South Africa's Poverty

 Pali Lehohla, South Africa's Statistician General, said that absolute poverty is on the rise in South Africa and that children are suffering more than any other group.  Each passing day, more South Africans slip into poverty, more children fall into deprivation. 

More than half of the country lives in poverty. 

One in four South Africans cannot afford to feed themselves adequately, let alone any other necessities. 

StatsSA’s Poverty Trends in South Africa report reveals that between 2011 and 2015, the proportion of people living in poverty (below the poverty line of R1138 per person per month in 2017 prices) increased from 53.2% to 55.5%, equating to 30.4 million people. 

Of these, 13.8 million people (up from 11 million in 2011) live in extreme poverty (below the food poverty line of R531 per person per month), lacking adequate nutrition.

And of course, the burden of poverty is almost entirely borne by black people, courtesy of an unjust apartheid past and the failings of a callous, corrupt ANC government. There are more people receiving social grants (17 million) than people with jobs (16 million) in South Africa.

 67% - two in three - of South Africa’s children live in poverty – a much higher proportion than for any other age group. Over 13 million children, almost all of them black, are growing up in poverty, their early childhood development compromised and their life chances stunted. Millions of children go to sleep on an empty stomach and sleep badly as a result; they go to school on an empty stomach and perform badly as a result. Some 15 000 children per year are admitted to hospital for severe acute malnutrition, of whom around 1 500 die from it. South Africa will never flourish while so many of our children are caught in this cruel poverty trap.