Is South Africa Doing Enough?

As millions of people all over the world unite to observe International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, celebrated annually on 17 October, the National Development Agency (NDA) is hosting a three-day Poverty Eradication Conference from 16-18 October 2007 in Johannesburg in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC).

During these three days, poor communities, civil society organisations and government will grapple with the challenges of poverty. With the understanding that poor communities are the ones who are directly affected by poverty, the conference is aimed at providing marginalised communities with an opportunity to engage with civil society and government on poverty related issues.

The theme for the conference is “Attacking Poverty from the Grassroots”.

Government and Poverty
In his opening remarks, the Minister of Social Development, Zola Skweyiya, highlighted the country’s welfare approach as providing a solid foundation for a development state. Skweyiya noted that the government has increased the number of social assistance beneficiaries from 3.5 million in 1999 to 12 million today. He further noted that over eight million children in South Africa now have access to social assistance, while more than 2.1 million elderly people receive the old age grant and 1.4 million people receive the disability grant.

However, Skweyiya also noted that the government is aware that grants alone cannot sustain the livelihoods of poor communities. To address the shortcoming in the current welfare approach, strongly reliant on grants, his department has released a discussion document, Linking Beneficiaries of Social Grants to Economic Opportunities, and is currently in the process of reviewing proposed reforms. In this regard, Skweyiya called upon civil society organisations to provide government with inputs and proposals.

Although he acknowledged that some gains have been made in the fight against poverty, progress in reducing extreme poverty is still insufficient. Despite the statistical gains highlighted, Skweyiya bemoans that, “Children remain on the periphery of societal and social transformation. Children continue to be the hardest hit by poverty in various parts of the country.”

Poverty from the Poor’s Perspective
Sandra Dodana, a 17 year old girl who heads up a family of 9 children, reiterated this very point when she addressed the conference delegates.

Dodana painted a very bleak, yet realistic, picture of poverty and how it has affected her family. In a very strong and determined voice, she explained that there were times when she would not know how they would afford their next meal. 

While highlighting her family’s plight against poverty, Dodana noted that her family is surviving because they receive help from Ikageng AIDS Ministry, a civil society organisation. She states that, “I don’t know where I would be if I did not have them in my life.” 

Dodana’s life attests to the fact that although some head-way is being made to eradicate poverty, it is not being done fast enough. Although statistics may state otherwise, poor people who deal with the different manifestations of poverty on a day-to-day basis face a reality that refutes the numbers.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
While we celebrate International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, it is prudent for NGOs to remember that 2007 marks the half-way point for attaining MDGs and eradicating poverty by 2015.

Earlier this year, the South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO), ActionAid, African Monitor and the National Development Agency (NDA), organised a one-day event to evaluate the progress made towards achieving the MDGs on the continent and in South Africa. In his evaluation of the progress made, Hassen Lorgat, SANGOCO Campaigns and Communications Manager, argued that, “We have extreme inequality and then we have surpluses.” He noted that 1.5 million children in South Africa suffer from malnutrition whilst 14 million children suffer from food insecurity.

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, President of African Monitor, asserted that, “Failure to meet goals like poverty eradication is literally a matter of life and death for many people in Africa.”

Poverty Pledges
Ultimately, the poverty conference organisers hope that participants will put their heads together and come up with strategies for eradicating poverty from the grassroots. In this regard, the delegates were invited to sign the ‘Poverty Pledge’ book, where they would document their own views on ways in which poverty can and must be eradicated in South Africa.