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Speaking out against poverty in South Africa
"If South Africa fails to address the issues of poverty that affect more than 40% of South Africans both society and our democracy are under great threat," said the organization African Monitor following the first of nine poverty hearings that will take place in South Africa in the next two months.
In this first poverty hearing, held in the city of Bloemfontein, hundreds
of residents came to speak of how poverty affects them. The stories they told were ones
of dire poverty, of being unable to access social grants, of a lack
of social delivery, abuse of elderly people in communities, unemployment,
a sense of a loss of dignity, and that poverty affects
and frays the very fabric of society.
The views, testimonies and advocacy messages that come out of this and the following South Africa poverty hearings with be taken to local, provincial and national government for action.
These hearings are part of a wider global action to bring up the issues of poverty and inequality to light. The outcomes of these hearings will feed into various international processes, especially the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness which will be hosted in Accra, Ghana in early September, and the UN Extraordinary Summit on the MDGs taking place later in the month in New York, USA, where GCAP will be bringing together voices from the South and the North in a global poverty hearing.
Watch this space for more info on the poverty hearings and other mobilization around the Aid Effectiveness summit and the UN MDGs summit.
Find out more about the South Africa poverty hearings
Mail & Guardian: Talking poverty
