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What were the effects of a 52 per cent increase in the minimum wage in the agricultural sector in South Africa in 2013? We estimate the short run effects of this policy change on the income, employment, and poverty rate of farmworkers, using individual-level panel data from the Quarterly Labour Force Surveys (QLFS). Before the implementation date, 90 per cent of farmworkers were paid below the new minimum wage level. We find that the wage gain of farmworkers is strongly quadratically related to pre-implementation wages, suggesting lower compliance as the gap between the minimum and the pre-implementation wage increases. We estimate that farmworkers received a median wage increase of 9 per cent as a result of the policy, and we find no evidence of job losses. Overall, farmworkers were 7 per cent less likely to have household income per person below the poverty line. One possible explanation for these outcomes is that endogenous compliance may mitigate against unemployment effects. While the minimum wage literature is large, our paper adds to the small subset of this literature on large increases, partial compliance, and poverty effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, youth (15–34 years) are the most vulnerable age group, assuming a large share of unemployment and NEET rates. This has raised concerns of their living standards, which have a great influence on their overall development. Although much has been written on poverty in South Africa, poverty specifically among the youth remains under-researched. This study analyses factors that determine poverty among youth-headed households in South Africa using the 2018 General Household Survey data from Statistics South Africa. Using a binary logistic regression, the paper provides findings and makes recommendations and imperative insights to policy-makers in advancing the socio-economic status of young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the challenges and potential benefits of interdisciplinary dialogue between anthropologists and economists. It reflects on a seminar where anthropologists and economists attempted to bridge the gap between their disciplines and highlights the difficulties in understanding each other's language and concepts. The article then focuses on a specific paper presented at the seminar, which examines the impact of a minimum wage increase on poverty reduction in the agricultural sector in South Africa. The paper finds that the wage increase led to significant increases in wages and household incomes, as well as a decline in poverty, challenging the belief that minimum wage increases result in job losses and increased poverty. The authors attribute the success of the wage increase to alternative enforcement mechanisms and the expectations of workers. The article concludes by suggesting that ethnographic research and anthropological perspectives can contribute to economics research and vice versa, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. [Extracted from the article]

The paper addresses the question of what accounts for South Africa's current deep political and economic crisis. The paper argues that most theories of development do not take into account the important role of what Partha Chatterjee describes as political society. In polities such as South Africa, political society encompasses the vast majority of voters who are marginal to the capitalist economy yet central to democratic politics. Democratically elected leaders provide resources to the electorate on the basis of a 'politics of exception' which benefits groups rather than individuals and is distributed unevenly. As a result, many of the assumptions about political and economic development in the global economy are undermined by local political conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the gender gap in poverty remains a priority for South African policymakers. Using the 2018 General Households Survey (GHS), this paper examines gendered multidimensional poverty in post-apartheid South Africa. The analyses draw on Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty methodology to present multidimensional poverty measures for men and women. The dimensions and indicators used in this paper are slightly adapted to reflect the socioeconomic realities and circumstances that are unique to South African households and individuals. The results show a persistence in multidimensional poverty among women, as the magnitudes of multidimensional poverty measures remain higher for women than for men. Further findings show that the economic activity and health dimensions contribute substantially to poverty among men and women. Notably, contributions of unemployment and the presence of chronic disease(s) indicators for gendered multidimensional poverty are more considerable for women than for men. In order to further reduce gendered poverty, this paper recommends strengthening a social policy review that strongly promotes more job creation, health-enhancing interventions and potent 'gender sensitive' ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through land restitution, a component of land reform, the state seeks to restore the dignity of black communities who lost their land during colonial and apartheid times. Land restitution seeks to return the land that was unfairly grabbed from black people or to offer alternative land or cash compensation. Much public discourse and research on South African land reform has been on the failure of land reform projects and on land acquisition debates. Little research has been published foregrounding the voices of beneficiaries. By capturing their lived experiences after land transfer, this paper examines whether these beneficiaries have been "restituted." My study in the Macleantown and Salem restitution cases shows that access to land has restored the dignity of beneficiaries and produced nostalgia because of the return of ancestors' land, although the livelihoods of beneficiaries have not improved and these projects have failed to function. I argue that these land compensated beneficiaries have not been properly 'restituted,' because the programme has failed to improve their livelihoods or to produce modern solutions for the restitution programme. Land restitution in these areas has largely not led to land