexts where they develop a shared set of beliefs, values and norms for 
behaviour that are separate from but embedded in the culture of the main society. 
One of the writers of the main literature on culture of poverty is Oscar Lewis. He defines the 
culture of poverty as a set ·of beliefs and values passed from generation to generation. He writes: 
42 
once the culture of poverty has come to existence it tends to perpetuate itself. By the time slum 
children are six or seven they have usually absorbed the basic attitudes and values of the sub-
culture. Thereafter, they are psychologically not ready to take full advantage of changing 
conditions or improving opportunities that may develop in their lifetime. 
The theory of culture of poverty which is based on perpetuation of cultural values has also been 
fraught with controversy. No one disputes that the poor people have sub-cultures or that sub-
cultures of the poor are distinctive and perhaps detrimental. Their concern is over what causes 
and constitutes sub-culture ofp overty. 
Moynihan (1965) finds the concept particularly applicable to his study of Black poverty in the 
early 1960s and links Black poverty to the largely "dysfunctional" Black family found in the 
central cities. Valentine (1968) criticises Frazer who together with Moynihan (1965) portray the 
culture of the Negro poor as an "immoral chaos brought about by the disintegration of the black 
folk culture under the impact of urbanisation". 
Today the sub-cultural values are prized as an example of how sub-cultures can work in favour 
of groups trying to escape poverty. 
2.13.1.4 Anti-Poverty Programmes from a Culture of Poverty Perspective. 
If the theoretical reason for poverty lies in the values and beliefs, transmitted and reinforced in 
sub-cultures of disadvantaged persons, then the local anti-poverty efforts need to intervene to 
help change the culture and, this is called socialisation as a policy. 
Valentine (1968) suggests three different models of cultural theories of poverty: 
1) If one thinks of the culture of the poor as a dysfunctional system of beliefs and knowledge, 
the approach will be to replace that culture with a more functional culture that supports 
rather than undermines productive work, investment and social responsibility. 
2) On the other hand, if one thinks of the culture of poverty as an opportunistic and non-
productive sub-culture that is perpetuated over generations, then the focus will shift to youth 
to stop the recreation of the detrimental culture. According to Zigler and Styfco (1996), 
"head Start and many educational programmes are successful at providing an alternative 
43 
socialisation for next generation to reduce poverty, though the programmes need more 
coherence and quality. Similarly community developers are often involved in helping 
establish after school programmes for teens where their peer culture is monitored and 
positive social values are established, while keeping youth away from gangs and detrimental 
behaviour. These programmes are a policy favourite because they are believed to change the 
culture of youth while their values and norms are still malleable (Levitan, Mangum, & Sum 
2003). 
3) The third approach to the culture of poverty is to try to work within the culture to redefine 
culturally appropriate strategies to improve the group's wellbeing. An example thereof is 
that the community developers can enhance and build upon cultural values with the sub-
cultures of the poor which can become assets for economic development. Local crafts are 
examples as are programmes that tap the traditions of small business and entrepreneurship 
found in sub-cultures as different as urban gangs and middle class single mothers. 
Institutions by which ethnic groups or clans assist each other in creating and financing 
businesses are well documented in the literature. 
2.13.1.5 Poverty Caused by Economic, Political and Social Distortion or Discrimination 
Theorists in this tradition look at the economic, political and social system which causes people 
to have limited opportunities and resources with which to achieve income and wellbeing. In this 
tradition, researchers and their theories attempt to redress the problem noted by Rank, Yoon and 
Hischl (2003). Poverty researchers have in effect focused on who loses out at the economic 
game, rather than addressing the fact that the game produces losers in the first place. One of the 
19th century social intellectuals was Karl Marx. Marx shows how the economic system of 
capitalism creates an army of the unemployed as a conscientious strategy to keep wages low. 
Durkheim also shows that even the most personal of actions (suicide) is in fact mediated by 
social systems. Recently there has been an increased in the number of suicides in the telecoms 
industry because ofretrenchment caused by recession Cable News Network (CNN: 2009). 
Recent literature on poverty now suggests that the economic system is structured in such a way 
that poor people fall behind regardless of how competent they may be. Jencks (1996) states that 
the problem could partly be the fact that the minimum wages do not allow single mothers or 
44 
their families to be economically self-sufficient. Another relevant recent example is the growing 
number of unemployed graduates in South Africa, who even though are qualified, they are said 
to be lacking relevant skills for the available job opportunities, (SABC RADIO NEWS). 
Tobin (1994) says the problem of the working poor is increasingly seen as a wage problem 
linked to structural barriers preventing poor families from getting better jobs, complicated by 
limited number of jobs near their homes and lack of growth in sectors supporting lower skilled 
jobs. The research interestingly shows that the availability of jobs to low income earners is about 
the same as it has been, but the wages that workers can expect from these jobs have fallen. 
Fringe benefits, including health care and promotions have also become scarce for low skilled 
workers. Blank (1997) and Quigley (2003) also points to the fact that the economic changes and 
the way the system works has created increasingly difficult problems for those who want to 
work. 
The other problem which is now getting attention in South Africa is the labour brokers' issue. 
The Congress of the South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and its alliance partners are calling 
for the ANC government to ban labour brokers. The bone of contention is that most companies 
if not all have outsourced some of their so called non-core businesses to labour brokers thereby 
saving costs on human resources. The result is that these labour brokers sign contracts with 
businesses in exchange for labour provided by workers who are servicing these big companies 
and get paid by the labour brokers. The study by COSA TU reveals that most of these labour 
brokers' rip-off an average of 50 to 60 percent of the contracted amount from the workers. That 
is, from the 100 percent contracted amount, the labour broker gets 60 percent in profits and pays 
the worker the remaining 40 percent. This in short does not give an individual an incentive to 
seek work under these harsh circumstances. In short, it is labour exploitation at its best or some 
form of slavery. It is true and relevant for those who benefit from this exercise to protect and 
speak for this practice as it is being done by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Congress of the 
People (COPE) whose leadership is at loggerheads about whether to support the banning or 
regulation of labour brokers with the fear of losing voters as they are a new kid on the block. 
In short, labour brokering is seen by many as labour exploitation as most of these jobs do not 
provide job security. Employees working in these companies are not able to buy houses nor cars 
45 
as their jobs cannot be guaranteed. An example of this is the case of Telkom SA which has 
recently terminated its contract with labour brokers which were offering call centre services to 
Telkom SA: September 2009 SABC Radio News. 
The elimination of structural barriers to better jobs through education and training have received 
more attention through extensive manpower training thus, generating substantial successes but 
also perceived failures. Recent research has confirmed linkage between wealth and power, and 
has shown how poor people are less involved in political discussions while their interests are 
more vulnerable in the political process and they are excluded in many levels. Poor people lack 
influence in the political system. No treatment of poverty can be complete without 
acknowledging that groups against which discrimination is practices have limited opportunities 
regardless of legal protections. 
2.13.1.6 Anti-Poverty Programmes from Structure of Poverty Perspective. 
The policy remedy of the structural poverty is to change the system rather than the poor 
themselves. It is easier said than done when it comes to this policy hence so many policy 
programmes revert to trying to change individual behaviour. The difficult part of this policy 
action is that it is hard for the government to create more jobs, improve schooling for the poor, 
equalise income distributions, remove discrimination or bias from housing, banking, education 
and employment and assure equal political participation by the poor person. All these tasks 
require interventions into the systems that bar the poor from benefiting from the social welfare. 
Rank (2004) argues that change can be mobilised to support better jobs for the poor and more 
effective system. Community organising has also helped reduce poverty across the different 
countries. The second strategy for changing the system is to create and develop alternative 
institutions which have access to openness innovation and a willingness to help the poor gain 
wellbeing. In addition, business strategies such as employee ownership also work. An example 
is the community owned businesses such as community banks which also provide alternative 
structures (Rank, 2004 ). 
Lastly, change can occur through a policy change process (Page and Simmons, 2000). Social 
policies can be adjusted to accomplish poverty reduction, providing jobs, raising wages, 
46 
minimum wage policy, assuring effective access to medical care and coordinating social welfare 
income grants. 
2.14 Conclusion 
This chapter summarises the nature, impact and effects of poverty in South Africa. The literature 
provides the definition of poverty, poverty as a concept, how government institutions define 
poverty and how the poor characterise the status of poverty. The interrelatedness between 
poverty and lack of job opportunities has also been outlined. The government's macroeconomic 
policy such as RDP and GEAR has also been interrogated and discussed. It has also been 
discovered that the GEAR policy which emphasises growth first and redistribution later has not 
benefited from the profits of the past economic growth that this country has experienced. 
Instead, there have been retrenchments in many companies citing globalisation as the cause for 
their profit maximisation strategies and cost containment strategies which usually target the 
workforces of the companies. These strategies that aim at increasing profits mostly results in, if 
not always, chunk of labour being laid-off, ultimately leading to poverty for the affected 
communities as most of the vulnerable are low or semi skilled labourers who usually become the 
casualties of these strategies. 
47 
CHAPTER THREE: SOUTH AFRICAN ECONOMIC POLICY OVERVIEW 
3.1 Introduction 
Since the birth of a new dispensation, the South African government has developed policies 
which are meant to alleviate poverty, improve economic growth and reduce the budget deficit. 
This economic policy seems to be not succeeding in boosting economic growth thus, creating 
employment opportunities which will ultimately alleviate poverty. Even though the economy has 
been growing prior to the economic meltdown, the trickledown effect has not been realized. 
South Africa' s pro-poor economic policies have failed to create adequate employment 
opportunities and comprehensively tackle Income Inequality and Poverty. 
3.2.1 International Economic Perspective of South Africa 
World Bank (2001) classifies, the world economy into three broad income categories, namely: 
• Low income, example: Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Nigeria. 
• Middle income, example: Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Brazil 
• High income, example: Australia, Japan, USA, Canada and New Zealand. 
From the above information it is clear that South Africa is classified as a middle income country. 
48 
3.2.2 Comparison of Global economic growth 1990-1999 
Table 3.1: Gross National Product (GNP) 
Income category Economy Billions of World ranking Average annual 
dollars growth rate 1990-
1999 
Low Income Average/Total 987.6 - 2.4 
Nigeria 2.0 17 2.5 
Mozambique 3.9 119 6.3 
Zambia 3.2 131 1.0 
Zimbabwe 6.1 102 2.4 
Middle Income Average/Total 5,323.2 - 3.5 
Botswana 5.1 108 4.3 
South A(!ica 133.2 28 1.9 
Brazil 742.8 8 2.9 
Mexico 428.8 12 2.7 
Namibia 3.2 130 3.4 
Argentina 277.9 17 -2.9 
High Income Average/Total 22,921.3 - 2.4 
Japan 4,078.9 2 1.4 
Canada 591.4 9 2.3 
Australia 380.8 15 3.8 
49 
New Zealand 52.7 47 2.9 
United States 8,3 51 1 3.4 
Source: World Bank, 2001 
Note: Please note that the bold, italic and underlined row in the table represent the figures for 
South Africa. 
The table above shows the economic performance of the South African Economy from 1990 to 
1999. The GNP was worth $133.2 and was ranked number 28 by the World Bank in 2001. The 
average annual growth rate from 1990 to 1999 was 1. 9. It is clear that based on the above 
information, it will depend on whether growth rate is regarded as good or below average when it 
is compared with other countries. When South Africa is compared with Argentina, it is above 
average and when it is compared with Namibia it is below average. 
3.2.3. South African GDP by Sector between 1994 and 2000 
The significance of evaluating the GDP of country is to determine the nature of national 
economy and to highlight the extent of economic activity and its potential to alleviate poverty. 
Table 3.2: Sectoral GDP for South Africa (R'000) 1994 & 2000 
ECONOMIC SECTOR 1994 % 2000 % 
Agriculture 24,126 5.0 25,389 4.4 
Mining 35,946 7.4 33,821 5.9 
Manufacturing 99,706 20.7 113587 19.9 
Electricity 14,069 2.9 20,244 3.5 
Construction 15,233 3.2 17,122 3.0 
Trade 67,780 14.0 77,372 3.0 
so 
Transport 40,281 8.3 61 ,000 10.7 
Finance 79,378 16,4 110.318 19.6 
Community, social and personal services 106,264 22.0 111 ,900 19.6 
TOTAL 485,783 100,0 570,753 100,0 
SOURCE-SARB, 2001 
From the table above, it is evident that manufacturing, trade, finance and community, social and 
personal services accounts for more than 10% of the National GDP in 1994 and in 2000 the 
transport sector joined in the upper 10 % of the GDP at 10, 7 %. Agriculture has a potential to 
be involved in poverty alleviation programmes due to its nature of being labour intensive and as 
such is capable of absorbing large numbers of labour labourers because of its relatively low 
capital intensity (World Bank 2001). 
3.3 South African Macroeconomic Policy Overview 
3.3.1 Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) 
During the path to democratic transition, the unions, civic movement and social organisations 
began to develop a plan for social transformation needed for the post-apartheid South Africa. 
