The FF Plus welcomes Statistics South Africa’s decision to do a national survey to determine the levels of poverty and inequality in the country, but will see to it that white, brown and Khoisan people are also included, Adv. Aton Alberts, the parliamentary spokesperson on social development says.
Adv. Alberts says due to the size of the large black population in relation to minorities, poverty amongst minority groups are always underestimated and the FF Plus will see to it that this distorted view that poverty is limited to black people only, is set straight.
“The FF Plus will cooperate with brown and Khoisan leaders to point out where their poor areas are and will provide SSA with this information about the hundreds of thousands of white people who live in great poverty in squatter camps,” Adv. Alberts said.
SSA will in September of this year start with a survey with the aim of visiting at least 32 000 households. It will be completed by the end of October 2015.
According to the SSA website, the objective of the study is to compile a proper profile of poverty with information such as who the poor are, where they live and what has given rise to the poverty.
It is well-known that South Africa has one of the highest inequality levels in the world with a Gini-coefficient of 0,69. According to Adv. Alberts the reasons for poverty and inequality can be found at the door of the ANC government as it is largely due to a policy of affirmative action, restrictive labour legislation and submissiveness to the trade unions that the country’s labour market has increasingly been shrinking.
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