The purpose of this study is fourfold:
first, to summarise the current state
of knowledge about chronic poverty
in South Africa; second, to describe
the range of existing governmental and
civil society initiatives which address
chronic poverty; third, to identify challenges to addressing chronic poverty in South Africa; and fourth, to identify
themes for further research. A common scenario in South Africa involves the coincidence of poor health, meagre education, and fractured families, on the one hand, with skewed resource distribution, inadequate infrastructure,
and scarce employment opportunities,
on the other. The combination is
more than sufficient to trap many people in poverty. The paper goes on to survey the various anti-poverty measures of government and civil society. In terms of expenditure, the government’s social security system is by far the largest anti-poverty instrument in the country, and probably one of the more functional.
