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Report of the workshop on the Anti-Poverty Strategy for South Africa Print E-mail
poverty5th March 2009, held at the office of Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII) in Johannesburg. Hosted by SPII and Southern Africa Trust
The purpose of the workshop was to make other organisations, working in policy engagement, aware of the development of the framework strategy. The workshop was facilitated by Glen Farred of SPII . As an introduction, Farred presented a basic understanding of the South African context. South Africa is regarded as a middle-income country and it is not on the list of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) . Because South Africa is not on the HIPC list, there is no international pressure or requirements to develop an anti-poverty strategy. South Africa is characterised by high levels of inequality and half the population consists of   poor people. South African society is perceived as being a deliberate product of deliberate politics.

There have been some policies and attempts to address poverty in the pre-history of the draft of the Anti-Poverty Strategy for South Africa (APSSA)
Anti-Poverty Strategy for South Africa was developed to coordinate and align all anti-poverty programmes to maximise the impact and avoid wastage and duplication. The draft, APSSA is labelled as a framework-strategy, which means that it has elements of both a framework and a strategy. The aims of the strategy are:
  • To improve co-ordination and monitoring of anti-poverty programmes across government departments and spheres
  • To enable a strategic focus and broaden the scope of initiatives to deal with a wider range of issues linked to poverty and social exclusion.
  • To ensure all policies prioritise sustainable and developmental poverty eradication, which is rooted in economic and social engagement by communities and households
  • To mobilise civil society, the private sector and communities to address poverty
  • To involve households in expanding human capabilities and strengthen solidarity with the poor”
In late 2007 the government had an informal meeting with civil society to develop the strategy according to both the agenda of the government and civil society. In mid 2008 the government had a formal consultation with civil society and during this consultation the churches and other Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) raised the concern that the draft did not start from the stand that poverty is immoral and evil and that this was a crucial oversight. The concern had previously been mentioned at the meeting in 2007 but was not included in the draft presented. The view of the churches and FBOs are that the desperation of poverty can lead to the kind of savage attacks on foreign nationals we saw in SA in May 2008 . In the time of crises, extreme poverty can lead to violent expression when there is competition for scarce resources. People who are dehumanised by the daily-lived experience of poverty will sometimes act in an evil manner to other people.

The corporate sector was not invited for a consultation but corporate agencies had successfully been able to affect the strategy, in what way however was not explicityly mentioned. Farred argued that civil society needs to be as strong as the corporate sector and fight for the chance to contribute to strategies and policies.

Most anti-poverty strategies tend to target individuals but APSSA is focussed on preventive actions, community development and partnership with other role players. The strategy is built on the key strategies of:
  • Improve access to the social sector
  • Employment subsidies for a direct job creation and wage subsidies
  • Enhancing people’s ability to search for employment as well as enhancing the employability of people
  • Information on how to search for employment
  • Education and training vouchers, for youths in particular
  • Incentives to temporary disability grants to enhance people’s ability to return to work
  • Support to self employment
  • Specific interventions to poor households
Investments in education have previously been a main focus in anti-poverty strategies but Farred claims that this is not an effective strategy in reducing poverty in South Africa. Even though there have been investments for a long period of time, South African society is still declining. Instead he argued it has been shown that social security grants have been a more effective strategy to reduce the poverty in SA. The Anti-Poverty Strategy does not address this issue explicitly but it is based on the assumption that investments in education are not effective in poverty reduction. This view created a heated debate, with the church sector being clear that it did not accept this stand and argued for more focus on education. The NWF is also strongly opposed to suggestions that investments in education are less effective that cash grants as a poverty eradication measure. A solid, functional education system is crucial for the long-term growth and development of a nation. We need to bear in mind that even Zimbabwe has a higher adult literacy rate then SA. Cash grants without an effective developmental social service system and world-class education are no better than throwing money at a problem.

At present there is no formal forum for the participation of the civil society in the draft APSSA and the strategy lacks a built-in mechanism for feedback, monitoring and revision. The meeting suggested that the secretariat needs to be push for such a mechanism. Other then the above mentioned problems and critiques, the strategy has also been criticised for not clearly outlining leadership and responsibility roles between state, civil society and business. The next major weakness of the strategy is that it does not mention HIV & AIDS, a most vexing omission given the statements made by former president Mbeki on HIV and poverty. Although there has been a severe critique of APSSA civil society, the strategy is in general perceived as a positive step towards a good partnership between the government and civil society. Its development is partly based on the consultation of the civil society and not in only the government’s agenda. Though not ideal, it is at least a start and we look forward to a properly consulted, effective and progressive APSSA .

The Presidency claims that the strategy will be presented before the next mandate period but critics claim that it is unlikely and that it is not desirable. The view is that it needs to be worked on thoroughly and not rushed in order to meet a deadline.

The presentation finished in about an hour but the discussion on the topic continued for a while after. There were no real outcome from the discussion; everyone had basically the same ideas. There were only NGOs invited to the meeting, which was a contributing factor to the way the matter was discussed. If there would have been representatives from the presidency, the discussions would probably been different. However, the delegates seemed to agree on that the civil society needs to have a stronger voice and needs to more effectively provide constructive criticism of policies in order to make a positive contribution to poverty in South Africa. Much time was also spent on talking about how there needs to be strong, vibrant and intelligent leadership within civil society to engage the state on this and several other policy matters. Although there were no immediate outcomes from the discussions, the meeting fulfilled its goal of enlightening the delegates on the anti-poverty strategy.

Prepared by David Hellberg (Social Work Intern) with additional commentary by Rajesh Latchman (National Coordinator)


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