bout de papier, Vol. 7, No. 3 (1990), pp. 44–45
Uprooting Poverty, the South African
Challenge by Francis Wilson and Mamphela
Ramphele, 1989, W.W. Norton & Company
Inc. 380 pp. $38.50.
The main value of this long book, in this reviewer’s opinion, is that it provides indisputable evidence of the direct linkage between political powerlessness and poverty. Another important theme is the vicious circle which coils around poor people. It is nearly impossible for anyone who is badly educated, poorly fed and housed, and situated in an area remote from the centres of economic activity, to get a decent job. The children of such people are also deprived, since circumstances force them to leave school at an early age in order to help their parents eke out a subsistence. So the cycle of poor education, unemployment, poverty and malnutrition continues ad nauseam.
These factors affect poor people everywhere. However, in South Africa they are intensified by the colour/caste system prevailing and the determination of the ruling white elite (up to the time of writing) to deprive the black majority of political power-sharing in any real sense.
Among other things, this book makes starkly clear that the present system of separate development is economically inefficient (as well as being morally repugnant.) Vast numbers of South African blacks are, for political reasons, required to live in the “independent homelands” or the nonindependent reserves but, for economic reasons, to work in the white urban areas. A staggering amount of time is thus spent in getting from Point A (the home) to Point B (the place of employment); and enormous sums of money are, of course, needed to provide the necessary transport. Families are divided, health is impaired and the crime rate grows. The abolition of the pass laws in 1986 was certainly a step forward but, as the book points out the process of declaring Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei independent in the period 1976-1986 meant that millions of African workers were considered as aliens in South Africa despite their birth there.
This book is the product of the Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa. (The first Carnegie Inquiry, in the 1930s, dealt with “poor whites”. This time the focus is clearly on the black majority.) This Second Inquiry was launched in the early 1980s. Several years of preparatory research led to a large conference at the University of Cape Town in April 1984. More than 400 scholars attended and over 300 papers, on all aspects of this general subject, were tabled. Post-conference papers were also written. This book is an overview based on this formidable amount of material. The authors are an economics professor (Wilson) and a community health doctor (Mamphela Ramphele) both associated with the University of Cape Town. Indeed, U.C.T. seems to have been the hub for this Inquiry, although no less than 22 universities around Southern Africa were involved.
In 1985, the total population of South Africa (including the “independent” homelands) was 33.7 million. Of these 74% were black, 15% white, 8% Coloured and 3% Asian. In all relevant statistics regarding affluence and well-being the whites rank first, the black Africans fourth and the other two groups in between.
Some of the numerous statistics in this book are indeed chilling. One example will suffice. In the black township of Gugulethu in Cape Town, in 1983, the figures reported for murder, rape and assault were, respectively, 150, 179 and 1573 per 100,000 of population. For the nearby affluent white suburb of Pinelands, the comparable figures were 4, zero and 61. The unfortunate residents of townships such as Gugulethu must not only put up with unemployment, malnutrition and bad housing but also with the attentions of roving bands of “tsotsis” (gangsters).
This book is not primarily concerned with South Africa’s political problems. However, it does conclude that the struggle against poverty must require a democratic process in which those who control the powers of the state must be subjected to the will of all the people concerned “expressed through regular, free and fair elections”
Only time can tell whether this can be achieved by peaceful means, or whether South Africa is in for a prolonged period of violence. All of us who have lived in that beautiful country must hope for the former.
For two decades this reviewer has argued (orally and in writing) that it is not in Canada’s interest to break off relations with South Africa. This would simply make a bad situation somewhat worse. Despite the posturings of some of our politicians the maintenance of such relations does not mean condoning a very bad system. The situation is terribly important. Attention must be paid. Contact must be maintained. It is not an easy job for our representatives there — acting as a sort of Resident Frown — but it is better than nothing.
Yet in the final analysis our impact on events in South Africa is bound to be minor. The situation will be settled, one way or another, by the residents of that country. However, this book is one more piece of evidence that there are still many black and white South Africans striving to obtain a more equitable system through peaceful and democratic methods. Let us hope they will prevail!
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 7, No. 3 (1990), pp. 44–45. Read the rest of this issue →
