The ‘politics of poverty' in a post-apartheid South African metropolis

Abstract

More than ten years after South Africa celebrated its first democratic election the post-apartheid state finds itself confronting mass protests reminiscent of popular struggles in the apartheid era, as poor people demand houses, jobs and speedier delivery of basic services. South Africa is currently experi encing high levels of poverty and widening gulfs between the wealthy and poor of all racial groups. 1 Whether the circum stances of the poor are getting worse or not in post-aparthei d South Africa has been a subject of heated debate between government officials, academics and civil society activists. Whilst government points to social grants and poverty allevi ation programmes in place, critics suggest that the adoption of neo-liberal policies, rising unemployment and the failure to elicit the partic i pation of the poor in constructing ameliorative inter ven tions have under mined attempts to reduce economic hardship and improve people’s lives. In this paper I draw on selected aspects of recent research on poverty by the University of Pretoria 2 in four commu nities in the vicinity of the city. The most striking findings, in analysing and comparing the quanti tative and quali tative data, relate to grass roots percep tions of unchanging or worsening socio-economic circum stances and of the exclusion of poor commu nities from the benefits of a trans forming political economy. In seeking to situate and explain the responses, the paper argues that the deep pessimism that infuses popular discourses is shaping a robust critique of state insti tu tions as funda men tally indif ferent to the plight of the poor. In addition, although the data reflect ‘group specific’ differ ences insofar as poverty and insecu rities are concerned, there appears to be a coalescing of political discourses and rituals of protest across racial divides.