justice because beneficiaries are living in poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using microsimulations this paper analyzes the poverty and tax implications of replacing current transfers and subsidies by a budget-neutral (no change in the fiscal deficit) universal basic income program (UBI) in Brazil, Chile, India, Russia, and South Africa. We consider three UBI transfers with increasing levels of generosity and identify scenarios in which the poor are no worse off than in the baseline scenario of existing social transfers. We find that for poverty levels not to increase under a UBI reform, the level of spending must increase substantially with respect to the baseline. Accordingly, the required increase in tax burdens is high throughout. We find that the increase in the average tax rate that would be consistent with not hurting the poor is almost universally above 30%, limiting the feasibility of a UBI reform due to political resistance and efficiency costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa remains an unequal society even nearly three decades post-apartheid. This puts the country in the limelight of the discourse on racism and its enduring effects. This article contributes to the literature on the effects of racism in South Africa particularly for the Black population group. Social inequality during and after apartheid is examined highlighting legal devices that entrenched racial discrimination in the country. The enduring social inequality for Blacks was emphasized through national survey research that has consistently over the years shown this group to be disproportionately affected. The authors then interrogated, using a psychological lens the effects that social inequality could have on three behavioral outcomes: aggression, crime, and social trust for Blacks. These variables were examined in the context of social inequality as a push factor for their manifestations. The authors emphasize the importance of providing a forum to uncover and address the trauma of the apartheid era on Blacks. Lastly, the importance of addressing the socio-economic inequality experienced by Blacks to ensure their wellbeing and capacity for self-restraint was emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbolic violence is (re)produced within families at the nexus of blame and shame. This paper presents an understanding of symbolic violence that extends beyond processes of internalisation, in which shame is directed against the self, to questions of processes of reproduction within families, in which shame is externalised through blame. Drawing on mother-tongue life-history interviews with mothers and grandmothers in rural KwaZulu-Natal, the paper explores how this nexus of blame and shame is situated at the intersect of race and gender. It is bound by intergenerational poverty and educational exclusion that span the apartheid and post-apartheid eras in South Africa. Our understandings of gendered poverty thus need to attend to these intergenerational processes of shaming, in which pervasive neoliberal discourses around individual effort and success mask structural constraints, potentially damaging relationships within families and across social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty has numerous dimensions that affect people's well-being. The literature on the concept and measurement of poverty has significantly improved from the traditional unidimensional (income/expenditure) analysis to the multidimensional concept of poverty and well-being. This paper critically compared the monetary approach with the multidimensional approach to poverty, both theoretically and based on a case study. The paper also determined the level of various deprivations suffered by a population in the rural area of QwaQwa. A sample of 404 households randomly selected was used. The analysis followed Alkire and the Foster Family of Measurements and the Spearman correlation. Results indicate that the income measure presents conservative estimates of poverty as compared to the multidimensional measure. The findings also imply a need to give priority to rural areas such as QwaQwa when implementing efforts to alleviate multidimensional poverty in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For people with disabilities, appropriate social protection interventions can contribute to breaking the cyclical relationship between poverty and disability and may improve social inclusion. In South Africa, a national social assistance programme provides 'social grants' to individuals on the basis of poverty, age, or disability. These grants have been extensively studied but there has been little investigation into the Care Dependency Grant, designed to support the care of children with disabilities. These children consistently have far poorer outcomes on key metrics for wellbeing, health, and education than their non-disabled peers. More attention ought to be focused on uplifting this profoundly marginalised population. We present initial findings from interviews with officials at the South African Social Security Agency, the country's grants implementation agency. These narratives add weight to the growing local and international consensus that complementary interventions and effective intersectoral collaboration may greatly enhance the impact of cash transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many developing countries experience high levels of poverty and inequality. The South African Constitution and the National Development Plan 2030 establish poverty, inequality and social exclusion as central to national policy mandates. This article reports the findings of a systematic assessment of the extent to which these mandates have been grafted into the laws, policy and strategy documents across public policy sectors. The study reviews both the frequency of references to poverty, inequality and social exclusion (differentiated by gender, race, disability status and spatial dimensions), as well as the qualitative nature of engagement with these issues. Findings show that there is at least a moderate degree of engagement with poverty, inequality and social exclusion across all sectors, although the permeation into sectoral policies is uneven. There is a much higher level of recognition in policy and strategy documents in comparison with legislative documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses poverty in South Africa, using the GHS-data of 2018. STATSSA designates three poverty lines, the upper-bound poverty line is employed in the methodology, which makes the analysis more detailed and unique. The methodology uses descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis and inferential approaches specifically the binary-logistic regression model. The results of the model indicate that socioeconomic factors such as income, and household size, on the household level and head of household characteristics such as gender, marital status, age and population group were significant determinants of poverty. Policies that target girl education would go a long way in addressing poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Anthropology Southern Africa (2332-3256) is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The discourse on masculinities mainly focuses on men's power over women and more emphasis should be geared towards understanding how the dynamics are changing, especially in the context of high levels of poverty. This study relied on qualitative interviews to examine dominant notions of masculinity among a sample of young migrant men residing in an informal urban settlement in Durban, South Africa. The interviews suggest that men face a multitude of challenges. In the informal settlement, toxic notions of masculinity are adopted by men that are demonstrated by their use of violence, denoting their power and authority. This study highlights the importance of incorporating men into multidisciplinary research in an effort to understand and combat widespread acts of violence inflicted by men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mothering in the context of a South African high-risk community has undue complexities. Apart from the compounding risks for families and the reality of many "poverty traps," when mothers' personal and parenting competencies within this context are compromised, then the entire family suffers. There is a need for the development and evaluation of a wellness program for mothers living in high-risk communities in the South African context. Moreover, scholars argue for a contextual understanding of structural conditions and, particularly, for the inclusion of a participatory and social justice approach to such program development. The aim of the program described in this paper was to strengthen the personal and parenting abilities of mothers living in a South African high-risk low-income community. We describe our modus operandi in combining research-generated academic information with contextual data obtained via participatory processes to inform the content and focus of the program. Additionally, thematic analysis of data obtained via a focus group discussion with social worker participants was used to identify prerequisite skills and competencies for this program to enhance mothers' well-being as well as appropriate parenting skills. We describe the content of the wellness program comprising concept mapping of four modules called Mattering; Mothering; Managing; and, Mentoring located within the theoretical framework of Community Psychology. Guidelines from various parenting programs were incorporated as best practices toward effective implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic reforms affect men and women differently. In South Africa, gender and racial disparities still exist in the labour market, with women being highly vulnerable. The South African economy is in a depressed situation, with high levels of debt and public deficit. To improve the financial situation of the country, the government has implemented two new fiscal reforms: increase Value-added tax (VAT) for all commodities by 1%, excluding food, and reduce public spending by 5%. This paper evaluates the impacts of both reforms on women from all population groups in terms of employment and poverty levels, by using a Computable General Equilibrium model with micro-simulations. The simulations reveal that both policies have negative impacts on agents, particularly households and firms and poverty levels among women of all population groups. The hike in VAT increases the number of poor households, with women more affected than men. The drop in public spending shows negative impacts for all agents, however, it has lower impacts on poverty levels than those occurring from increasing VAT. The results reveal that South African women, of all population groups, are more vulnerable to the negative impacts of both reforms than men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study sharpens comparisons of gender differences in poverty in South Africa by distinguishing households according to the gender composition of resident adults rather than by household headship. The categories of female-dominated and male-dominated households (where all adults are either women or men respectively) are subsets of female- and male-headed households but their classification avoids many of the problems associated with the concept of household headship. Using nationally representative micro-data, we show that both female-dominated and male-dominated households have become more prevalent over time. Comparing these household types reveals that when men live without women, they mostly live alone; while women who live without men are far more likely to live with children. These differences in household composition help to explain why the gender poverty differential is more marked when comparing female- and male-dominated households as opposed to the broader and more heterogeneous categories of female- and male-headed households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa, a country whose economy has been in recession recently, has now been further devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Due to the rapid decline of the middle classes and increasing poverty, the state has encountered a crisis of representation. This paper will study two initiatives that are reshaping the South African public sphere. One is community self-preservation movements that create capillaries of democratic engagement outside the conventional public sphere and challenge the traditional notion of representation; the other is the self-criticism of the middle class from which a popular politics is generated that inspires