“A Difficult Life”: The Perceptions and Experience of Poverty in South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide a fuller and more integrated understanding of poverty based on the results of a nation wide participatory study recently completed in South Africa. A surprisingly consistent view of poverty emerges from the study which includes social isolation, malnourished children, crowded homes, the use of basic energy sources, no employment, and fragmented households. A clear image of what results from extreme poverty also emerges comprising continuous ill health, arduous and often hazardous work for virtually no income, no power to influence change, and high levels of anxiety and stress. The article concludes that conventional definitions of poverty do not fully describe the experience of poverty as analysed by the poor themselves. Instead, the multidimensional nature of poverty suggests that three basic concepts would be useful in any analysis of extent, nature and persistence of poverty. These are sufficiency, access and vulnerability.

The research upon which this article is based was a collaborative exercise involving many organisatons, individual researchers and communities. Specifically, the work of the other co-authors of the final report must be acknowledged: Heidi Attwood, Peter Ewang, Grancie Lund and Wilfred Wentzal. This research was0020made possible by funding received from the World Bank and Overseas Development Agency.