Print

Mail

wiki links

Poverty haunting new South Africa

An unemployed man collects scrap for recycling in the industrial district of Paarden Eiland in Cape Town last week. Ten years after the end of apartheid, joblessness haunts the ruling African National Congress, in power since the country's first democratic elections in April 1994. Unofficial figures say that the unemployment rate could be as high as 40 percent. PHOTO: AFP

Cassius Maseti, 37, is dirty, tired and hungry and embodies post-apartheid South Africa's failure to effectively tackle unemployment, which unofficial figures say could be as high as 40 percent.

Maseti, dressed in a dirty T-shirt and torn trousers, is despondent as he recounts his travails in a park outside South Africa's parliament in Cape Town.

"I have tried and tried, but all I was able to get was short work as a laborer. If you do not have a matric [matriculation] certificate or a university degree, then no one will employ you," he says.

Joblessness has become a hurdle for the African National Congress (ANC) government, in power since the first multiracial elections were held in April, 1994.

According to the latest government figures, about 5.3 million people, or 31.2 percent of economically active citizens in South Africa -- most of them black -- do not hold jobs.

Unofficial figures suggest it could be as high as 40 percent.

A recent survey by state broadcaster SABC found that 90 percent of 3,500 respondents interviewed were highly concerned about unemployment.

"In terms of human development, the weakness in the economy resulted in declining living standards, high levels of racial inequality as well as high levels of poverty."

Alec Erwin, South African minister of trade and industry

Opposition parties say the ruling party's failure to create jobs has caused an unusually high crime rate.

The South African Police Service annual report said that 47.4 murders were committed per 100,000 people between April, 2002 and March, 2003, or a total of 21,230.

The ANC has fended off criticism, saying it inherited an unbalanced, racially-skewed economy when it took charge in 1994 and that much had been done to reduce poverty and create jobs.

"The economy in 1994 was in an advanced state of decline," Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin, a member of the ANC, told journalists recently.

"In terms of human development, the weakness in the economy resulted in declining living standards, high levels of racial inequality as well as high levels of poverty," he said.

When the ANC came to power under then president Nelson Mandela in 1994, it began to plough funds into areas that were neglected by the apartheid government and to uplift the lot of blacks and the so-called "coloureds" (mixed race) who faced decades of oppression and were economically marginalized.

According to figures in South Africa's 2004 budget, 1.6 million houses and 700 new clinics have been built since 1994, a further nine million people have access to water, four million homes have electricity and school pupil numbers have grown by 1.5 million to 12 million.

The government also introduced empowerment initiatives such as the Mining Charter, which calls for 26 percent of mines to be black-owned in 10 years, and the Financial Services Charter, which wants a quarter of the sector black-owned by 2010, to rectify the anomalies.

Ben Smit, a professor of economics at the University of Stellenbosch, outside of Cape Town, said the most distinguishing characteristic of the past 10 years had been the government's ability to maintain a stable economy, while coping with enormous social challenges.

"The government's fiscal policy, which has among others brought inflation down and stabilized the economy has been one of the outstanding features of the past 10 years," Smit said.

Consumer inflation has averaged at 7.3 percent since 1993, compared to 14.3 percent the previous decade.

The problem for the government, said Smit, has been its inability to speed up economic growth, which has averaged 2.8 percent since 1994 and was just 1.9 percent in 2003.

"South Africa needs to speed up its growth rate to around five percent to be able to provide jobs for the unemployed," he said.

The government has pledged US$15 billion to infrastructure development in the next 10 years as a way of creating more employment.

Last year President Thabo Mbeki introduced the Expanded Public Works Programme, a project that aims to improve South Africa's infrastructure while creating one million jobs within five years.

Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said in his 2004 budget speech earlier in February that speeding up economic growth was one of the government's top priorities.

"We recognize that the pace of economic growth has to be accelerated," he said.

"Investment in industry and infrastructure and an expansion of job opportunities are critical challenges for the decade ahead."
This story has been viewed 3011 times.