After an extensive consultation within the ANC, its allies and a wide range of experts, the 
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was born and was adopted as South African 
economic policy in 1994. RDP aimed at addressing many social and economic problems that was 
facing the country. It linked reconstruction with development. The policy recognised that all the 
problems (shortage of jobs, inadequate education, poor health care facilities, lack of housing and 
failing economy) are connected. The policy proposed job creation through public works. That is, 
the building of houses and provision of services will be labour intensive thus, creating sizeable 
employment. 
Goals were set as follows: 
51 
Housing: to build well-located and affordable shelter for all by 2003. That is build one 
million houses in five years. 
Water: to supply 20 to 30 litres of clean water each day to every person in two years and 
50 to 60 litres per day within five years from a point not more than 200 metres from their 
dwelling. 
Electricity: to supply 2.5 million more households and all schools and clinics with 
electricity by the year 2000. 
Health care: to give free medical care to children under the age of 6 and to homeless 
children; improve maternity care for women and organise programmes to prevent and 
treat major diseases like TB and AIDS. 
Land reform: to implement land reform based on redistribution of residential and 
productive land to those who need it but cannot afford it and restitution to those who lost 
land because of apartheid laws. 
Job Creation through public works: a national public works programme to provide 
basic needs such as water supply, sewerage and roads and at the same time create jobs, 
particularly in poor and rural areas. 
Social security and social welfare: a new social system to provide for all people 
regardless of their race, gender or physical disability. A pension system to meet the needs 
of workers in the formal and informal sectors. 
Education and training: literacy for all, equal opportunity, 10 years of free and 
compulsory education, class sizes of no more than 40 pupils, training workers to meet the 
challenges of the new political and economic conditions. 
3.3.2 Growth, Employment and Redistribution policy (GEAR) 
In June 1996 the Department of Finance adopted a new macroeconomic strategy called GEAR 
(Growth, Employment and Redistribution). It has a five year plan aimed at strengthening 
economic development, broadening employment, and redistribution of income and 
52 
socioeconomic opportunities in favour of the poor. Gear remains and is still the government 
policy. The key goals of the policy are economic growth of 6% in the year 2000 with inflation 
less than 10%, employment growth above an increase in economically active population, deficit 
on the current account and the balance of payment (BOP) between 2 and 3 percent, a ratio of 
gross domestic savings to GDP of 21 .5 percent. In the year 2000, improvement in income 
distribution, relaxation of exchange control and reduction of budget deficit was to be below 4 
percent of GDP. 
3.3.3 Overview of GEAR Policy 
After the RDP was replaced by the new macroeconomic policy GEAR, a lot of debates arose 
about the legitimacy or relevance prevailing situation. The GEAR policy was launched when the 
rand was quickly depreciating and foreign exchange reserves were at their extreme low levels. 
The strategy proposed a set of medium-term policies aimed at the rapid liberalisation, 
"regulated" flexibility in labour markets, strict deficit reduction targets and monetary policies 
aimed at stabilising the rand through market interest rates. Another component of the strategy 
was the privatisation of the state assets which was being negotiated through an earlier agreement 
between government and labour, called National Framework Agreement (NF A). Heintz (2003) 
states that the GEAR document contained ambitious targets for the South African economy. That 
is, by the year 2000 the economy was to generate a sustainable 6 percent average growth rate and 
400,000 new jobs each year. A critical link in the logic of the GEAR strategy was a rapid 
expansion of new investments - in particular, foreign direct investments. According to the 
policy, high levels of investment would have supported rapid rates of economic growth which, in 
tum would have created hundreds of thousands of jobs. The twin engines of growth and rapid job 
creation would allow South Africans to overcome the vast inequalities that apartheid has left 
behind. Growth would allow for the eventual expansion of social services and the provision of 
infrastructure. Job creation would raise the incomes of ordinary South Africans. 
3.3.4 The post-Apartheid Economy: Growth, Inflation and Investment 
We now look at whether the South African Economy has been able to deliver the post-apartheid 
era. Table below shows the records on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and its component 
expenditure categories, for the two-time periods- 1996-2002, corresponding to the introduction 
53 
of the GEAR policies and 1994-2002, corresponding to the entire democratic dispensation. It is 
clear from the figures that the economic growth never came close to the GEAR forecast. Even if 
the restriction is based on the GDP on the final years of the period, 2000-2002, the economy 
grew at an average annualised rate of approximately 3 percent, which was about half the target 
level. According to the study, the most important contributors to economic growth were an 
expansion of consumer spending and increased exports. 
Table 3.3: Growth of expenditure components, South Africa 
1996-2002 1994-2002 
Annualised % change over Annualised % change over 
entire period entire period 
Real GDP 2.4% 2.8% 
Household consumption 2.6% 3.3% 
Investment 2.0% 3.9% 
Government expenditure 1.6% 0.9% 
Exports 2.8% 4.5% 
Less: Imports 1.5% 4.2% 
Source: South African Reserve Bank 2002 
When comparing the records under the GEAR policies with that of the entire post-apartheid era, 
the annualised growth rates do not differ as much as anticipated by the targets of GEAR. That is, 
2.4 percent versus 2.8 percent. It can be noted that the expenditure components of the GDP 
showed some significant drop with spending on imports going down during the years of the 
GEAR policy compared with the full time period. This in essence, shows that a decline in 
imports could positively influence demand for locally produced products which also help our 
country' s balance of payment (BOP). When imports surpass the exports, the results are trade 
deficit, and when exports exceed the imports the country has a trade surplus. 
54 
Table 3.4: The social and economic indicators of South Africa, 1994-2002 
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 
konomic growth 3.2% 3.1 % 4.3% 2.6% 0.8% 2.0% 3.5% 2.8% 2.9% 
nflation 8.8% 8.7% 7.3% 8.6% 6.9% 5.2% 5.4% 5.7% 8.8% 
teal prime lending rate 6.8% 9.2% 12.2% 11.4% 14.9% 12.8% 9.1 % 8.1 % 6.0% 
~xchange rate R3.54 R3 .65 R4.68 R4.87 R5.86 R6.15 R7.57 R12.13 R8.51 
3udget deficit/GDP 5.1 % 4.5% 4.6% 3.8% 2.3% 2.0% 2.0% 1.4% 2.1 % 
tate of accumulation of fixed 0.8% 1.3% 1.7% 1.9% 2.0% 1.0% 0.8% 0.9% n/a 
:apital 
lo pregnant women with 6.0 9.0 13.5 14.9 19.2 21.0 24.3 n/a n/a 
UV/AIDS, median urban 
>regnant women with 6.7 8.3 16.3 18.1 21.3 23 .0 2.9 n/a n/a 
UV/AIDS, median non-
rrban 
}rowth rate: private sector -0.9% 0,5% -2.6% -2.5% -4.4% -1.3% -2.0% -1.4% n/a 
:mployment 
}rowth rate: total formal -0.4% -1.1 % -0.7% -1.7% -3.5% -2.0% -2.7% -1.6% n/a 
,ector employment 
-Jational mcome per capita R1 3 R13656 R13961 R13987 R13759 R13641 R13789 R1 3862 n/a 
R1995) 586 
Source: South African Reserve Bank 2002 
55 
The table above clearly provides a more detailed year-on-year socio economic picture of 1994 to 
2002. The central key element of the GEAR policies is to keep inflation low while liberalising 
financial markets. It is evident from the table above that inflation has been relatively going 
down, but at the expense of high real interest rates, which hypothetically slowed the economic 
growth. It is also evident that the erosion of the value of the rand has contributed to the trade off 
between the interest rates and the inflation. Clearly, the rand never stabilised for this entire 
period and has led to inflationary pressures which included rapid increases in the prices of basic 
items. 
The national treasury has managed to reduce the size of the budget deficit thus outperforming the 
original target set by the GEAR policy. The rate of fixed capital has remained at low levels for a 
long period. The prevalence of HIV pregnant women has increased drastically in both urban and 
non-urban areas. The total formal sector employment and private sector have seen a steady 
decline in new employment opportunities. 
3.3.5 South African Jobless Growth 
It is evident from previous subsection that many economists advocate that economic growth and 
investment lead to employment opportunities. But, in South Africa the situation has been 
different in that we have seen lot of job losses throughout the period. It can be seen from table 
above that a loss in jobs has aggravated the high rate of unemployment. Though economic 
growth has generally been positive throughout this period growth in employment has been 
consistently negative. It should be said that such jobless growth raises serious concerns such as 
that the current economic policies have failed to translate even modest levels of growth into real 
social benefits. 
3.3.6 Population and Labour Force Participation 
A substantial number of working age people do not participate in the labour market, mostly 
because they are studying, disabled, and working in their homes or have become discouraged and 
are no longer seeking work. This group is called economically inactive. The ratio of 
economically active adults - that is, the employed and those seeking work- to the total working 
age population is called the Labour Force Participation Rate. The key labour market indicators of 
56 
both formal and informal sectors have a decline labour participation rate from the first quarter of 
2008 to the first quarter of 2009 (QLFS 2009). This has been attributed to the global economic 
meltdown (Recession) of 2009 which caused by mismanagement of American major banks that 
led to the credit crunch. The survey also finds out that the number of individuals seeking 
employment who have given up looking for jobs have increased due to the fact that they are 
discouraged from looking for work and feels that there is no work in the area they live in. 
According to the QLFS (2009), the industries which did not decline in labour participation rate 
was the finance sector, the community and social services, which saw an increase in the labour 
participation rate. The private households also saw an increase in labour participation rate. Year 
on year percentage change was 1.4 for finance industry, 1. 1 for community and social services 
and 0.8 for private households. 
3.4 Successes and Critics of the Macroeconomic Policy 
Until recently, now with the global recession, the government's macroeconomic policy has 
managed to significantly lower the budget deficit and inflation. But, still the growth rate is still 
below the target of 6% goal which is seen as necessary to reduce unemployment thus reducing 
poverty too. COSA TU with an affiliation of more than 19 unions and a membership of more than 
1.8 million is seen as the most critics of the gear policy. It claims that the GEAR policy has 
failed to deliver the promised economic and job growth or significant redistribution of income 
and socioeconomic opportunities in favour of the poor. The labour federation base its critics on 
GEARs stringent monetary and fiscal targets, which are in conflict with the goals of the RDP of 
growth based on job creation, meeting people' s basic needs, poverty reduction and a more 
equitable distribution of wealth. 
COSATU also notes that GEAR brought about deep cuts in government spending between 1994 
and 1996 which led to efforts to improve services to the poor being compromised, despite the 
continued reprioritisation of spending from the rich to the poor. In conclusion to all above, the 
COSATU's own research institute, the National Labour and Economic Development Institute 
(NALEDI) says that the necessary preconditions for economic success did not exist in South 
Africa, and as a result even though the budget deficit was slashed, the positive consequences 
anticipated by GEAR did not bear desirable fruits . On the same note, the government also 
57 
acknowledged GEAR's stringent limits, on expenditure limits the ability to meet social 
development goals of the RDP. 
In contrast, the then President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki said in his annual state of the nation 
address in February 2001 that there has been a net gain of 1.1 million jobs between 1996 and 
1999, but those jobs were mainly in the informal sector. NALEDI notes that however the 
opposite was on the formal sector that shed more than 400,000 between 1996 and 1999. The 
impact on families was disastrous, as there was little in the way for social security protection for 
the unemployed. 
The net results of NALEDI show that the income of the poorest 40% of the population has 
declined by 20%. ALEDI concludes that GEAR, despite its name, has failed in terms of 
economic growth, creation of quality jobs and the redistribution of wealth to the poor. 
Economic growth, poverty reduction and job creation remain the key goals of our economic 
policy. It should be noted that the South African government has made significant progress in 
meeting the goals of the RDP. Much still needs to be done. South Africa remains a divided 
economy with the huge majority of blacks remaining poor and most whites remaining rich. It is 
evident that economic growth is insufficient to create sizeable employment opportunities and 
thus reducing unemployment and curbing poverty. 
3.5 Poverty reduction programmes by the private sector 
During the apartheid era, blacks were subjected to all forms of oppression, which included being 
denied the right to vote for the government of their own choice and forced removals from urban 
to rural areas were the order of the day. This did not go unchallenged by the inhabitants of this 
country. This led to riots and lack of governance. In 1994 the new democratic government under 
the leadership of the ANC came to power formed. The situation in South Africa changed and the 
ANC focused on restoring the dignity of the black African people. 
This was followed by large numbers of projects which were established to develop people, 
societies and communities. Some of these projects were carried out by private entities such as the 
Council for Scientific Research and Industrial Research (CSIR). 
58 
3.5.1 What is the role of CSIR? 
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is the leading scientific and 
technology research and development and implementation organisation in Africa. Constituted by 
an act of parliament of 1945 as a science council , the CSIR undertakes directed and multi 
disciplinary research technological innovation as well as industrial and scientific development to 
improve the quality of life of the people. 