intellectuals' participation in the struggles of the masses. The paper argues that the eventual reconfiguration of the South African public sphere relies on two outcomes: whether a new public sphere can be made out of a revived grassroots cultural network and how this new form can be connected to the conventional public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tourism Geographies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The role of higher education in development and social mobility is now widely acknowledged and globally recognised. In South Africa in particular, graduates have greatly increased employment prospects. This paper takes up the importance of addressing South African university students' multi-dimensional well-being in the light of global higher education development agendas. Considering poverty and development in the space of higher education – specifically in the lives of youth from low-income households in South Africa – I draw on two waves of life history data from undergraduate students at five universities. Material-cultural conditions for a threshold of well-being emerged powerfully in every single student narrative, indicating a need for some rethinking of capability deprivation and poverty. This paper conceptualises three broad hardship categories specific to higher education, considering the multiplicity of factors and complexity of low-income in student experiences and achievements. Even though the theoretical framing draws on Sen's capability approach and its attractive moral perspective, the paper also foregrounds students' material well-being as significant in understanding how education can advance change, and not only reproduce social inequalities. The challenge remains, how do we reconcile resources and capabilities, and to link freedoms to financial analysis in evaluating the lives that students value? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Black men's narratives of sex work in Cape Town. Sex work in South Africa takes place in a complex context of poverty and unemployment, which plays a part in men's entry into the profession. Much research on sex work has focused on female sex workers to the detriment of men who sell sex whose experiences are silenced. Narrative interviews were employed and the study investigated how Black men who sell sex position themselves and others and construct their identity within a workspace dominated by women. This paper is concerned with how men narrate about themselves, the language they employ to do so and its purpose. It is focused on the narratives that are told about the self and how these are co-constructed. It is additionally concerned with how men's talk constructs their experiences as intersectional. The analysis provides insight into how masculine identities are constructed in men's narratives about sex work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study primarily adopted the absolute approach to examine time poverty in South Africa by analysing the 2000 and 2010 Time Use Survey data. The findings indicated that absolute time-poor individuals were predominantly young unmarried female Africans who had incomplete primary education, were inactive in the labour market and resided in bigger-sized households in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Examining the relationship between money-metric poverty and absolute time poverty, the results showed the proportion of people who were both income- and time-poor decreased whereas the percentage of individuals who were neither income- nor time-poor increased over time. Last, money-metric, multidimensional non-money-metric and absolute time poverty headcount rates all declined between 2000 and 2010, but the extent of decrease was greatest in the first rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing pool of evidence showing that cash transfers can promote livelihood activities. Yet there has been limited empirical studies that explore how financial support influences beneficiaries' decision-making in the construction and operation of livelihood activities in an urban context. This study presents findings from qualitative research conducted in a poor urban community in South Africa. Structuration theory provides an analytical tool to understand how cash transfers enable decision-making of beneficiaries in livelihood activities. The study finds that beneficiaries make different types of initial and ongoing decisions to improve their socio-economic condition. Among the contributions of this paper is that it counters the cynicism that is usually attached to cash transfers. The study's implications include the incorporation of both social and economic goals in the design of social protection policies as well as the need for greater recognition of the role of the informal economy in eradicating poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015 and 2016, South Africa experienced a severe drought resulting in water restrictions and food price inflation. A year later, while the proportion of food secure households remained constant, the proportion of those experiencing severe food insecurity increased. This paper investigates the socio-economic determinants of increasing food insecurity during and after the drought. Two cross-sectional household surveys were carried out in the district of iLembe in November 2016 and 2017. Household food insecurity was measured using the Coping Strategies Index. The results indicated changes in socio-economic determinants of food insecurity over time, with the poorest households experiencing the worst levels of food insecurity. After the drought, having a child under-five years was positively associated with food insecurity, while being located in a rural area was negatively associated. Policies that limit household vulnerability to price inflation, and interventions that protect poorer households from the effects of drought should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than two decades since the advent of democracy in South Africa, the place of small-scale agriculture in rural development, poverty alleviation and food security remains ambiguous and highly contested. However, there is now some new evidence that official income poverty estimates in South Africa may be underestimating the contribution of rural, land-based livelihoods when measuring household well-being. This