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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Sosio-ekonomiese dimensies van Suid-Afrika in die dekade 1930-1940: arm, maar darem, of ondernemend en presterend? |
Author: | De Villiers, Johan |
Year: | 2004 |
Periodical: | Tydskrif vir geesteswetenskappe |
Volume: | 44 |
Issue: | 2-3 |
Pages: | 167-179 |
Language: | Afrikaans |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | economic recession poverty economic inequality 1930-1939 |
Abstract: | This article examines the socioeconomic impact of the Great Depression (1929-1933) on South Africa. It shows that the government's maintenance of the gold standard could not prevent a massive drain of capital to foreign countries. This increased poverty and created serious political problems. The prevailing poor white problem reached its climax in the early 1930s. The Carnegie Report recommended the return of the poor to rural areas, but poverty could only be appropriately addressed in the cities, e.g. by extended job creation, technical training and opportunities in the civil service. However, wages remained low during the whole decade. It was not until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and the subsequent economic recovery, that the poor white problem came to be solved. However, the plight of the poor blacks continued after the 1930s. Black people in the homelands were restricted by factors such as overpopulation, traditional life styles and underdeveloped infrastructures. Black people in urban areas were likewise restrained by low wages, limited job opportunities and insufficient training. The lessons from the 1930s are, amongst others, that poverty can be addressed effectively, and that private and individual entrepreneurship played a significant role. Ref., sum. in English, text in Afrikaans. [Journal abstract, edited] |