A sample of CSIR projects includes the community based essential oils projects meant to create 
jobs. The development of community-based essential oils businesses opened in the Western 
Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga and it is a CSIR-led poverty alleviation project initiated by the 
department of science and technology. Essential oils are natural extracts from aromatic plants 
and are sold to the flavour, fragrance and personal hygiene and aromatherapy markets. This 
CSIR-developed chemical processing technology allows the production of essential oils by 
community based farmers in many diverse climate zones of South Africa. The establishment of 
these businesses involves significant skills transfer to the communities leading to sustainable 
businesses and creation of jobs. Another project is part of the innovation fund project supported 
by the Department of Science and Technology. The CSIR has formed a number of successful 
partnerships with rural communities in bridging the digital divide. In Pomfret, a place situated in 
the North West Province, the CSIR has piloted an innovative communications infrastructure and 
community service centre in support of local economic development. The multipurpose centre 
set up by CSIR houses the community's PC literacy and business skills training activities. The 
project stresses the importance of community participations, innovative, technologies, quality of 
life and sustainability. 
The numbers of sustainable projects funded and supported by this institution are vast. They rank 
from the sisal incorporated project in the Northern Cape, advanced metal initiative project and 
the manufacturing sector projects across the country. 
3.6 Conclusion 
The South African macroeconomic policy has received a lot of criticism from both labour 
movements and different economists due to its lack of emphasis on the strategies to eradicate 
59 
poverty. The trickledown effect from the economic growth has not been realised. Even though 
the economy has been growing, there has been no sizeable employment created under this policy, 
but instead jobs have been lost under this policy. Some critics also say that the current 
government seems to be a welfare government instead of being economic growth government. 
This is so because every time there is a budget speech and the opposition parties question the 
lack of job opportunities in the past financial years, the respond from the government will be the 
increased number of individuals who now have access to social welfare systems. However, the 
economy has been growing and the interest rates have been capped to the government's desired 
level of between three and six percent, even though there has been criticism that prices of goods 
and services remain relatively high even when interest rates are low. This has also brought a lot 
of debate of whether interest rates should be perked or not. COSAT U and its affiliates are 
pushing an agenda of economic policy reform which will also target the monetary policy review 
and the fiscal policy. It will thus be necessary for the government to amend its macroeconomic 
policy in order to come with a policy programme meant to grant all South Africans life of dignity 
and quality free from servitude of the past. However, the effective socio-economic upliftment 
can only occur within the framework of a healthy growing economy. Therefore, the economic 
policy needs some alterations to redress the imbalances of the past and the growing income 
inequality that this country is facing today. 
60 
CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH DESIGN 
4.1 Introduction 
In this chapter, the method of research is outlined. It clearly explain the rationale behind the 
methodology that is used or employed and how the research is conducted and what steps are 
taken to ensure the validity of the data that is collected in the area under study observation. The 
theoretical framework is provided in chapter one, two and chapter three. The purpose of the 
study stated in chapter one is the guiding force behind this investigation. An analytical 
investigation is employed to determine the effects and the socio-economic impact of poverty in 
different households in South Africa. 
The main critical question in this study is to determine from the literature, the nature and scope 
of adverse effects of poverty and its severity and the burden it poses on the different households 
in South Africa. Secondly, to assess the availability of the Poverty Alleviation Programmes 
(PAPs) in the area, and if the programmes are available, then assessment should be done to 
determine whether those programmes are really helping the inhabitants of this area. 
4.2 Case Study as a Methodological Frame-Work 
The case study is a way of organising social data and looking at the object to be studied as a 
whole (Bless, 1995). Questionnaires and interviews are used to obtain information from the 
households. This is the case study of the effects and analysis of poverty in the households of 
Ramatlabama villages situated within the area of Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality of 
the North West Province in South Africa. 
4.3 The Questionnaire as a Structured Tool 
The questionnaire and (structured/ unstructured) interviews are the primary instruments used in 
the data collection for the study under review. The questionnaire as a method of research is 
frequently used to measure the attitudes of people towards other people, government policies or 
situation (Rob and Turney, 1971). The self-administered questionnaires filled in by the 
respondents are used. 
61 
4.3.1 Advantages of the Questionnaires 
According to Bless (1995) a questionnaire can be easily standardised as it has low drain on time 
and finances and needs very little time for training researchers. The other advantage of a 
questionnaire is that it can be used without direct personal contact with the respondents. 
4.3.2 Limitation of the Questionnaires 
Even though questionnaires have their own advantages, there are certain limitations that can 
sometimes make it difficult to interpret subject responses. At the same time, it is difficult to 
check whether the respondents understand the questions or not. Another challenge regarding the 
limitations of the questionnaires could be low response which might lead to time constraints and 
bias of the respondents (Bless, 1995). 
4.3.3 Questionnaire Construction 
For the purpose of this study, the questionnaire is constructed and structured carefully and the 
table format with a fill in and multiple choice questions is used. 
4.3.3.1 Development of Questionnaire Items 
The questionnaire items are carefully constructed and developed to answer the objectives of the 
study. The needs and interests of the study as well as the response of the respondents are 
carefully considered before finalising the questionnaire. The sample of the final questionnaire is 
attached as an appendix in the research document. 
4.4 Population and Sample Selection 
The population study area is households m Ramatlabama villages. The selection is done 
randomly to avoid bias and skewedness of the data collection which might affect the imputation 
of the results thus, not reflecting the true sense of the study. That is, random selection is used 
considering the nature of the topic under study. Poverty is randomly scattered in South Africa 
hence random selection of data. 
62 
4.5 Conclusion 
The purposeful random sampling techniques are used on the stratified groups of households. 
Face to face with individual head of the family of the households are used to gather the 
information and data from different households in the study area. 
The results of the data collected from different households are recorded in the tables in the 
questionnaire and descriptive data is also collected using the same questionnaire. 
63 
CHAPTER FIVE: RAMA TLABAMA VILLAGE - CASE STUDY 
5.1 Introduction 
Ramatlabama villages are mainly populated by people from different tribes and from different 
places who were forcefully removed from their ancestral locations by the then apartheid regime 
and were forced to live side by side in the then Bophuthatswana homeland even though they had 
different cultures. Botshabelo, Miga, and Ikopeleng are dominated by Batloung tribe were 
forcefully relocated from Putfontein in Lichtenburg district to Ramatlabama village, named after 
the border gate bordering South Africa in the North with Botswana. Other villages which are 
enacted as Ramatlabama villages include Tsetse, originally the Bakwena-ba-Mogopa from 
around Koster district and Makgokgwane also the Bakwena from Ventersdorp district. Even 
though these tribes did not know each other before the forced removals of the 1970s, they are 
now neighbouring villages staying side by side. Most of the inhabitants of these villages are 
Setswana speaking nation. Ramatlabama villages fall under the jurisdiction of gaka Modiri 
Molema District Municipality. 
Formerly, these villages were under the then South African apartheid government but were 
enacted under the Group Areas Act which established the homelands. During the forced 
removals, those who did not want to relocate were subjected to torture and their belongings were 
destroyed in the process. When these tribes arrived in their new places, there were no formal 
housing structures but a tin house and some two tents which were temporarily allocated these 
households. 
During that era, the then administration of Bophuthatswana put an eye on those who were 
reluctant to move as they were accused of having ties with the then banned ANC freedom 
movement which was actually against the Group Areas Act. The General government, formerly 
GG provided running water in the streets and that was the only service that was provided by the 
government by then. There was no electricity during that time. The government also provided tin 
latrines for free. 
64 
There was no formal employment by then as most of these villages were formally dependent on 
seasonal employment from commercial farming by the whites at that time. This gave a new 
administration a challenge to provide its new inhabitants with some form of employment. 
Most of the jobs that were created were in the police force and the defence force . As a result, this 
led to the so-called artificial economy as many projects were created to employ people even 
though the demand forecast for those projects were not carried out. Most of these projects failed 
now and then but the then administration kept on pumping money just to sustain employment. 
Some of the failed projects include the broiler farm under the umbrella of Agrichicks which was 
funded by department of agriculture. It was bailed out several times and was eventually put 
under the judicial administration until it was sold to private owners. Unfortunately this led to 
retrenching of almost three thousands employees, which meant three thousand household ' s 
income has diminished. Other failed projects include Kgora project which planted vegetables and 
sold them to villages at less prices. Lastly, is the vast land that has been vacated by the farmers 
who complained about lack of rain among others when compared to their ancestral land and lack 
of financial assistance from the Land Bank? All this led to the current situation of high 
unemployment and poverty among the rural community areas under study. 
5.2.1 Location of South Africa in the African map 
Geographically, South Africa lies at the far tip of the continent of Africa between the Atlantic 
Ocean on the west and the Indian Ocean in eastern side. It shares the borders with Botswana, 
Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Swaziland and Lesotho which is an enclave within South 
Africa itself. 
South Africa is made up of nine provinces, namely: Gauteng, Free State, Eastern Cape, Western 
Cape, Northern Cape, North West, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal. 
5.2.2 Brief discussion of Poverty 
According Southafrica.info, (2007) on the report by then head of the office of the presidency, Mr 
Joel Netshitenzhe, the income of poorer South Africans has increased when compared to the past 
years. However it is not acknowledged that the rate of income among the poor has not kept up 
65 
with that of the rich, which means that while the income poverty was declining, the income 
inequality was growing, resulting in the worsening of inequality. 
Economic growth has also shown a constant growth in the past years thus, positioning the 
country on the right path towards the goals of Accelerated Growth Initiative of South Africa 
(ASGISA). According to the report, the living conditions of the poor has also improved when 
compared to the post 1994 elections thus, the poor had now access to water and sanitation, 
electricity and better health care facilities. It is evident that the report was relevant by then but 
now the situation seems to have changed. 
SOUTH AFRICAN MAP 
BOT'SWANA 
· n esburg .._ MPUMALA'NGA...; 
GAUTENG 
~er ksidorp 
U pin.gton ,FREE STATE 
f<I ~ ~eyil, 
81oemlonl Ein 
NORTHERN CAPE 
U rntaa,c.. 
tNDIAN 
ASTERN CAPE ,,, OCEAN 
LOl'>d<> n 
Source: Www.southafrica.info 
66 
North West Map 
rdepoorl 
LIMPOPO 
!BOTSWANA , Game Reserve \..._ - .~ 
(' ■ N ietverdiend ') 
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SOURCE:HTTP: WWW .SOUTHAFRICA.INFO/ ABOUT /GEOGRAPHY /NORTH-
WEST.HTM 
5.3 The North West Province at a Glance 
The North West Province lies north of South Africa on the Botswana border, again Limpopo on 
the north, Northern Cape on the south and Free State on the south-east. Mafikeng is the capital 
and is best known for the famous siege of the Anglo-Boer war. The main cities in the North West 
are Mmabatho, Potchefstroom, Britz, Rustenburg and Klerksdorp. The Bojanala district is known 
for its tourism industry and mining activity which produces chrome and platinum. The Dr 
Kenneth Kaunda district municipality was known for its Gold mining around Klerksdorp and 
Stilfontein areas. The gold reserves in that area has shown some decline in the past years, 
seemingly due to costs of excavation. 
The Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati district area is also known for its agricultural products. It is 
sometimes referred to as the Texas of South Africa due to its excess supply of beef products. 
Ironically, this excess supply of products does not seem to benefit the locals as one finds that the 
67 
products are expensive where they are produced instead of being cheaper. An example which 
could be cited is the meat products like processed meat which is a bit expensive in Vryburg and 
cement is more expensive in Mafikeng and Mmabatho area where it is surrounded by two 
cement factories because of its richness in limestone. Here the trickledown effect does not seem 
to materialise as most of these factories have long been operating. 
The North West Province has an area of 106 512 square kilometres and has a population of 
3.4million people. Two-thirds of the population speaks Setswana. Only 35% of the population is 
urbanised while the rest is rural area. 
The area was created in 1994 by the merger of the former Bophuthatswana Bantustan or 
homeland and the western part of the province of Transvaal. The North West Province is famous 
for its tourist attraction facilities in the Pilanesburg nature reserve and the Sun City hotel 
complexes. The Sun City hotel hosts one of the biggest entertainment centres and casinos with an 
18-hole golf course, theatres and concert halls, beaches and a wave pool at the valley of the 
waves. The Sun City golf course annually hosts the Sun City golf challenge popularly known as 
the Nedbank golf challenge (southafrica.info). 
With this in mind, it is for sure that the province is 65 percent rural and more is needed in terms 
of rural development. The majority of the inhabitants of the North West province are dependent 
on the agricultural seasonal employment from the farmers who seasonally farm on maize, 
tomatoes, potatoes, sorghum, wheat and lot of other farm products. As such, poverty is prevalent 
in the whole province. The North West Provincial Government is overwhelmed by the massive 
quest for the creation of jobs for its people. 
5.4 Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality's Economic history 
Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality is one of the four district municipalities that 
constitute the North West Province. The other district municipalities are Bojanala, Dr Kenneth 
Kaunda and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati district municipalities. 
The municipality under study is Ngaka Modiri Molema District municipality. The area is 
consists mainly of farm lands. Main factories around the area are Pretoria Portland Cement 
(PPC), Lafarge Cement and other small factories which employ a sizeable number of people but 
68 
not enough to curb employment. During the past few years, the locals have seen the closer of 
some of the factories and companies, some citing globalisation and some saying lack of 
government intervention has led to the closer of their businesses. 