paper aims to explore this possibility further by identifying how household production activities are associated with improved food security among rural Eastern Cape households in the former homelands. The analysis is based on data from Statistics South Africa's 2008/9 Living Conditions Survey and its annual General Household Surveys. In adopting a food poverty lens, the findings suggest that hunger levels are lower among farming households in the Eastern Cape even though a higher percentage of these households (relative to non-farming households) live below the national food poverty line. The paper concludes by discussing some implications for policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the developmental history of psychoanalysis in South Africa, which stretches over almost a century. Contemporary South Africa is marred by widespread social and economic inequalities which endure in the third decade of democracy. Intergenerational trauma and grinding poverty are the remnants of the institutionalised racial oppression of the recent past. Public mental healthcare resources struggle to meet the needs of the beleaguered majority. On the other hand, private mental health services follow similar patterns to those of first world countries. Psychoanalytically informed psychotherapists have worked in the country for decades in both private and public sectors. The recent advent of an IPA accredited training, since 2011, has brought classical psychoanalysis to the country. The South African Psychoanalytic Association (SAPA) is a provisional society of the IPA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the successful transition into democracy in South Africa, poverty and inequality levels remain consistently high for an upper-middle-income country. The pace of human capital development continues to be inadequate to solve the socio-economic challenges. The objective of the study is to examine the effect of human capital formation represented by education attainment, on poverty and inequality in the Eastern Cape province. Using the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator, the study investigates the long-run relationship between the variables. The study found that an increase in human capital leads to a decline in poverty levels. However, human capital is positively related to income inequality which is an indication of unequal economic opportunities and inequality in the education system. The study recommends that policies be introduced to reduce inequality in schools. Community involvement in improving the quality of schools is of utmost importance. Education policies such as school choice may have contributed to education inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using empirical data from three different community service learning (CSL) courses offered at a South African university, in this paper we discuss the promises and pitfalls of this pedagogy for meaningful change within communities. The paper makes visible the challenging contradictions of CSL as a practice seeking to promote social change and CSL as a form of charity or paternalism. Drawing on in-depth qualitative data collected from interviews with lecturers, focus groups with students involved in CSL and interviews and focus groups with community members who participated in CSL, we examine the interface between poverty, inequality and privilege that occurs when universities and poor communities endeavour to partner. We argue that CSL ought to promote social change through fostering a sense of agency, empowerment, sustainability and capabilities formation amongst students and within communities. However, when CSL course design (and resultant implementation) does not sufficiently take account of the complex relations of power and privilege, particularly in the context of extreme poverty in communities, CSL practice risks undermining the social transformation that it seeks to foster. We draw on the work of Davis and Wells [2016. “Transformation without Paternalism.” Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. doi:10.1080/19452829.2016.1145198] to propose procedural principles for democratic CSL design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluates proposals made in the White Paper on Local Government to address rural poverty in South Africa. Proposed institutional systems; Identification of the needs of the poor; Responsibility of traditional leadership; Promotion of the meaningful participation of women in public life.

Unconditional cash transfers have risen in prominence for their potential to improve the health of the world’s most marginalised and bring them into a relationship with the state. Typically, challenges to accessing grants are described in terms of technical issues such as access to documents and distance to offices. This paper explores the challenges of 30 young, poor, black South African women in accessing the Child Support Grant (CSG), an unconditional cash transfer provided by the South African government. Data suggest that while there were ‘technical’ issues, young women were systematically excluded from accessing the CSG in two ways. First, women were symbolically marginalised by state officials, who humiliated them, forcing women to sit quietly and acquiesce to state power to access the CSG. Second, there were large distances for women to travel to access state services, despite these being geared to serve the poor. Rather than promoting the active citizenship of the poorest in South Africa, accessing the CSG reinforced marginalisation. Transforming this will not be achieved through technical solutions, rather the barriers to access need to be recognised as political. