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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Armoede in Suid-Afrika |
Author: | Terreblanche, Sampie |
Year: | 2004 |
Periodical: | Tydskrif vir geesteswetenskappe |
Volume: | 44 |
Issue: | 2-3 |
Pages: | 213-240 |
Language: | Afrikaans |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | poverty economic history |
Abstract: | This article deals with the history of poverty in South Africa from the 19th century up to the present. After a discussion of the definition of poverty, it surveys poverty in the country in three periods: before the discovery of precious minerals in 1867 (diamonds) and 1886 (gold); between 1870 and the end of apartheid in 1994; and since 1994. It is often alleged that the indigenous population groups of South Africa - San, KhoiKhoi, African tribes - were living in poverty before the arrival of the whites. Anthropologists, however, regard poverty among these groups as a result of colonialism. After the discovery of gold, a number of laws were enacted which left the African population no choice but to seek contract labour at very low wages. The next 100 years was a period of systematic impoverishment of the black population of the country. The period of the national liberation struggle (1974-1994) was characterized by stagflation and creeping poverty. The income of the top 25 percent of blacks increased sharply, while the income of the majority 60 percent of blacks declined even more sharply. The neoliberal and global orientated policy of the ANC in the 1990s perpetuated the trends of the struggle period. Presently, 22 million South Africans (or 48.5 percent) are living below the poverty line. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English, text in Afrikaans. (Comments by J.P. Brits, p. 241-242, and A.P.J. Roux, p. 243-250.) [ASC Leiden abstract] |