Ammunition for the ʹwar on povertyʹ in South Africa

Poverty is a multi-faceted phenomenon that goes beyond mere paucity of income. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reflects an understanding of poverty as human deprivation by including indices for health and education in its Human Development Index (HDI). This article reflects on South Africaʹs chequered HDI performance. It cites Chinaʹs record in reducing poverty and hazards the suggestion that a similar economic approach, if adopted locally, could have the effect of freeing the business sector from regulations that have inhibited entrepreneurship, and by extension, pro-poor growth. South Africa has haemorrhaged skills at an unacceptable level and, where this is attributable to post-apartheid legislation, this legislation needs to be revisited.