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Progress in adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) remains unequal: adolescent pregnancies are more likely to occur in marginalised communities, or in very poor households. This study aimed to comprehend from adolescents' own perspectives, the circumstances of falling pregnant and coping with motherhood in informal settlements in South Africa, to better understand the SRH challenges adolescents in these settings may face. A qualitative study was carried out over a two-month period in 2019 to analyse the perceptions held by adolescents in informal settlements served by four community-level clinics in the adjacent township. We found that adolescents face overlapping barriers in seeking to avoid unintended pregnancy in informal settlements. Once they become mothers, their trajectory is limited by the resources and support available from their own parents, particularly their mothers, and to a lesser extent, their partners. We draw on the concept of agency to examine their accounts and to highlight the importance of addressing broader contextual constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[T]here is not one distribution of income but many: income is distributed across racial groups, income classes, present and future generations, and so on. Moreover, a given distribution is not a one-dimensional magnitude: it has as many dimensions or components as there are relevant 'classes' (Bromberger 1982, p. 166). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The identification of one household member as the head of the household remains a feature of household surveys conducted by Statistics South Africa. While the analytical relevance of this practice has been critiqued and while many national statistics agencies have abandoned the concept of a household head altogether, researchers in South Africa often use the characteristics of the household head in order to classify households. In particular, recent research has documented a rise in female headship in South Africa and a growing gap in poverty risks between female- and male-headed households in the post-apartheid period. Some of this work has also shown that the increase in female headship is due to the growing incidence of women living in households without men. The way that headship is assigned and what it actually means, however, is something of a “black box” in social science research. This paper presents the findings from a qualitative investigation of headship in South African households. The results suggest that most respondents attach meaning to the notion of a household head but that, as expected, some clear contradictions in the way that headship is assigned were encountered in the data. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for using the characteristics of the head (and gender in particular) as a way to classify households and identifies some lessons for survey research protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the last two decades, the South African government drafted impressive policies to fully include and accommodate students with visual impairments within higher education. However, in interviews with 23 students with visual impairments at two South African universities, we found that legislation has yet to fully permeate the embodied experiences of these students. Despite stringent policies, lecturers still have the power to decide whether they want to accommodate students with reasonable requests. Second, students carry a tremendous amount of responsibility in procuring reasonable accommodations. Third, the Apartheid regime that left many marginalised groups impoverished still disadvantages some Black students with visual impairments. We suggest that students and lecturers might benefit from clear guidelines regarding their roles and responsibilities. Students should also receive information regarding their legal rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa is a paradox; on the one hand, it is one of the most unequal countries in the world. Half of all South Africans continue to live in poverty, economic growth has stagnated and inflation remains high, while the unemployment rate continues to climb towards 30%. On the other hand, it has one of the most progressive constitutions in the world, with a bill of rights that foregrounds expanded socioeconomic rights. We provide an overview of the latest statistics on poverty and inequality in light of overarching economic policies, and the socioeconomic guarantees of the Constitution. We argue that South Africa's inability to meaningfully address the high levels of inequality is due to insufficient attention to the way power reproduces inequality. We present a definition of power that includes social and market power, and emphasise the importance of a theory of power in understanding the reproduction of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the fact that the South African economy is highly diversified, the sustainability of its economic growth depends on the availability of two critical resources: water and energy. The national energy grid is mostly based on coal combustion, with very few viable alternative resources. Large amounts of water are needed to produce energy from coal and, in most places where coal reserves are located, there is evidence of water scarcity. The sustainable management of both sectors is essential, since research has shown that access to potable water and energy will lead to a better quality of life for people and help alleviate poverty. This paper will focus on the interlinkages and understanding of the trade-offs between water and energy and its implications for sustainable development in South Africa. The simultaneous implementation of selected Sustainable Development Goals targets could help reduce the trade-off between the two sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a working definition of lone motherhood in the South African context is presented. Whilst rejecting any assumption that lone motherhood is necessarily experienced as an identity, it is argued that the category of lone motherhood has analytical value as it exposes the circumstances faced by women who care for children without a partner or spouse present. The working definition is operationalised using household survey data and certain methodological challenges are discussed. A profile of lone mothers is presented and it is demonstrated that lone mothers living with children are more deprived than women who additionally live with a partner or spouse. This raises several policy imperatives including the need for broader debates about valuing unpaid care work and achieving comprehensive social security, particularly within the hostile climate of widespread poverty and unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This conceptual study investigates a model for addressing both poverty and income inequality, which is theoretically distinct from the traditional tax and transfer systems adopted by most