The names are listless but few names can be quoted. The absorption of the former 
Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation SABC has seen a sizeable number of employees 
being retrenched, the transformation of the North-West Development Corporation, the merger 
between the former University of Bophuthatswana and the Potchefstroom university, the closure 
of the Sebowana mills, Clean Meats Products, Mimosa nest (Egg Farm), the liquidation of the 
Agrichicks which owned and housed egg production, broiler farm, and a processing plant and 
now bought by supreme chickens and others not mentioned have seen a massive retrenchment 
scale with no alternative job opportunities. All this has led to a crippled economy with no sign of 
revival which has also exacerbated the state of poverty and its severity on individual households 
as some of those retrenched years ago have never been able to secure any kind of job till now. 
5.5 Government Policy on Poverty 
Previously, there has been Poverty Alleviation Projects and many have been closed, but reasons 
thereof are not clear or explainable. The names are listless as there have been poultry projects 
targeted for the poorest of the poor in most of the villages like Ramatlabama, slate project for 
Dinokana village in Lehurutshe and brick laying factory planned for Gopane village also in 
Lehurutshe. There is a long overdue cement project at Bodibe village and the now and then long 
overdue Mafikeng Industrial Development Zone' s Bio-diesel project which has received a lot of 
political contestation about its viability for the past 15 years now. Truly, these are excellent 
government policies, like they say: it is easy to say but hard to do, or rather it' s easy to plan but 
hard to implement. 
If all these policy plans, could have received a concerted effort they could have absolutely 
removed the scourge of poverty long before the United Nations could come with its vision on 
Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of 2015. 
Clearly, it could be said without doubt that different writers on public policy really applaud the 
South African public policy with regard to poverty and welfare programmes but the problems 
69 
lies with implementation thereof or if successfully implemented the sustainability of the project 
becomes the burning issue. 
Previously, the then president of South Africa and the current leadership set 2014 as the year that 
we are supposed to see the halving of unemployment and the drastic reduction of poverty. 
Honestly, when one reads government gazettes and different news papers, there are many 
projects in the pipe line that are not implemented. Surely, if it could have been possible that all 
these projects receive the same planning, organising, control, leadership rigour,, vibrancy and 
project management skills that the 2010 soccer projects have received within a short period of 
time, then poverty could have been history in South Africa. 
5.6 Status of Infrastructure in the villages 
The status of infrastructure is in the villages not good or bad as most basic needs of the 
community are accessible. The provision of basic services is enshrined in our constitution. This 
could be generalised as provision of appropriate services geared to better the quality of South 
African lives, reduction of obstacles that make it difficult for people to access health care 
facilities, thus ultimately balancing between the people and their environment. The provision of 
these basic services by the government is crucial for the development and functioning of the 
community as well as the government as a whole. 
• Physical Infrastructure 
The access roads to the villages link with the Nl 8 road that links with the Nelson Mandela road 
to Mafikeng. The road has recently been upgraded and has become an up market road design to 
carry buses, taxis and trucks to and from the Ramatlabama border gate for transportation of 
goods between South Africa and the Sub-Saharan Southern African countries. According to 
politicians, this N18 refurbished road is said to be an anchor road project for the MIDZ projects 
at the Airport. When the project is completed, the MIDZ project at the Airport will store and 
transport goods to and from this area. 
The internal roads in the villages get periodic maintenance from the Ngaka Modiri Molema 
District Municipality's roads and infrastructure department section. The residents are solely 
dependent on three modes of transport, which are buses, taxi and own cars. 
70 
• Electricity Supply 
Except for the new residential areas and vacated stands, almost all the houses are electrified. The 
houses were all electrified under one project and thus, almost all the households are able to 
access the electricity grid through the project. The burning issue about the electricity supply is 
that when it is windy or there are thunder storms, the supply can go for three days without any 
help even if the problem has been reported at the utility company (Eskom). The residents use 
prepaid vouchers to buy their electricity for household consumption. 
• Water Supply 
Water supply in the villages is currently not a big problem. There are generators in the villages 
that suck water from the ground and fill the stainless steel tanks to feed the villages. The thorny 
issue is that this water is seldom tested for chemicals that could be harmful for human 
consumption. Each street has a pipe of running water passing in front of it. Most if not all the 
households have direct connection of fresh tap water connected in each household. This was 
done in collaboration with the local tribal council. Residents are required by law (tribal by-laws) 
to pay ten Rands for their water consumption. 
• Health Care Facilities 
All the Ramatlabama villages have access to clinics. The complaints usually received daily could 
rise from clinics that close early (e .g. 16:00). Lack of medications in our health care facilities is 
also of a great concern among the villagers. Or sometimes understaffed personnel in these 
institutions are of great concern. 
• Community Governance 
These villages are under the leadership of traditional leaders. Constitutionally, the South African 
government recognise the tribal leaders and their rulings. It makes no difference that the villages 
under study are also under the leadership of tribal leaders in the form of chiefs or kings. 
71 
In the olden days, the tribal council used to administer almost everything, ranging from finances 
(tax collection), to discipline. If one stole someone' s belonging, then there would be a tribal 
court and the one found guilty will be forced to pay the complainant and get punishment in a 
form of lashes. The other changes in the running of the tribal council is that the tribal council 
does not work alone in decision making about the affairs of the community but works with local 
councillors when it comes to the development in the community area. 
That is, the local councillor must find the needs of the community and bring them forward to the 
council meetings. All targeted development for the village will then be communicated to the 
councillor who then informs the tribal council of any Integrated Development Projects (IDPs) 
aimed to be executed any time soon or in the future . This is a coordinated effort between the 
community leaders and the local councillors in order to achieve government goals of rural 
development and poverty eradication. 
5. 7 Conclusions 
The residents of Ramatlabama are helpless, poverty-stricken and most have given up looking for 
jobs. There is a need for a concerted effort by all government spheres, community leaders, 
business community, international investors and the community itself to get involved in the 
development of their own lives. 
72 
CHAPTER SIX: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND PRESENTATION 
6.1 Introduction 
The chapter presents the research findings of both qualitative and quantitative data that was 
collected and analysed. Our main focus of study was on the investigation of the severity of 
poverty, its impact on the socio-economic aspect of poverty on the households. The results of the 
study survey on the effects of poverty on different households and its relationship to 
unemployment is thoroughly interrogated. This includes the interrogation on information 
pertaining to access to basic necessities like water, electricity, health care facilities, shelter, 
education, recreational facilities and safety. 
6.2 Demographic Information 
Figure A: Pie-Chart: Gender of the population under study 
Percent 
□ Male 
■ Female 
73 
Table: 6.2.1 
Gender of Respondents 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 14 46.7 46.7 46.7 
2 16 53 .3 53 .3 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
According to the data collected and the analysis thereof, 46, 67% of respondents are male 
whereas 53 , 33% are females. This means that there are more households that are headed by 
females than males. The pie chart above clearly shows the percentage relating to the results 
shown here. 
Figure B: Bar chart: Age analysis of the Respondents 
Percent 
30 
26.67 
,--
25 
20 
15 -
,--------
10 10 10 
10 
6 .67 6 .67 6 .67 
,-- ,-- -
5 - t--- t--- - I--- I--- - -- .-.J-.--- t--- ---,.-.1-.1 -·------
n n n 
0 
20- 25 26- 30 31 - 35 36- 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 55 56- 60 6 1 - 65 66- 70 71 -> 
74 
Table: 6.2.2 
Frequency Table Of Age Analysis Of the Respondents 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 2 2 6.7 6.7 6.7 
3 4 13.3 13.3 20.0 
4 2 6.7 6.7 26.7 
5 3 10.0 10.0 36.7 
6 3 10.0 10.0 46.7 
7 3 10.0 10.0 56.7 
8 1 3.3 3.3 60.0 
9 1 3.3 3.3 63.3 
10 2 6.7 6.7 70.0 
11 8 26.7 26.7 96.7 
12 1 3.3 3.3 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
The results on the age analysis shows that 26.67% of a respondents or residents are youth with 
age ranging from 20 years to 35 years of age whereas those between 36 and 45 are young adults 
with a percentage is 20. Residents within the age group of 46 and 59 are classified as adults and 
75 
constitute 16.67 percent of the whole total number of respondents . Those within the age from 60 
and above are classified as pensioners as all of them are already receiving old age pensions and 
makes 36.67 percent of the population under study. This also shows that out of the whole 
population under study, 63, 34 percent of the population is a working age group. The bar chart 
above clearly shows the percentage age analysis of all respondents. 
Figure C: Bar chart: Marital status of the respondents 
Percent 
50 
45 
40 
35 
30 
25 · I □ Percent ! 
20 
15 
10 
5 
0 
Single Married D ivorced living Separated Widowed 
Together 
76 
Table: 6.2.3 
Frequency table on Marital Status of the Respondents 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 1 12 40.0 40.0 40.0 
2 13 43.3 43.3 83.3 
3 1 3.3 3.3 86.7 
6 4 13.3 13.3 100.0 
The results show that out of~ total number of 30 respondents 40% of the respondents are single 
43 , 33 % are married and 3, 33% are divorcees . There are zero findings on couples who live 
together as well as those who are separated. The fact that there are no couples living together 
could be attributed to the fact that tribal laws do not entertain single women owning stands or 
houses as this is thought to be the main cause of broken marriages. The assumption is that 
women who are single are prone to having multiple relationships and as such some married 
couples end up leaving their couples and cheating with single women. There is one incident or 3, 
33 percent outcome or respondent who is a widow. The above depicts the results of the analysis. 
77 
Table: 6.2.4 
Family size by number of children 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 1 10 33.3 33.3 33 .3 
2 5 16.7 16.7 50.0 
3 5 16.7 16.7 66.7 
4 3 10.0 10.0 76.7 
5 2 6.7 6.7 83.3 
6 5 16.7 16.7 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Frequency Table on the Age of Children 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 0 22 73 .3 73.3 73.3 
1 8 26.7 26.7 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
78 
Table: 6.2.5 
Table on number of extended family living with Respondent 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 1 14 46.7 48 .3 48 .3 
2 15 50.0 51.7 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
Total 30 100.0 
The graph above depicts the number of children per household. According to the analysis, 33, 33 
% of respondents have one child, 16.67% of the respondents have two children 16, 67% had 
three children, 10% of the interviewee have four children. Households which had five children 
accounts for 6, 67 person whilst those with more than five children accounts for 16, 67% of the 
respondents. 
79 
Table: 6.2.6 
How many extended families are living with you? 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 1 7 23 .3 53.8 53 .8 
2 2 6.7 15.4 69.2 
3 1 3.3 7.7 76.9 
4 2 6.7 15.4 92.3 
6 1 3.3 7.7 100.0 
Total 13 43.3 100.0 
Missing System 17 56.7 
Total 30 100.0 
80 
6.3 Socioeconomic Status of the Respondents 
Employment status of the respondents 
Table 6.3.1 
Can you please indicate your source of income? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 11 36.7 37.9 37.9 
2 1 3.3 3.4 41.4 
3 3 10.0 10.3 51.7 
6 12 40.0 41.4 93.1 
7 1 3.3 3.4 96.6 
8 1 3.3 3.4 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
Total 30 100.0 
81 
Figure D: Bar chart: Source of income 
Can you please indicate your source of income 
50 -
40 -
c 30 -
.G..Iu   
GI 
D.. 
20 -
10- 
I I ·I I I I 
0 I I I I I I 
Formal Informal Unemployed Pensioner Retrenched other 
Employment Employment 
Can you please indicate your source of income 
The socioeconomic status of the area under study reveals the following results. From the survey, 
37, 93% out of'the total number of households interviewed have formal employment. The 
pensioners constitutes 41 , 3 8% of the sample study whilst 17, 24 percent are basically 
unemployed youth and working age individuals. The graph above indicates the frequencies of 
socioeconomic conditions of the people at the villages surveyed. 
82 
Table 6.3.2 
How many family members are dependent on your income? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 6 20.0 20.7 20.7 
2 6 20.0 20.7 41.4 
3 5 16.7 17.2 58.6 
4 7 23 .3 24.1 82.8 
5 3 10.0 10.3 93.1 
6 1 3.3 3.4 96.6 
8 1 3.3 3.4 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
Total 30 100.0 
83 
How many family members are dependent on your income? 
25- 
20, -
1: 15 -
QI 
u 
I.. 
QI 
D.. 
10- 
5 -
0 I I I I I I I 
2 3 4 s 6 8 
How many family members are dependent on your income? 
Figure E: Bar chart: Family members dependent on your income 
The results from the data analysed indicate on the frequency table that 20, 69% of the 
respondents have one dependent on their income, 20, 69% have two dependents on their income, 
17, 24% had three dependents, 24, 14% had four dependents, 10, 34% have five dependents on 
their total income, 3, 45% have six dependents on their income and lastly 3, 45% of the 
respondents declares that they have more than seven dependent on their income. It is clear from 
the results depicted on the graph that the more the dependents the more economic burden it 
becomes for consumption. In economic model, Y=C+I+G. That is, Y is income, C is 
consumption, and I represent Investment while G is for government expenditure. That is, then 
less the people are employed, the less the disposable income. And the results will be more 
economic burden for those individuals who are staying with those who are not employed. This is 
because of the autonomous consumption we find on the following equation: Y=c(C) +I+G, small 
84 
c represents autonomous consumption. This means that even if people are not employed, they 
still consume. 
