Poverty in the former homelands of the Eastern Cape is far worse now than it was during apartheid, according to Gadra Education Manager Dr Ashley Westaway. But he believes this is a consequence of contemporary segregationism in the Transkei and Ciskei rural areas, rather than a legacy of apartheid.
Poverty in the former homelands of the Eastern Cape is far worse now than it was during apartheid, according to Gadra Education Manager Dr Ashley Westaway. But he believes this is a consequence of contemporary segregationism in the Transkei and Ciskei rural areas, rather than a legacy of apartheid.
When recently presenting his paper on the topic at Rhodes University's Environmental Learning Research Centre, Westaway claimed that rural Eastern Cape citizens are now worse off, even with the expansion of the government's welfare system after 1994.
This means most of these people are living below the poverty line, and household income is primarily made up of welfare handouts. He also said that the provision of education, health, water, sanitation, infrastructure and services is inadequate.
“The Ciskei and Transkei today are characterised by pervasive chronic poverty, low levels of economic activity, a dearth of employment opportunities and high levels of dependency on welfare,” Westaway said.
Presenting 2005/2006 basic income statistics, Westaway revealed that the general average monthly household income in the Eastern Cape was R1 756.
The statistics also showed that the closer a household was to the Port Elizabeth area, the better off it was (Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality’s average household income was R2 438). Further to the north of the province, monthly income was even lower in places like Matatiele in the Alfred Nzo District, where it averaged at R1 240.
Furthermore, 73% of rural people in the Eastern Cape were living on less than R300 per month in 2005/2006. The average rural income was R255 per month, which is well below the poverty line drawn by the presidency in 2008.
Westaway believes that the driver of poverty in the former homelands is the fact that welfare grants are by far the largest component of household income.
In 2006/2007 only 16% of the rural population between the ages of 15 and 64 were employed. That means 84% of this population were either unemployed or ‘not economically active’. The situation has become even more bleak since to the 2008/2009 recession.
But poor education levels can be seen as a leading cause for this widespread unemployment. In the Ciskei and Transkei only 33% of adults are functionally literate. The average Transkei or Ciskei resident starts school at age six, leaves at age 19 with a poor Grade 10 certificate, Westaway said. They then sink into unemployment thereafter, and die between the ages of 50 and 60.
“In the southern Africa region, South African education levels in the urban areas are the highest in the region. But in the rural areas, the education level is the lowest,” he said.
Although agriculture could play a crucial role in building the economy of the region, according to Westaway there has been a consistent de-agrarianisation of the rural Eastern Cape over the past 60 years. This means that today, only 1% of rural households derive an income from crop production and only 4% from livestock production.
In addition, rural people in the province are held back by factors like not having water in or around many of their homes. Westaway said it's a myth to think that water has been delivered to the masses in the new South Africa.
The reality in the Ciskei and Transkei is that two thirds of rural households do not have access to RDP-standard water provision and their source of water is either a dam, river or spring. Another 15% of the population have to walk more than 200 metres to communal stand pipes.
Likewise, when it comes to sanitation 52% of households are relying on unventilated pit latrines and 34% have no toilet facilities at all.
The economic planning post 1994 has been dominated by a spatial perspective, Westaway said. This means that some geographic areas are perceived as more worthy of investment than others.
The Ciskei and Transkei have received very little investments. Instead these areas have received welfare type resources, escalating poverty in the areas.