jurisdictions. It does so against a backdrop of global uncertainty and ongoing challenges to the current economic landscape. The model investigated is known as universal basic income (UBI) which provides a minimum payment to all citizens of a jurisdiction. In doing so it decouples income from labour and removes any means or employment tests from the receipt of assistance. To adequately address this model, a theoretical rationale for such an approach is first discussed followed by an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages. Current and previous experiments of UBI in Alaska, Switzerland, Canada, Finland, Kenya and Namibia are outlined and analysed. This is followed by a case study for the introduction of UBI in South Africa, with the conclusion that such a model is not outside the realm of political will or practicality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child well-being is particularly relevant to South African social workers given the country's high rates of violence, poverty, inequality, unemployment, HIV/AIDS, and poor schooling outcomes. Guided by a social constructivist theoretical lens, and located within an interpretive qualitative research design, the aim of the study was to determine whether children's drawings and teacher interviews can differentiate qualitatively between children with positive well-being and those with compromised well-being. Children aged 6–8 years whose parents/caregivers were recipients of Child Support Grants (CSGs) were asked to draw a picture of themselves and their families and teachers were asked about the children's functioning. Findings from triangulation of drawings and interviews suggested that while a firm diagnosis of emotional, behavioral, or cognitive disorder could not be reached, it was possible to differentiate between children with positive well-being and those whose well-being appeared to be compromised by developmental delay, learning difficulties, emotional problems, behavioral problems, and/or social issues. It is therefore recommended that social workers make greater use of children's drawings and educator interviews as assessment tools. However, one should not rely solely on children's drawings, but should rather combine drawings with child and educator interviews. Findings also highlight the need for South African social workers to develop indicators that are culturally and ecologically applicable to African children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, a sense of urgency has started to pervade alcohol regulation in South Africa. The burden of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity is among the highest in the world, and its effects are made worse by persistent socio-economic and structural inequalities. Moreover, alcohol is also a principle risk factor for infectious and chronic diseases, as well as a tenacious barrier to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Its consumption and negative externalities have therefore become a public health and development crisis. This is despite alcohol's significant contribution to the South African national economy and individual livelihoods signalling an entrenched site of tension in alcohol regulation. However, while liquor has indubitably pernicious consequences, it does also provide a critical vantage point to further geographical engagements with the South African city and contemporary development debates. In so doing, the novel empirical and conceptual agendas set out in the papers also contribute to a broader engagement with the cultural contexts, meanings and settings of drinking practices in rapidly changing urban spaces of the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews government responses intended to assist the street homeless in South Africa. The paper demonstrates that in South Africa the legislation and policy responses to the problem of street homelessness have been to a great extent shaped by the broader circumstances of a larger population living in informal housing, with whom the street homeless share intimate ties through social instability and economic poverty. This context has resulted in an intersectoral legislative and policy framework shaped mainly by two sectors - Social Welfare and Housing - that has prioritised various preventive measures to reduce the structural, social and economic risks and vulnerability of becoming homeless on the street. Given its nature, this framework has been and continues to be highly dependent on effective collaboration and coordination between government departments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper tries to explain how, 14 years into democracy, the poor have moved from being central to post-apartheid reconstruction to being depicted by political leaders as lacking moral fibre and depending on 'handouts'—from deserving to undeserving poor. This has occurred within the ruling African National Congress, even though sympathy for the poor remains constant outside of government. To do so, the paper starts in mid- and late-nineteenth-century England, where Victorian intellectuals and policy-makers grappled with the challenge of a growing urban proletariat and the emergence of what Disraeli described as 'two nations'—a recurrent theme of the ANC government under President Mbeki—and the two newly democratising countries grappled with the 'revolutionary threat and humanitarian disgrace' of poverty. The paper then analyses recent ANC discourse around the poor and anti-poverty interventions. The unresolved tensions within the ANC-led tripartite alliance, it is argued, are directly implicated in its failure adequately to conceptualise poverty, and 14 years into democracy, South Africa lacks an anti-poverty strategy, targets, or target groups. The paper ends by suggesting a method for identifying the 'ultra-poor', which is critical in place of the 'spray and pray' approach currently in use if poverty is substantially to be rolled back. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to articles in the issue is presented that focus on how sex, sexualities, and education continue to be constructed in South Africa, including underground sexual cultures that involve online sexually explicit materials and pornography, Black African male teachers engaged in same-sex sexual relations, and barriers that prevent teaching for sexual diversity.

