Causes of poverty in S.

Africa

Education

S. African edu system's failing to produce sch leavers with adequate work-related skills in sufficient no. Causes Spends abt 7% of GDP on edu from 1995-2002 money budgeted for edu. Was directed towards higher teacher salary instead of trying to improve edu quality by capping max no of students in class at 30. Classrooms in some rural sch often have 60 students. Many teachers were trained 10-20years ago & not familiar with curriculum changes. Few workshops to help teachers with these areas have been held, and teacher training provided has been poor. Free edu. More than 90% of children remain at sch till age 16 Backlogs in edu among poor leave them less educated and poorer in terms of quantity and quality. Evidence of poor edu quality 1999 Monitoring Learning Achievement (MLA) survey, grade 4 learners performed poorly in functional literacy, numeracy & life skills, with avg scores below 50%. in 2003 round of the trends in international mathematics and science study, south African grade 8 students performed worse in both science and mathematics tests than their counterparts in every other country that participated. Results Significant disadvantage in the labour market leave sch & enter workforce with limited skills, hence unprepared for economy that continues to restructure around skilled employment & limited to low-skilled, high-labour jobs with low wages. S.Africa strives to become a knowledge-based economy, drive to develop high-skill industries such as tech & banking, and results in simultaneous loss of low-skilled jobs in agricultural & manufacturing sectors. This causes high unemployment among the youth. (65% youths unemployed, overall 40%) Retards economic growth. The development of a skilled workforce is vital. KBE will rest on the education pillar to supply the knowledge and skills.

Health Causes poor housing and nutrition lack of safe drinking water: water borne diseases affects infants and young children most caused by regional water crisis, lack of safe drinking water primarily stemming from admixing sewage & drinking water supplies/ prevalence of HIV/AIDS: govt slow response to providing treatment & aid linked to unconventional views abt HIV & AIDS among govt President Mbeki questioned whether HIV really caused AIDS and his health minister Manto Tshabalala- Msimang caused controversy by promoting nutrition rather than antiretroviral drugs as a means to treat HIV. Significant increase in no. of HIV voluntary counseling and testing sites in S. Africa in recent years. But quality is dubious. Counselors are inadequately trained, lack medical knowledge abt HIV and often overworked. Men do not access testing as much as women caused fear that HIV-positive status will be disclosed and they see no valued in knowing their HIV status. HIV prevention (less controversy, notable national efforts): 'The Soul City Project', started in 1994, edu ppl abt AIDS through radio, print, TV, using dramas and soap operas to promote its message. 'Beyond Awareness' campaign, ran betw 1998-2000 & concentrated on informing young ppl abt AIDS through the media The 'Khomanani' ('caring together') campaign, run by Aids Communication Team (ACT), a group that was set up by the government in 2001. Used the mass media and celebrity endorsement to get across HIV prevention messages, with particular emphasis on encouraging HIV testing. LoveLife, the most prominent HIV prevention campaign to be carried out in S Africa. Targets young ppl, attempts to integrate HIV prevention messages into their culture. Launched in 1999, markets sexual responsibility likr a brand, operates network of telephone lines, clinics and youth centres that provide sexual health facilities, as well as outreach service that travels to remote rural areas to reach young ppl not in the edu system. Though these campaigns have probably saved lives, the act. Difference they have made in reducing no. of new HIV infection is diff. To measure. The prevailing high rates of HIV found across S Africa suggest that either the messages isn't getting through to many ppl or ppl are receiving info but not acting on it. Problem may lie with campaigns themselves. Some AIDS activists have criticized the ongoing loveLife campaign, arguing that it is poorly targeted and ineffective. In December 2005 loveLife suffered a major set back as Global Fund, one of its main financial backers, withdrew funding, stating that the campaign was deemed to not have sufficiently addressed weakness in its implementation. However, the seeming lack of progress made by HIV prevention campaigns does not necessarily reflect a lack of effort. Various social factors made it diff to carry out effective HIV prevention campaign. Population highly diverse, Blacks- 75%, whites 13%, Asians 3%, 9% others 11 official languages and many dialects, around 86% population illiterate. Some live in large,crowded cities, others in sparsely populated rural areas, many of which are isolated, underdeveloped and lacking infrastructure. Makes it difficult to carry out AIDS awareness campaigns that actually influence people's behaviour. Impact

Poor no money for treatment, or to travel to clinics. Thus, forced to sell assets (usualy productive assets) so as to be able to be treated. Their illness also reduces their ability to work and contribute to household income and is also an additional burden to household income Affecting not only the sick but their entire family's poverty Been estimated that AIDS may increase urban unemployment by 10% in urban areas and can increase monetary poverty by 6%. Due to strain on resources such as for money needed for medicine and transport to clinics.

Unemployment One of the key causes of poverty is lack of income, and the main cause of lack of income is the lack of paid work. Official unemployment rates in s africa around 25%. Unofficial rates estimated by economists around 40%. According to Seekings, unemployment rates in S Africa remains much higher than they were in 1994 and are higher than anywhere else in the except Iraq. Since 1994, S Africa has continued a primarily capital and skills intensive economic development path. Its moderate growth rate has failed to absorb unskilled workers in anywhere near sufficient numbers to reduce overall unemployment in ways that contribute significantly to poverty reduction. Low wages