Cape Town — Human community is impossible in conditions of poverty and inequality, and unless current levels of inequality are addressed, social cohesion will be unattainable in South Africa, a major conference on ending poverty has been told.
Speaking at the opening of the conference, entitled "Towards Carnegie III", at the University of Cape Town last night, academic, activist and businesswoman Mamphela Ramphele said few countries were given three chances to address poverty and inequality.
The first Carnegie inquiry into poverty in South Africa took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression in the early 1930s and focused only on uprooting poverty among whites and was a "resounding success", said Ramphele.
The second inquiry in the early 1980s uncovered extreme levels of poverty among black South Africans but, according to Ramphele, suffered from a lack of political will from the government of the day and a lack of vision among business leaders who failed to see that the long-term interests of their companies would be better served in a less unequal society.
Very few countries are given three opportunities to address poverty and inequality, said Ramphele. "Three strikes and you're out, and we're on the third strike".
South Africa does not have a poverty problem, said Ramphele. Poverty is a result of denialism in face of the corruption that is taxing poor people, the inefficiencies of government, and the refusal to admit we are part of the problem, each one of us.
"We need a new approach, one that binds citizens, government and the private sector for a more equal society," she added. Citizens must hold those in government accountable.
In an examination of the relationship between the South African Constitution and poverty, retired Constitutional Court judge Kate O'Regan said that while the Constitution was simply words on paper, the ideas and vision it propounds were not at all flimsy.
O'Regan said that the South African Constitution clearly recognised the need to change the lives of the poor, as was clear from the compact on socio-economic rights and the responsibility of the state to achieve the progressive realisation of these rights.
However, she acknowledged that the gap between the promises of the Constitution and the lived experience of millions of South Africans as "immense". O'Regan urged citizens not to give up or become fatalistic as this corroded the spirit of democracy.
"Democracy breeds possibility", said O'Regan. For that reason it was both exciting and infuriating. "Democracy is not a good thing in itself. It is what makes good things possible," she added.
Minister in the Presidency responsible for the National Planning Commission Trevor Manuel said that the country's democracy, which would shortly be 20 years old, was "woefully behind" in delivering economic freedom and rights to all South Africans.
While it was important to have a constitution that empowers and enables citizens, change would not happen in society without human action, said Manuel. He added that policy should guide and provide a framework, but policy documents could not "walk, talk, or act".
Manuel warned though, that transformation was only possible in environment of stability.
Quoting Esther Duflo from the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Manuel said that "ideology, ignorance and inertia" prevented development. These three problems needed to be fixed before the big "I" of implementation could take place.
Manuel said he hoped that the third Carnegie inquiry would produce a "handbook" that will help people eliminate poverty across the world.
In a rapid review of papers to be presented at this week's conference, Manuel identified key areas he believed merited further development: how to create sustainable livelihoods when there aren't sufficient jobs; who will drive new enterprise; how to ensure access to markets; effective and fair financial services; how to insulate the poor from shocks such as fires or floods; and how to keep high enrolment through all levels of basic and high school education.
The real strength of the National Planning Commission and Carnegie 3, said Manuel, was the possibility of tying them together to create a "mosaic for action".
The conference is entitled "Towards Carnegie III: Strategies to Overcome Poverty and Inequality".
Comments Post a comment
Why are these clowns going to South Africa and even setting up these conferences? Seriously. Do you really think that the poverty in South Africa came about by itself? I mean last I checked, the reason for the poverty in South Africa is due to the fact of over 100 years of European industrial exploitation of the land, people and resources resulting in a situation where 90% of land, resources and wealth is in the hand of people of European descent. So there is no mystery here. It isn't a problem with nature. It has nothing to do with climate. And most certainly, it doesn't start with the ANC government as the ANC Government was not in place during the time that all the laws were passed that explicitly forbid blacks from owning land, owning businesses and having any role in South Africa other than as landless peasants. To be honest, that is the real South Africa: landless black peasants working for European and foreign owned multinational industries, farms and mines. However, while the ANC was not the one who put the original constitution in place which basically mandated that the majority African population was primarily supposed to be landless peasants, they haven't done anything to change it. They know and the people running this conference know that this situation didn't come about by itself. It came about by conscious effort on the part of those who built the industrial and economic system in South Africa. It was the foreign industrialists and their institutions.
So now we have a forum, associated with more foreign industrialists and we are supposed to believe that they really care about poverty, when they have been creating a system for the last few hundred years in Africa, America and elsewhere that guarantees poverty for the populations they have exploited and oppressed? Are you kidding, especially when these idiots are going to blame everyone and everything else for the problem and not themselves? With all the industry and wealth in South Africa why are black South Africans living in tin shacks? Is that because of climate change? Is that because of the ANC? How many factories and plants does the ANC own? How many pipes, bricks, aluminum sheets and electrical cables does the ANC have the power to manufacture. Last I checked it was the foreign owned industry, using the resources of South Africa along with black South African labor that has the ability to manufacture those things. So why isn't any of that benefiting black South Africans. Don't give me that nonsense that this forum is really going to address the issue. Do you think these foreign industrialists are really and seriously going to tell their brethren in South Africa that they should give up the 90% control of the wealth and resources of South Africa? Do you really believe they want blacks to truly develop an economic system that really will benefit them as opposed to being permanent landless peasants and slaves according to the principles and policies put forth by people like Cecil Rhodes and Oppenheimer?
Seriously. Such folks should be banned from talking such things and until their actions show that they deserve to talk about such things. It is an insult to even hear it.
@ Willd1mind
Thank u for an inspirational comment.The ANC government is the culprit here.It is not doing anything about the status quo created by the apartheid hegemony,and these elites are getting richer and pot-bellied from kick-backs obtained from corrupt multi-national corporations.
Instead of confronting these foreign businesses and whites causing 'global warming',they will be harassing mamma Saartjie,forbidding her to use her coal stove whereas she does not have electricity.And irony to this is,the smokestacks of industrial factories owned by Mr Browns are depositing hazardous gases into the atmosphere...so long the politician keep getting the money.
The ANC and any other political party in South Africa has lost touch with reality,it is now 'every man for his stomack'.