This paper presents a new method of measuring child poverty in South Africa, based on a theoretically sound distinction between the conceptualization, definition, measurement, and enumeration of poverty. Conceptual frameworks, definitions, and measurements of poverty are briefly reviewed in the international and South African contexts. This paper presents a child-centered, multidimensional model of child poverty with both absolute and relative poverty components. The absolute core of this model follows the Copenhagen Declaration and includes basic needs such as food and shelter. This is complemented by a relative component, using a multidimensional conceptualization of poverty, and based on a child's ability to participate fully in South African society. The dimensions, or domains of deprivation, for both absolute core and relative aspects can be the same; eight exemplar domains are presented here. Located between the model's relative and absolute components and equally relevant to both components is found a ring of indicators relating to access to good-quality services. We argue that relative poverty can be defined both by consensually agreed upon necessities for societal inclusion and by research-delineated child needs. This approach, while presenting challenges for measurement, will provide policy makers with a better evidence base for combating child poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is agreed that agriculture provides avenues for impoverished households to produce and trade their way out of poverty. However, this requires market access and value chain integration of small-scale farmers. This paper explores the possibilities for integration of small-scale farmers into the mainstream commercial broiler value chain in South Africa. Production costs of small-scale producers are evaluated within the context of their commercial counterparts, with a case study approach. It revealed that smallscale producers pay more for inputs but also receive a substantial premium for sales of live birds in the informal market. This results in attractive gross margins for small-scale producers. There is, however, a production ceiling, due to demand and production considerations, associated with small-scale broiler production. This ultimately results in a dualistic industry with an informal (live sale) value chain at the one end of the spectrum and a sophisticated large-scale commercial value chain at the other. Given the salient production features and investment requirements associated with large-scale broiler production, organic growth from the small-scale value chain into the commercial value chain seems improbable. The dual nature of this industry should therefore be considered when developing policy geared towards development, poverty alleviation and value chain integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Botswana is a key tourism destination in Southern Africa mainly because of the rich wildlife resources and scenic beauty it sustains. Since the 1990s, the growth of wildlife-based tourism in Botswana has stimulated the development of a variety of tourism infrastructure and facilities. This paper asks if these qualify as sustainable tourism. Using both primary and secondary data sources, the study reveals that foreign-owned safari companies and investors dominate Botswana’s tourism industry, leading to the repatriation of tourism revenue, domination of management positions by expatriates and lower salaries for citizen workers. Tourism also fails to significantly contribute to rural development in Botswana due to its weak linkages with the domestic economy. Promoting more inclusive and beneficial policies and strategies would allow tourism to become more sustainable, making a significant contribution to local development, and allowing citizens to finally see real benefits from an industry which is sustained by their local environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

South Africa lags behind among other developing and emerging market economies on business start-ups. Businesses that fail in a year is averaging between 50% and 60%, a figure quite high for a country struggling with achieving sustainable economic growth to reduce unemployment, inequality and poverty. This study identifies issues hurting SMMEs that need attention from both businesses themselves as well as from policymakers. The objective of this study is to identify key business success determinants using cross-sectional data that was randomly collected from informal businesses in Johannesburg/Pretoria in South Africa from 390 informal SMMEs. Using assets ownership as a yardstick for success in an ordered logistic regression, the study finds education status, income, employment growth, centre of operation, financial inclusion, experience, financial literacy and advertising budget were significant in explaining assets ownership (success) in South Africa. This study recommends that the government through its various institutions that deal specifically with small businesses come up with radical business training programmes so as to improve the finance literacy among small business. Also, small business owners should budget to fund their advertising budgets since it is found that advertising has a positive impact of firm success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty, despite being a multifaceted concept, is commonly measured in either absolute or relative monetary terms. However, it can also be measured subjectively, as people form perceptions on their relative income, welfare and life satisfaction. This is the first study that uses the National Income Dynamics Study data to analyse poverty across various objective and subjective methods. The paper finds that while respondents' poverty status varies across methods, blacks remain the racial group most likely to be defined as poor by at least one method. The multivariate analysis reveals that the impact of some explanatory variables, such as experience of negative events, frequency of crime victimisation, health status and importance of religious activities, is mixed across methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper agrees with three fundamental points raised by Vetter (in this issue), whilst highlighting an emerging trend in wildlife land use, which should be considered in policy making. Firstly, the paper supports the argument that communal rangelands are important as objects of biodiversity conservation and, secondly, the argument that livestock production alone is not sufficient as a mechanism for alleviating poverty, but rather livelihoods diversification and multisectoral strategies are required for this purpose. Lastly, the paper supports the need for mechanisms to ensure tenure security for sustainable use of communal rangelands. I argue that the historical shift to wildlife land use previously observed on private farms in South Africa is now inevitable on communal rangelands and will require explicit consideration in the policy on communal rangelands. Although such development in the communal rangelands has potential to meet the important goals of livelihoods diversification as indicated by Vetter, it also has potential to threaten existing rural livelihoods. The paper suggests several issues to be considered as wildlife becomes part of the rural landscape in some areas, in addition to issues raised by Vetter relevant to policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]