Table 6.3.3 
Can you kindly give us the average monthly income of your household? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 3 9 30.0 34.6 34.6 
4 4 13.3 15.4 50.0 
5 1 3.3 3.8 53 .8 
6 12 40.0 46.2 100.0 
Total 26 86.7 100.0 
Missing System 4 13.3 
Total 30 100.0 
85 
Can you kindly give us the average monthly income of your household? 
50 -
40 -
t: 30 -
.GC..I ,  
GI 
a.. ' 
20- 
10- 
o I I I . 
R501 - R1000 R1 001-R1 500 R1 501 -R2000 >R2000 
Can you kindly give us the average monthly income of your household? 
Figure F: Bar chart: Average Income of Households 
It is clear and obvious that when it comes to an individual's mcome, people become more 
sensitive. This has led the researcher to come with an estimation based on average instead of 
accurate or exact figures relating to individual ' s income. On average 34, 62% of respondents 
indicated that their income is between R501 and RlOOO, 15, 38% indicates that theirs is between 
RlOOl and R1500. The results also indicates that we had 3, 85% of individuals who indicate that 
their income is between Rl501 and R2000. Lastly 46, 15% of the respondents indicate that their 
income is above R2000. This information is clearly depicted on the graph above. 
86 
Table 6.3.4 
If you use transport to go to work, kindly give us average expenditure on 
transport? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 1 3.3 9.1 9.1 
2 3 10.0 27.3 36.4 
3 1 3.3 9.1 45.5 
5 5 16.7 45.5 90.9 
6 1 3.3 9.1 100.0 
Total 11 36.7 100.0 
' 
Missing System 19 63.3 
Total 30 100.0 
87 
Figure G: Bar chart: Average expenditure on transport to work 
If you use transport to go to work, kindly give us average expenditure on 
transport? 
50, -
,_ 
40 
~ 30, -
GI 
.C.J.  
GI 
a. 
,_ 
20 
10, -
0 I I I I I 
R5,00 R5 ,00 - R10 ,00 R10 ,01 - R15 ,00 >R20 ,00 Own Transport 
If you use transport to go to work, kindly give us average expenditure on 
transport? 
The data on expenditure is analysed based on those individuals who are working and as such we 
have eleven respondents who consider themselves as having formal employment. The results 
indicated that 9, 09% of the respondents spent RS.00 on transport, 27, 27% indicated that they 
spend between RS.01 and Rl0.00 on transport, whilst 9, 09% of the respondents spend between 
Rl0.01 and R15.00 on transport. 45, 45% of the respondents indicate that they spend more than 
R20.00 for their daily fares to work. This could be attributed to those individuals, who have to 
change transport from home to town and from town to work and vice versa. For those individuals 
transport drains their income as more money is spent on transport on both trips. And lastly, the 
results indicate that 9, 09% of respondents use their own transport to work. The analysed data is 
also clear in the graph above. 
88 
Table 6.3.5 
If you work, what mode of transport do you use to work? 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 1 2 6.7 14.3 14.3 
2 1 3.3 7.1 21.4 
3 3 10.0 21.4 42.9 
4 7 23.3 50.0 92.9 
5 1 3.3 7.1 100.0 
89 
If you work, what mode of transport do you use to work? 
50, _ 
40, -
1: 30 ~ 
.Q,I u..  
Q,I 
D. 
20- 
10 -
0 I I I I I 
None Walk Bus Taxi Own Car 
If yo u work, what mode of transport do you use to work? 
Figure H: Bar chart: Mode of transport used when going to work 
According to the results from the data analysed, 14. 29% of the individuals interviewed do not 
use any mode of transport to go to work. 7, 14% go to work on foot, 21, 43% used bus services, 
50% used Taxis whilst 7, 14% use their own car to work. Still on transport there were two 
observations were the respondents indicate that their petrol and maintenance on their mode of 
transport is between R251 and R500. That is 100% is within the same expenditure bracket on 
their mode of transport. 
90 
Figure I: Bar chart: Additional Income 
If you have any alternative source of income, can you kindly provide us with 
the income you receive 
100-
BO-
1: so-
.,G..,.I   
GI 
a. 
40-
20-
0-'----------"-------~---~1---------------''--------' 
R251 - RS00 
If you have any a.lternative source of income, can you kindly provide us with 
the income you receive 
The results here are obvious and expected that no one is willing to divulge any information 
whether she or he receives any income apart from the income, pension or grants he or she 
receives. That is, all respondents indicate that they do not receive any additional income. Thus, 
the frequency is 100% of respondents who have no additional income. 
91 
Figure J: Bar chart: Shelter or Type of Dwelling 
Can you please indicate whether you own or rent a house? 
100- 
80- 
~ 60 -
.Gu..I   
GI 
a. 
40 -
20 -
I I 
0 I I 
Ow n House Rent 
Can you please indicate whether you own or rent a house? 
The results from the analysed data indicate that of the whole population that is interviewed and 
sample data collected, 96, 67% own their houses and do not pay bond or owe any bank. Only 3, 
3% rent the houses they live in. The results clearly indicate that housing or shelter in the villages 
is not of serious nature. Currently, there has been an agreement with the tribal council to build 
low cost houses on the tribal land popularly known to locals as RDP houses. The houses are built 
on township-like stands with formal streets, water pipes within al 00metres radius. Electricity is 
also within reach when applied for if an individual is new in the village. 
92 
Figure K: Bar chart: Water Facilities in the Villages 
The local tribal council requires residents to pay a nominal standard rate for 
water consumption. How will you rate the charges for water by the tribal 
council? 
80, -
60, -
... 
C 
QI 
<.> 
aj 40, _ 
a. 
20 -. 
I I 
0 I I I 
Good Fair Cannot Afford 
The local tribal council requires residents to pay a nominal sta.ndard rate for 
water consumption. How will you rate the charges for water by the tribal 
council? 
According to the survey carried out in this research we find that the residents are not paying for 
water services anymore but rather the district Municipality has taken the burden of giving free 
water to the Ramatlabama villages. The residents rate the. water services as following: 15,79% 
rated the provision of water as good, 78, 95% rate the provision of water as fair as they 
complained that even though water is there for consumption there is some hiccups as demand is 
too high and supply is too low and this leads to low pressure of water reticulation. Eventually, 
residents have to wait a bit long next to their taps because of slow moving water from their taps. 
This also affects those who rely on subsistence farming as it affects their ability to plant enough 
vegetable for family consumption. There is also lack of information dissemination as there are 
individuals who do not know that they do not pay water anymore. Due to this lack of 
information, 5, 26% response from individuals indicate that they cannot afford to pay for the free 
resource in the village. 
93 
Figure L: Bar chart: Type of House 
How m any rooms does your house h ave? 
60 -
-
.~..  40- u 
QI 
Q. 
20 -
I I 
0 I I I 
2 4 5 
H ow many rooms does your house have? 
The type and spaciousness of the house provided with only three frequencies. According to the 
sample collected, 6, 90% of respondents have houses with two rooms, 31, 03% of respondents 
have houses with four rooms whilst 62, 07% have houses with more than five rooms in their 
yards. This is a clear indication that according to the researcher, 93% of households live in 
reasonable spacious houses. 
94 
Table 6.5.1 
What is your highest level of education? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 4 13.3 13.3 13.3 
2 1 3.3 3.3 16.7 
4 1 3.3 3.3 20.0 
6 1 3.3 3.3 23.3 
7 3 10.0 10.0 33.3 
8 1 3.3 3.3 36.7 
9 3 10.0 10.0 46.7 
11 1 3.3 3.3 50.0 
12 1 3.3 3.3 53 .3 
13 10 33.3 33.3 86.7 
14 2 6.7 6.7 93 .3 
15 1 3.3 3.3 96.7 
16 1 3.3 3.3 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
95 
What is your highest level of education? 
40 
30 
... 
C 
GI 
u 
ai 20 
a.. 
10 
2 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 1 3 14 15 1 6 
What is your highest level of education? 
Figure M: Bar chart: Highest level of education 
The results on education depicts that roughly 13 percent of the population do not attend school 
and most of these are pensioners. The results obtained from those who managed to enter a school 
premises, that is, grade one to grade eleven, show a staggering 29, 97%. The grouping of all 
these grades is done because it is generally considered that if one does not make it to grade 12 
then the chances of landing a decent paying job fades away. It is from this analysis that we have 
just find that most of the respondents who formal employment managed to pass their grade 
twelve. The result further indicates that 33, 33% of the respondents made it to grade twelve or 
did manage to pass their grade 12. Those who managed to make it to the Further Education and 
Training Institutions (FET)s constitute 6, 67% of the survey results, 3, 33% have diplomas of 
some sorts and while only 3, 33% have an access to a University. 
96 
Table 6.6.1 
Our primary health care facilities are clinics. How far is the nearest clinic? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 In the village 19 63 .3 63.3 63 .3 
2 Neighbouring 11 36.7 36.7 100.0 
village 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Our primary health care facilities are clinics. How far is the nearest clinic? 
I 
so-
... 
; 40-
.c...,  
GI 
a. 
20-' 
a-'------'------~,-----..___ __ __._ ____~ , ----__.__ __ _. 
In the village Neighbouring v illage 
Our primary health care facilities are clinics. How far is the neare st clinic? 
Figure N: Bar chart: How far is the nearest clinic? 
97 
Due to time constraints and cost of collecting the data, data collection was done on two adjacent 
villages which are Makgokgwane and Botshabelo. The rest which form part of Ramatlabama 
villages were not included in data collection. The clinic is situated at Botshabelo and as such the 
Makgokgwane residents are not happy as they have to travel on foot in order to have access to 
basic health care facilities . The clinic covers a radius of five kilometres, but for the poor, sick 
and elderly people, getting there is a tiresome exercise. As such the results show that 63 , 33% of 
the respondents feel that the clinic is within their reach whist 36, 67% feet that the clinic is far 
from them. 
Table 6.6.2 
How effective is the ambulance services when called out from the clinic or 
hospital? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 Highly 1 3.3 3.3 3.3 
satisfactory 
2 Satisfactory 3 10.0 10.0 13.3 
3 Unsatisfactory 3 10.0 10.0 23 .3 
4 Poor 23 76.7 76.7 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
98 
Figure 0: Bar chart: Ambulance services when called 
How effective is the ambulance services when called out from the clinic or 
hospital? 
80, -
60 -
... 
C 
GI 
CJ 
:0 40 -
0. 
20 -
I I 
0 I I 'I I 
Highly satisfactory Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor 
How effective is the ambulance services when called out from the clinic or 
hospital? 
Just only 3, 33% of the population under study say that the ambulance service is highly 
satisfactory, 10% indicate that the service was satisfactory while another 10% have shown that 
according to their experience the services is unsatisfactory while a staggering 76, 67% of 
respondents believe that the ambulance services is poor. They attribute this to the fact that 
irrespective of how sick one is, they have to travel to the clinic and then the ambulance will then 
be called whilst the sick person is waiting for it. In the face to face interaction with the 
respondents, say that it takes 30 to 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive when called. This 
sometimes leads to unnecessary deaths due to delay in the services. The ambulance is stationed 
at the Mafikeng Provincial Hospital which is 20 kilometres from the village. 
99 
Table 6.6.3. Type of Chronic Illnesses Suffered by Villagers 
Family Members Suffering from Asthma 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 18 60.0 81.8 81.8 
1 Asthma 4 13 .3 18.2 100.0 
' 
Total 22 73.3 100.0 
Missing System 8 26.7 
Total 30 100.0 
Diabetes 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 14 46.7 63.6 63.6 
1 8 26.7 36.4 100.0 
Diabetes 
Total 22 73.3 100.0 
Missing System 8 26.7 
Total 30 100.0 
Hypertension 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
I 
100 
Valid 0 16 53.3 72.7 72.7 
1 6 20.0 27.3 100.0 
Hyperte 
ns10n 
Total 22 73 .3 100.0 
Missing System 8 26.7 
I 
I Total 30 100.0 
Arthritis 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 19 63 .3 86.4 86.4 
1 3 10.0 13 .6 100.0 
Arthritis 
Total 22 73.3 100.0 
Missing System 8 26.7 
Total 30 100.0 
Allergies 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 18 60.0 81.8 81.8 
101 
1 4 13.3 18.2 100.0 
Allergie 
s 
Total 22 73.3 100.0 
Missing System 8 26.7 
Total 30 100.0 
Other/Epilepsy 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 21 70.0 95.5 95.5 
1 1 3.3 4.5 100.0 
Epilepsy 
Total 22 73 .3 100.0 
Missing System 8 26.7 
Total 30 100.0 
The type of illnesses were collected to find out if residents suffered from any chronic sicknesses 
that needed constant monitoring and attention and whether the residents are getting medication 
for the treatment of these chronic illnesses. The results indicate that 18, 68% of the population 
suffer from Asthma, 36, 36% of the respondent suffer from diabetes, 27, 27% of the population 
under study live on medication for the treatment of hypertension, 13, 64 have arthritis, 18, 18% 
of the respondents suffer from some form of allergies while only 4, 55% suffer from other 
102 
illnesses like epilepsy. From the sample study, it is also revealed that only 3% of the population 
under study do not suffer from any chronic illnesses. 
6.7.1. Nutrition 
The questionnaire was distributed to find out if there is any incidence of severe poverty within 
the villages. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner is ranked and the purpose is to investigate if the 
respondents are able to have access to all meals that are considered to be basic for any human 
being who is believed to be well off. The table below indicates that 83 , 33% of the residents are 
able to have breakfast daily. According to them it did not matter whether they eat bread and 
butter or soft porridge, as long as they can eat something for the morning. The remaining 16, 7% 
have mixed feelings such as that they cannot afford or they only have breakfast if they want it. 
This means that in their view breakfast is not compulsory but an individual's choice. 
On the lunch issue, the analysis is that 90% had an opportunity to have lunch whilst only 10% 
cannot afford to have lunch due to various reasons. It ranges from affordability to choice of an 
individual. Some cite sa,ying food during the day in order to have dinner at night. Cultural norms 
are that one may rather stay hungry through the day than sleep on an empty stomach. 
Almost 93, 33% indicated that they do have supper on a daily basis. The results are not clear 
about the remaining 7%. The possible reason is assumed to be affordability of the households 
concerned. 
The results also find that there are no incidences of absolutely eating no food in a specific day. 
Table 6.7.1 
Availability of Breakfast 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 5 16.7 16.7 16.7 
1 25 83.3 83.3 100.0 
103 
Availability of Breakfast 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 5 16.7 16.7 16.7 
1 25 83.3 83 .3 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Availability of Dinner 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 2 6.7 6.7 6.7 
1 28 93 .3 93.3 100.0 
I 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Table 6.7.2 
How often do you go to bed hungry because of no food in the house? 
I 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
: 
Valid 1 Never 21 70.0 70.0 70.0 
I 
I 
I 2 Seldom 9 30.0 30.0 100.0 
I 
I Total 30 100.0 100.0 
I 
I 
I 
104 
Figure P: Bar chart: Going to bed without food 
How often do you go to bed hungry because of no food in the house? 
60, -
.... 
fii ,_ 40 
.u..  
GI 
a.. 
20, _ 
0 
Nev' 
T 
er Seldom 
How often do you go to bed hungry because of no food in the house? 
The frequency table and the graph above depict the findings made from the analysis made from 
the sample study. Individuals were asked about the frequency in which they find themselves 
going to bed without food. 70% indicate that they never go to bed without food, whilst 30% say 
they seldom go to bed hungry. There are zero incidences of people who said they always go to 
bed hungry. 
105 
Table 6.7.3 
Do you think food parcels from the government can benefit the community? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 Agree 11 36.7 36.7 36.7 
2 Strongly Agree 18 60.0 60.0 96.7 
4 Strongly 1 3.3 3.3 100.0 
Disagree 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Do you think food p arcels fro m th e governm ent can b en efit th e community? 
60- 
so -
40 -
.... 
C 
411 
u 
~ 30- 
a.. 
20- 
10 -
I I 
0 I I I 
Agree Strongly Agree Strong ly Disagree 
Do you t hink f ood p arce l s f rom th e governm e nt can b e n efit t h e community? 
Figure Q: Bar chart: Food parcels from the government 
106 
The question was asked whether individuals think that if the government could provide food 
parcels to those needy individuals who are exposed to incidence of extreme hunger could benefit 
the community. The results are overwhelming as some said they do not know of what criteria 
was used to select the poorest of the poor. They acknowledge the availability of the scheme but 
do not know how to access these food parcels as they feel they are left out of the process as some 
feel they do qualify to receive food parcels. The graph and frequency table above show the 
results from analysis of the data. 
Table 6.7.4 
Do you think the food you take daily is nutritious for your health? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 Agree 18 60.0 60.0 60.0 
2 Strongly 6 20.0 20.0 80.0 
Agree 
3 Disagree 6 20.0 20.0 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
107 
Do you think the food you take daily is nutritious for your health? 
so-
so-
- 40-C 
CII 
c., 
~ 30-
a.. 
20-
10-
01-'----'----~,---_,___  __,_ __~  ___, ____-1-___~ -----'----' 
Agree stron g ly Agree Dis agree 
Do you think the food you take daily is nutritious for your health? 
Figure R: Bar chart: Food taken daily is nutritious for health 
The question was also asked to find out if the residents think that the food they are consuming is 
nutritious. The purpose is to find out if the community know about the reason of eating healthy 
and nutritious food as healthy eating and healthy food keep sicknesses at bay. That is, the nation 
that practises healthy living styles by eating healthy food is a strong nation as it will be able to be 
productive in all spheres of life. The graph above provides the necessary information needed for 
analysis. According to the results on the graph and the frequency table above, 60% of 
respondents agree that the food they consume daily is nutritious, while 20% of the respondents 
strongly agree that the food they consume is nutritious. On average 80% of the respondents think 
that the food they consume is nutritious whilst only 20% believe theirs is not nutritious. 
108 
Table 6.8.1. 
How accessible is the sporting facilities in your area? 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 1 Nearby 4 13.3 13 .8 13 .8 
2 No sporting 23 76.7 79.3 93.1 
facilities 
3 Very far 1 3.3 3.4 96.6 
4 Not interested 1 3.3 3.4 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
Total 30 100.0 
109 
How accessible is the sporting facilities in your area? 
80 -
6 0 -
.... 
.C G,I  
~ 40- 
a.. 
20 -
I I I I 
0 
Nea'r by No s portin'g  f acillties V ery'  f ar Not inte' re sted 
H ow accessib le is the sportin g fac ilities in your area? 
Figure S: Bar chart: Accessibility of sporting facilities 
On the accessibility of the sporting facilities, the above frequency table and graph indicate how 
the community perceive the importance and availability of sporting facilities in their area. 
Depending on an individual ' s taste, that is soccer, netball, cricket, rugby etc, the following 
results are analysed. 13, 79% think that the sporting facilities are within their reach, 79, 31% say 
that there are no sporting facilities in their area, 3, 45% believe the they are very far from them 
whilst another 3, 45% say they are not interested whether the sporting facilities are there or not. 
110 
Table 6.8.2 
According to the statistics, Crime is almost everywhere in the country, what do you think 
aggravates the rate of crime in your area? Choose any. 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 13 43.3 44.8 44.8 
1 Lack of sporting 16 53.3 55.2 100.0 
facilities 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
Total 30 100.0 
Lack of Job Opportunities 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 6 20.0 20.7 20.7 
1 23 76.7 79.3 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
111 
Lack of Police Patrols 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 17 56.7 58.6 58.6 
1 12 40.0 41.4 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
Total 30 100.0 
High Illiteracy Levels 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 15 50.0 51.7 51.7 
1 14 46.7 48 .3 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
Total 30 100.0 
112 
Lack of Parental Discipline 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 13 43 .3 44.8 44.8 
1 16 53.3 55.2 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
Total 30 100.0 
High Poverty Levels 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 13 40.0 41.4 41.4 
1 17 56.7 58.6 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
It is important to state that the assumption is that crime cannot be attributed to a single item but a 
multitude of social factors. That is, each variable has its own ranking in percentages but not as a 
collective. 53% of individuals who answered the questionnaire think that crime is aggravated by 
the lack of sporting activities in their area. 79% out of the whole population interviewed believe 
that lack ofj ob opportunities is the cause of crime. 40% of the sample studies think that lack of 
police patrols in the villages is the cause of crime; they think that regular patrols of police will 
113 
scare the criminals away. The study also reveals that some 46, 7% of the respondents think that 
high illiteracy levels might be the cause of crime. The assumption is that those individuals with 
no formal education do not have the necessary skills and are mostly unemployable, they end up 
loitering in the streets and the results is crime. Lack ofp arental discipline is also thought to be 
the root of crime. In terms of the analysis of results, 55, 3% of the interviewees believe that 
mostly the spoilt brats who receive everything from their parents are often left to take 
responsibility of their own lives. In African culture children are supposed to be under the 
guidance of their parents until they get married. In short, parental care takes precedence in 
shaping the future behaviour of the children. Lastly, 58, 6% of the respondents think that high 
poverty levels might be a source of crime. 
Table 6.8.3 
Type of Crime that exists in the area: insults/ perjury 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 24 80.0 92.3 92.3 
1 Petty (insults or 2 6.7 7.7 100.0 
perjury) 
Total 26 86.7 100.0 
Missing System 4 13.3 
Total 30 100.0 
Assault/Perjury 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 3 10.0 11.1 11. 1 
114 
1 24 80.0 88.9 100.0 
Total 27 90.0 100.0 
Missing System 3 10.0 
Murder 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 26 86.7 96.3 96.3 
1 1 3.3 3.7, 100.0 
Total 27 90.0 100.0 
Missing System 3 10.0 
Stock Theft 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 9 30.0 33 .3 33.3 
1 18 60.0 66.7 100.0 
Total 27 90.0 100.0 
Missing System 3 10.0 
Total 30 100.0 
115 
The frequency tables above show that according to the survey conducted with respect to the 
types of crime in the villages, insults and perjury constituted 7, 69% of the total crimes 
committed in the area. 88, 89% of the respondent believes that there is assault and burglary 
related type of crimes. Only 3, 70% think that there are murder crimes in the area. Lastly, 66, 
67% of the respondent say that the there is stock theft crime in their area. When the types of 
crimes are ranked in the villages from the least significant to the most significant they rank from 
murder with 3,70%, then perjury and insults at 7, 69%, followed by stock theft at 66, 67% and 
then lastly assault and burglary at 88, 89%. 
Table 6.8.4 
There are perceptions that high unemployment rate and high incidence of poverty 
lead to crime? That is, lack of jobs and severe poverty induce people to participate 
in criminal activities. 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 Strongly agree 17 56.7 58.6 58.6 
2 Agree 9 30.0 31.0 89.7 
3 Disagree 3 10.0 10.3 100.0 
Total 29 96.7 100.0 
Missing System 1 3.3 
Total 30 100.0 
116 
There are perceptions that high unemployment rate and high incidence of 
poverty lead to crime? That is , lack of jobs and severe poverty induce people 
to participate in criminal a 
so-
... 40-
C 
ill 
u 
i 30-
Q. 
10-
0--------1---------.-----------,,  ---------
strongly agree Agree Disagree 
There are perceptions that high unemployment rate and high incidence of 
poverty lead to crime? That is , lack of jobs and severe poverty induce 
people to participate in criminal a 
Figure T: Bar chart: Relationship between unemployment, poverty and crime 
A question was asked to investigate the perception of the respondents with regard to the 
interrelatedness of unemployment, poverty and crime. They are asked if they think that high 
unemployment, high incidence of poverty rate leads to crime? Their response to this question is 
as follows; the ranking was from the most severe to the least severe. 58, 62% strongly agree, 31, 
03 agree that high rates of unemployment, high incidence of poverty lead to crime. There are 
some respondents who have a different perception about this question. 10, 34% disagree that 
unemployment, poverty and rate of crime are interrelated. 
117 
Table 6.8.5 
Do you think the government's provision of high mast lights in your area did help 
reduce the incidents of crime? Please rate the efficiency in reducing crime. 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 Excellent and 10 33 .3 35 .7 35.7 
effective 
2 Excellent but not 13 43 .3 46.4 82.1 
effective 
3 Averagely effective 2 6.7 7.1 89.3 
4 Completely ineffective 3 10.0 10.7 100.0 
Total 28 93.3 100.0 
Missing System 2 6.7 
Total 30 100.0 
118 
Figure U: Bar chart: Provision of High Mast Lights as Tool for Crime Prevention 
Do you think the goverment's provision of high mast lights in your area did 
help reduce the incidents of crime? Please rate the efficiency in reducing 
crime. 
50, _ 
40, -
~ 30, -
41 
CJ 
"-
41 IC 
0. 
20, -
10, - l 
0 I I I I 
Excellent and effective Excellent but not effective Averagely effective Completely ineffective 
Do you think the goverment's provision of high mast lights in your area did 
help reduce the incidents of crime? Please rate the efficiency in reducing 
crime. 
When the government started erecting high mast light in the villages, their main purpose was to 
help curb crime. A question was posed and the following results are captured from the 
respondents and are analysed as follows. Out of the whole population under study, 35, 71 % say 
that the erection of high mast lights is effective and excellent, 46, 43 % think that the idea is 
excellent but is not effective as there is no monitoring of the infrastructure because in some areas 
this lights has been out of order for a year or so, hence ineffective. Some 7, 14% think that the 
service is averagely effective whilst 10, 71 % indicate that the operation of this service is 
completely ineffective. 
119 
6.9. Socio-economic Impact of Poverty 
Table 6.9.1 
How will you rate the efficiency of any poverty alleviation project you 
are aware of in your area? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 Excellent 9 30.0 30.0 30.0 
2Good 7 23.3 23 .3 53 .3 
3 Bad 9 30.0 30.0 83 .3 
4 Worse 5 16.7 16.7 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
The question was asked for respondents to rate the degree at which they value and perceive 
poverty alleviation projects in their area. The table above shows that respondents rated the 
poverty alleviation projects differently as expected and the results are as follows 30% of the 
interviewees think that the system is excellent, 23% think that the efficiency of the projects is 
good 30% think that the system is bad because most of the projects are not sustainable. Only 16, 
7% think that the efficiency of the projects is worse and does not help them either. 
120 
Table 6.9.2 
Do IDP targets aimed at Alleviating Poverty in the Rural areas help? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 Strongly agree 10 33.3 33.3 33.3 
2 Agree 16 53.3 53 .3 86.7 
3 Disagree 4 13.3 13.3 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Municipals have Integrated Development Projects (IDP) targets aimed at alleviating poverty and 
unemployment in the villages. The question was asked to investigate whether the residents think 
that if such projects are implemented in their areas would help enhance their lives. 33, 3% 
strongly agree that the projects will enhance their lives, 53, 3% agree that the projects will help 
sustain them and relieve them from poverty. Only 13, 3% of the respondents totally disagree that 
the projects would help them. 
121 
Table 6.9.3 
Rural developments need participation of all stakeholders .Do you think the 
government is doing to facilitate the involvement of all stakeholders? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 Strongly agree 7 23.3 23.3 23.3 
2 Agree 8 26.7 26.7 50.0 
3 Disagree 11 36.7 36.7 86.7 
4 Strongly 4 13.3 13 .3 100.0 
disagree 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Rural developments need participation of all stakeholders. The government need to facilitate the 
involvement of all stakeholders when it rolls out projects. The purpose is to ensure that all 
relevant stakeholders take their own part in the smooth running of the projects. The example 
cited here are the government representatives such as ward councillors, tribal leaders such as the 
chief or king, and the community itself. If one of the stakeholders is left out during project 
implementation, there is a likely probability that the project will fail. The question was asked if 
the community thinks that the government is doing enough to ensure effective stakeholder 
participation. The question was asked to find out if the government is doing enough to facilitate 
full participation of the stakeholders. 23, 3 % strongly agree with the assumption that the 
government is doing enough to ensure stakeholder participation. 26, 7% of the respondents agree 
that the government is doing enough while 36, 7% disagree with the statement. 13, 3% totally 
disagree that the government is doing all it can to make sure that all stakeholders participate in 
project implementation and processes. 
122 
Table 6.9.4 
There has been Poverty Alleviation Programmes, poultry and vegetable 
farming in your area. What do you think could have led to their collapses? 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 0 6 20.0 20.0 20.0 
1 Lack of management 24 80.0 80.0 100.0 
skills 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Lack of Finance 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 19 63.3 63.3 63.3 
1 11 36.7 36.7 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Lack of Project Management Skills 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 0 5 16.7 16.7 16.7 
1 25 83.3 83.3 100.0 
123 
There has been Poverty Alleviation Programmes, poultry and vegetable 
farming in your area. What do you think could have led to their collapses? 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 0 6 20.0 20.0 20.0 
1 Lack of management 24 80.0 80.0 100.0 
skills 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Infighting Within the Community 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 0 11 36.7 36.7 36.7 
1 19 63.3 63.3 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Laziness within the Community 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 0 11 36.7 36.7 36.7 
1 19 63.3 63 .3 100.0 
124 
There has been Poverty Alleviation Programmes, poultry and vegetable 
farming in your area. What do you think could have led to their collapses? 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 0 6 20.0 20.0 20.0 
1 Lack of management 24 80.0 80.0 100.0 
skills 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
No Government Intervention 
Cumulative 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent 
Valid 0 15 50.0 50.0 50.0 
1 15 50.0 50.0 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Government' s PAP has been rolled out country wide and many of them did not last or were not 
sustainable. This clearly shows that there is huge lack of skills relating to the smooth running of 
such projects. The question was designed to find the views of the community of what do they 
think has led to the collapse of such projects. The frequency tables above indicate that 80% of 
the respondents think that lack of management skills is the cause of the collapse of the projects. 
Lack of finance is not popular with 36, 7% blaming the government for not financing the 
projects. Lack ofp roject management skills received a whopping 83, 3% of the respondent who 
125 
blame the collapse of the projects on lack of project management skills. 63, 3% of sample study 
believes that infighting within the community also has an impact on the collapse of the projects. 
Again some 63, 3% of respondents indicate that they believe that there is incidence of laziness 
within the community while 50% think that government did not do enough monitoring and 
evaluation after the implementation of the projects. 
Table 6.9.S 
Do you think that the government should start projects and leave on the hands of unskilled 
community selected individuals or appoint project managers? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 1 Leave it in the hands 7 23.3 23.3 23.3 
of the community 
2 Appoint permanent 23 76.7 76.7 100.0 
project managers 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
126 
Figure V: Proposal of projects ownership 
Do you think that the government should start projects and leave on the 
hands of unskilled community selected individuals or appoint project 
managers? 
so-
so-
.... 
C 
al 
c., 
~ 40-
a.. 
20-
o...._ _ ___ ._ ______- r--,-----..._ ____ ._ _____. ....,. ______ _,..._ ___ _, 
L eave it in the h a n ds o f tl1e community Appoint p e r man e nt p r o ject m anager s 
Do you think that the government should start projects and leave on the 
hands of unskilled community selected individuals or a.ppoint project 
managers? 
A test was done to find if the residents want full ownership of the projects or want appointment 
of full permanent project managers who will use their expertise to manage, control and lead these 
projects. 23, % are of the view that it should be left in the hands of unskilled individuals whilst 
76, 7 % of the respondents are of the view that the government should appoint permanent 
project managers on contractual basis. 
127 
Table 6.9.6 
Huge sum of government money has been spent on Poverty Alleviation Projects. What do 
you think the government must do to overcome this problem? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 10 33 .3 33.3 33 .3 
1 Train enough 20 66.7 66.7 100.0 
entrepreneurs through 
colleges and universities 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Provide permanent jobs in Government departments 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 18 60.0 60.0 60.0 
1 12 40.0 40.0 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Invest in Local Labourers through Skills transfer 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 17 56.7 56.7 56.7 
1 13 43.3 43.3 100.0 
128 
Huge sum of government money has been spent on Poverty Alleviation Projects. What do 
you think the government must do to overcome this problem? 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 10 33.3 33 .3 33 .3 
1 Train enough 20 66.7 66.7 100.0 
entrepreneurs through 
colleges and universities 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
Provide Type of Education that Promotes Entrepreneurs 
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent 
Valid 0 15 50.0 50.0 50.0 
1 15 50.0 50.0 100.0 
Total 30 100.0 100.0 
The above frequency tables show the response from the individuals with respect to what they 
think could be a solution to the management of projects and poverty alleviation. The results from 
the questionnaire show that 66, 7% believe that the government should do more to train enough 
entrepreneurs through Colleges and Universities, 40% still perceive the government as the 
creator of jobs and as such expect the government to provide permanent employment in its 
departments 43% are of the view that they will be better off if they are given the chance to 
acquire skills through skills transfer programmes. Lastly, 50% of the respondents think that the 
government should provide the type of education that promotes entrepreneurship. This should 
129 
be done from primary level to tertiary education; this will help equip everyone with knowledge 
survival tactics needed by entrepreneurs. 
6.10 Conclusion 
The chapter reflects on the main findings of the study undertaken at Ramatlabama villages. Basic 
services like water, electricity and housing seem to be of less significance as almost all the 
villages have access to the facilities . Housing structures are of acceptable standards as most of 
them have four bedrooms house or more. 
Unemployment seems to be a thorny issue as it is a source of poverty and are positively related. 
That is, when unemployment is high then the rate of poverty is high and as such criminal 
activities also seem to be high in the area where unemployment and poverty are high. 
The residents ' close proximity of health facilities such as clinics seems to be of a major concern 
for them as some feel that even if the clinics are within 5 kilometre radius, ambulance services is 
poor. The reason behind this argument is that one cannot expect a sick poor person to hire a 
transport at a cost of R50 and above to the clinic and still wait for the ambulance to be called 
meanwhile he or she is in pain. 
Levels of education also need serious attention as those who manage to pass matric and above 
are almost half of the respondents interviewed. 
The general feeling among the community 1s that the government should train more 
entrepreneurs; provide permanent jobs but not temporary ones as this does restore dignity to 
those who always do casual jobs. The government should also invest more in projects that 
enhance skill transfer in local labourers. The type of education that promotes entrepreneurial 
mindset should also be emphasised. 
130 
CHAPTER SEVEN: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
7.1 Summary 
Chapter one presents the introduction to the concept of poverty. The background of the study 
focuses on the Ramatlabama villages in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district Municipality of the 
North West province and poverty experienced by its inhabitants. It is followed by the purpose of 
the study, aims and objective of the study, research hypothesis, and significance of the study, 
limitation of the research methodology, definition of concepts, study layout and summary of 
concepts. In brief, the chapter is about how the primary and secondary data is collected and 
analysed. 
Chapter Two interrogates the literature available on poverty and the study made by previous 
writers and authors in relation to poverty and its multi-dimensional aspect. The structural nature 
of poverty and its impact to the society at large is also defined. The relationship between poverty, 
income inequality and unemployment is also investigated. The chapter also looks at the relativity 
of poverty, that is absolute poverty as well as relative poverty. Previous anti- poverty strategies 
are studied and search for alternative workable strategies are investigated. 
Chapter Three presents the overall performance of the South African economy and growth 
patterns of the economy since the inception of the new macroeconomic policy (GEAR) and its 
predecessor (RDP). A glimpse is taken into the sister policy the Accelerated Shared Growth 
Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) and its companion, the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills 
Acquisition. Gear is heavily criticised by the socialist or those in the left for not helping the 
government create permanent jobs as it emphasises the ideology of growth first then employment 
will follow. It is also argued that it follows the Neo-liberals economist ideology. The economic 
growth performance of the macroeconomic policy is critically evaluated and analysed. 
Chapter Four presents the research methodology. The primary data is collected from the villages 
through the random sampling method of statistical technique. Simple random sampling is used to 
avoid bias and as such its use guarantees the outcome of true feelings of respondents. Secondary 
data from Statistics South Africa is used to augment the data with reference to Income 
Expenditure of households. SPSS statistical tool is used to compute and analyse the data. 
131 
Chapter Five relates to the case study of the area which studied. The relevance of the case study 
is that it reveals the true structure of the area and the infrastructure that exists in the area. It also 
provides with an in-depth knowledge of the socioeconomic structure of the area that is studied. 
The location of the area in the South African map, access to the area, its access to basic 
necessities like water, electricity, health facilities, education transport facilities are thoroughly 
scutinised. 
Chapter Six looks at the interpretation of the results from the sample study. The frequency tables, 
pie charts and graphs are presented using SPSS statistical tool to reveal the true results of the 
imputed data. These are shown through percentages and cumulative percentages of the results 
presented. Even though the study is focused on poverty, its attributes are also interrogated. The 
results indicated that poverty; unemployment and crime are interrelated and cannot be treated as 
separate. The respondents indicate that lack of employment opportunities results in poverty and 
as such poverty leads people to indulge in criminal activities. The results also show that lack of 
management skills, lack of project management skills, infighting within the community and 
laziness within the community also play a role in the collapse of newly established Poverty 
Alleviation Programmes. 
It is also important to note that economic growth does not mean there is economic development. 
In order for us to move forward, we need to realise economic growth, followed by economic 
development and then employment opportunities will be realised. Political debate over this 
poverty issue is utmost important. In closing, there is an urgent need for all spheres of 
government to engage with each other in order to come up with a solution to poverty. 
7.2 Recommendations 
A list of recommendations is made below in respect of the new approach and the role and 
arrangements for a pro-active government with determination to end poverty as cited from the 
analysis, monitoring and evaluation of pro-poor macroeconomic policy Role of pro-active 
(Taylor, 2006). 
From the research findings and discussion, there seems to be a general misdirection of resources 
into pro-poor programmes due to lack of intimate knowledge by pro-poor policy designers and 
132 
implementers of the diyerse and complex characteristics of poverty in South Africa and 
consequently, the type of solutions desired to address them. Based on the analysis, the poverty 
dimension that is popular with governments and donors is the one that seems least to address 
pro-poor growth and sustainability in that resources have been donated more for welfare than as 
tools, skills and equipment. 
Bearing in mind the longer term development objective of pro-poor policy, the study finds that 
Resource allocation has emphasized education as the main driver of change which is correct if 
the education is tilted toward the demand and delivers functional skills and facilities for income 
bearing and leverage. Thus, a new direction for education and poverty is needed to address the 
explicit poor. This solution should emphasize and deliver technical, vocational and craft skill 
directed toward formal employment and to some extent initially, for self-employment. Similarly, 
a new set of resources are needed to address implicit poverty i.e. (the casual or causal poor) who 
have some skill, training or experience but fall victim to redundancy, retrenchment, recession or 
a non-growing economy. This solution requires equity with pro-poor strategies to provide 
collateral, access to working and venture capital resources coupled with training in functional 
business skills. 
Finally, the enhanced role of parliament for monitoring evaluation of pro-poor policy 
implementation has to be negotiated between the executive branch and the legislature and in 
consequence, the functions of parliamentary standing and special committees will need to be 
revisited in the light of the recommendations and negotiations. The negotiations will consider the 
normal procedures for public hearings, site visits, investigations, reports and submission by 
various portfolio ministries, offices and agencies as well as government departments and state 
owned enterprises. 
Key questions for monitoring pro-poor growth strategies 
• In which areas /sectors are pro-poor growth strategies not functioning effectively? 
• Are sufficient and adequate mechanisms in place to facilitate the poor to access social 
services? 
• What are the mechanisms through which the voice of the poor can be heard in pro-poor 
policy formation and execution and are they working effectively? 
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• Impact of public policy and the extent to which relevant information is available for 
programme/project analysis, monitoring and evaluation at national and local levels 
• Pace and pattern of poverty indices reduction and sectors of community that are outliers 
• The pro-poor programmes and strategies. 
Arrangements for monitoring national poverty reduction strategy 
Objective 1: Accelerating pro-poor growth with equity. 
• Monitor the stable and impact of government's pro-poor macroeconomic policy; 
• Monitor the competitiveness of the economy and by how much factor costs have 
reduced/increased, especially in rural areas; 
• Monitor the pace and pattern of development in the rural sector inclusive of land, road, 
agricultural services and small and informal enterprise (SIE) development initiatives; and 
• Monitor the quality and impact of the support infrastructure provided or facilitated by 
government to encourage the productive sectors especially in intra-sectoral linkages and 
with small enterprises. 
Objective 2: Guaranteeing that the poor have access to basic social services. 
• Monitor the cost and ease of access of the poor to basic, technical and vocational education; 
• Monitor the cost, quality and ease of access of the poor to health services; 
• Monitor the cost, reliability and ease of access of the poor to water, electricity and 
information technology; and 
• Monitor the quality and standard of the environment in which the poor live including 
housing and social facilities. 
Objective 3: Expanding access/opportunities for employment and income-generating 
activities for the poor. 
• Monitor the degree of vulnerability of the poor to disease, farm produce and other 
agriculture-related activities; 
• Monitor value added linkages being created between agricultural, mineral and 
manufacturing sectors in rural communities; 
134 
• Monitor the range and complexity of rural income generating activities; and 
• Monitor the supply and quality and roads opened to rural areas for market access. 
Objective 4: Promoting good governance systems in public enterprise for performance and 
quality Service 
• Monitor the quality and performance of leadership and governance systems devoted to pro-
poor growth programmes 
• Monitor the role of parliamentarians and councilors and their capacity to exercise 
leadership, resolve conflicts and carry out their oversight functions; 
• Monitor the capacity of regional & local government and their critical needs 
• Monitor arrangements and facilities to build linkages pro-poor linkages with agriculture, 
tourism and lands; 
• Monitor Government policies, practices and institutions responsible for regulating and 
combating corruption. 
Recommendations 
• Policy-makers and planners should develop clear perception of the causes of poverty, 
region by region and make a distinction between the "explicit and implicit" poor. 
• Government should develop pro-poor policy and strategies in collaboration with the 
appropriate representatives of the poor, donors and the private sector. 
• Parliament should establish a special Standing Committee to focus its oversight 
responsibility to monitor the impact of Pro-poor policies and their implementation, and it 
should require the executive branch to provide clearly articulated pro-poor policy, and 
programmes along with defined level of resource appropriation. 
• Parliament should be provided with adequate analytic support and/or capacity to assess, 
analyse and interpret pro-poor data for Standing Committees of parliament. 
• Political constituency offices and office bearers should work closely with regional 
representatives and private sector leadership to review pro-poor data at least once an 
every quarter and to make recommendations to government for action or support. 
135 
• In urban areas, the major determinants of poverty should be identified per region and 
constantly monitored in respect of: (1) purchasing power and capacity, (2) number of 
active and retired/pensioners, (3) average family size, (4) average farm size, (5) climate-
related hazards, (6) available skills and talents, (7) missing essential public infrastructure 
such as schools, hospitals/clinics, markets, Post office, telecommunication, banks, 
shopping centers, OMA representatives, (8) number of physically/mentally challenged 
persons, (9) birth and death rates, (10) number of young person by age, sex and marital 
status, (11) number of able but unemployed persons and (12) homes without utility 
services, such as water, electricity, telephone, etc. 
• In rural and suburban areas, some of these key factors may vary in content or description. 
7 .3 Conclusions 
Economic growth, economic development and employment creation needs a concerted effort in 
order for South Africa to realise a decrease in poverty. South Africa has sound economic policies 
but the problem is with the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of such policies. The 
importance of informal sector is globally recognized but the problem is experienced in the 
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of those informal sector businesses. 
There is also a problem with land restitution. This problem manifests itself in lack of land 
available for social upliftment of the communities. The government needs to fast track its policy 
of buyer winning seller. This policy is also dragging the process of solving inequality in terms of 
land ownership. It has also come to the attention of that most of the South African land is under 
the ownership of foreigners. 
It is also important to note that economic growth does not mean there is economic development. 
In order for us to move forward , we need to realise economic growth, followed by economic 
development and then employment opportunities will be realised. Political debate over this 
poverty issue is utmost important. In closing, there is an urgent need for all spheres of 
government to engage with each other in order to come up with a solution to poverty. 
136 
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APPENDIX A 
Dear respondent 
The North West University is an academic institution which provides tertiary education at 
different levels of education. I am conducting a study on evaluation of the socio-economic 
impact of poverty in Ramatlabama villages of the Ngaka Modiri Molema in the North West 
Province. The study will help in finding remedial policies for eradication of poverty. Poverty 
alleviation programmes policies are in place to help eradicate poverty. There is little empirical 
evidence regarding the obstacles experienced by the Poverty Alleviation Programmes (PAP' s) . 
The study will assist in trying to a gain better understanding of the problems associated with the 
running of the PAP's. Your participation in this regard is needed and will be greatly appreciated. 
By answering this questionnaire you will be contributing towards a better understanding of the 
vital interventions available to fight poverty. The information you provide will be treated in 
strictest confidentiality. 
I thank you in advance for participating in this research process. Should you encounter any 
difficulties with the questionnaire feel free to contact Stanley at 071 072 6900 or 082 411 7254? 
Regards, 
Stanley Gaopallwe Tlhalerwa 
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APPENDIXB 
QUESTIONAIRE TO RESIDENTS OF RAMATLABAMA VILLAGES 
This questionnaire has been developed and structured to collect data on poverty m the 
Ramatlabama villages. A specific village in which data is collected is Makgokgwane and 
Botshabelo. The information provided by all respondents will be treated as confidential and no 
names will be disclosed or be mentioned in the final report. Please tick on the appropriate box 
below relevant to your answer. 
Personal Details of respondents 
1.1 In which Gender do you fall in? 
I Male I Female 
1.2 In which age group do you fall in? 
14-19 20-25 26-30 31-35 
36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 
56-60 61-65 66-70 71-> 
1.3 What is your marital status? 
Single Married Divorced 
Living together Separated Widowed 
1.4 How many children do you have? 
I Two I Three I Four I Five I More I 
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1.4.1 How old are your children? 
0-5 years 6-10 years 
11-15 years 16-20 years 
21-25 years 26 and above 
1.4.2 Do you have any extended family living with you? 
1.4.3 If yes, how many extended family children are living with you? 
I One I Two I Three I Four I Five I More I 
2. Economic status 
2.1 can you please indicate your source of income? 
Formal employment Informal employment Unemployed Disability grant 
Maintenance grant Pensioner Retrenched Other, please specify 
2.2 How many family members are dependent on your income? 
I Three I Four I Five I Six I Seven I More 
145 
2.3 Can you kindly give us the average monthly income of your household? Tick appropriate 
income bracket. 
Less than R250 R250-R500 R501-R1000 
R1001-R1500 R1501-R2000 >R2000 
2.4 If you use transport to go to work, kindly give us average expenditure on transport. 
RS,00 R5,01-Rl 0,00 R10,01-Rl5 ,00 
R15,0l-R20,00 >R20,00 Own transport 
2.5 If you work, what mode of transport do you use to work? Tick appropriate mode of transport 
you use. 
I None I Walk I Bus I taxi I Own car/other 
2.6 If own transport, how much do spend on petrol and maintenance? 
R200-R250 R251-R500 
R501-R750 R751 and Above 
2. 7 If you have any alternative source of income, can you kindly provide us with the income you 
receive? 
R100-R250 R251-R500 
R501-R750 R751-R1000 
R1001-R1250 Rl251-R1500 
R1501-R1750 Rl 751 and above 
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3. Housing or type of dwelling. 
3.1 Can you please indicate whether you own or rent a house? 
I Own house I Rent 
3.2 The local tribal council reqmres residents to pay a nominal standard rate for water 
consumption. How will you rate the charges for water by the tribal council? 
Good Fair 
Reasonable Do not know 
Not interested Cannot afford 
Reasons .. .. ........................................................... . ... . ... ... ...... ... ... .. ... . .. . .. . .... . . . 
3.3 How many rooms does your house have? 
I Three I Four I Five and more 
4. Education 
What is your highest level of education? 
None Grade one Grade two Grade three 
Grade Four Grade five Grade six Grade seven 
Grade Eight Grade nine Grade ten Grade eleven 
Grade Twelve Further Education and Diploma Degree 
Training certificate or 
other certification 
147 
5. Health 
5.1 Our primary health care facilities are clinics. How far is the nearest clinic? 
I In the village I Neighbouring village 
5.1 How effective is ambulance services when called-out from the clinic or hospital? 
Highly satisfactory Satisfactory 
Unsatisfactory Poor 
5.2 Can you please State chronic illnesses suffered by any of your family members? 
Asthma Diabetes Hypertension 
Arthritis Allergies Other/specify 
6. Nutrition 
6.1 How often do you have your meals? Choose those meals you have access to. 
Breakfast Lunch Dinner/supper No food for the day 
6.2 How often do you go to bed hungry because there is no food in the house? 
I Never I Seldom I Always 
6.3 Do you think food parcels from the government can benefit the community? 
Agree Strongly Agree 
Disagree Strongly disagree 
148 
6.4 Do you think the food you take daily is nutritious for your health? 
Agree Strongly Agree 
Disagree Strongly Disagree 
7. Quality of life 
7.1 How accessible is the sporting facilities in your area? 
Nearby No sporting facilities Very Far Not interested 
7 .2 According to statistics, Crime is almost everywhere in the country, what do you think 
aggravates the rate of crime in your area? Choose any. 
Lack of sporting activities Lack of job opportunities Lack of police patrols 
High illiteracy levels Lack of Parent discipline High Poverty levels 
7.3 What type of crimes exists in your area? 
Petty (insults, perjury) Assault, burglary 
Murder Stock theft 
7.4 There are perceptions that high unemployment rate and high incidence of poverty lead to 
crime? That is, lack of jobs and severe poverty induce people to participate in criminal activities. 
How do you rate that? 
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree 
149 
7.5 Do you think the government's provision of high mast lights in your area did help reduce the 
incidents of crime? Please rate their efficiency in reducing crime. 
Excellent and Effective Excellent but not effective 
Averagely effective Completely ineffective 
8. Socio-Economic impact of Poverty 
8.1 How will you rate the efficiency of any poverty alleviation project you are aware of in your 
area? 
I Excellent I Good 
Bad Worse 
8.2 Municipalities have IDP (Integrated Development Projects) targets aimed at alleviating 
poverty in rural areas and thus helping to develop rural areas. Do you think such a planned 
project in your area will help alleviate poverty? 
Agree Strongly Agree 
Disagree Strongly disagree 
8.3 Rural developments need participation of all stakeholders, which are; the community leaders, 
the community itself and political leaders. Do you think the government is doing enough to 
facilitate the involvement of all stakeholders? 
Agree Strongly Agree 
Disagree Strongly disagree 
8.4 There has been past Poverty Alleviation Programmes, like poultry and vegetable farming in 
your area. What do you think could have led to their collapses? 
150 
Lack of management skills Lack of finance 
Lack of project management skills Infighting within the community 
Laziness within the community No government intervention 
8.5 Do you think that government should continue start projects and leave it on the hands of 
unskilled community selected individuals or appoint project managers on contractual basis for 
the long term sustainability of the projects? Choose one option. 
Leave it on the hands of the community Appoint permanent project managers 
8.6 Huge sum of government money has been spent on Poverty Alleviation Projects, and very 
few of them have not last for a reasonable period of time. What do you think the government 
must do to overcome this problem? (Academic researchers have found). 
Train enough entrepreneurs through Provide permanent jobs m government 
colleges and universities. departments. 
Invest m local labourers through Provide type of education that promotes 
skills transfer. entrepreneurs. 
I really appreciated your cooperation in the filling of this questionnaire and thanks very 
much for your effort in helping me compile this data. 
151