Presentation to 16 -18 March 2011 International
Consultative Seminar held at Good Hope Chambers,
Parliament. Cape Town
The Chairperson of the Speaker’s Forum and Speaker of
National Assembly Republic of South Africa
His Excellency Mr Van Geer the Ambassador & Head of the
Delegation of the European Union to South Africa
The Chairperson of National Council of Provinces Republic of
South Africa
Speakers and Deputy Speakers
Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Members of National Parliament and Provincial Legislatures
Invited Guests from various corners of the world
Poverty in South Africa came mainly as a result of Apartheid
Legacy. South Africa is faced with the task of Eradicating
Extreme Poverty and Hunger. The big question is, has South
managed to move closer to reducing the number of people
whose income is less than one dollar a day? This is the question
that must be answered by both Parliament and Legislatures since
they are tasked with the responsibility of conducting Oversight
and ensuring Public Participation and not to provide services.
Government adopted a comprehensive approach to eradicating
extreme poverty and Hunger. This approach combines cash
transfers with social wage packages including Clinic-based free
primary health care (PHC) for all, compulsory education for all
those aged seven to thirteen years, and provision of subsidised
housing, electricity, water, sanitation, refuse removal,
transportation, and transfer of township housing stock to those
who have been resident in these properties for a set minimum
period of time. What is known is that poor people are more
vulnerable because of the lack of leisure spaces, lower
educational level and other social and environmental
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deprivations. Hunger and the need for bringing home food lead
many people, in despair, to steal and, sometimes, to commit
more serious crimes. Violence against women is a cause and
consequence of economic dependence for women.
Injuries and fear of violence prevent women from engaging in
productive employment leading to a drain on both households
and national economies. One study has estimated that incidents
of violence can result in loss of household income equivalent to
25-30 per cent of the monthly income of poor households. It has
also been estimated that for the South Africa the loss of
economic output due to violence against women is as high as R3
billion per year
The proportion of people experiencing absolute poverty has
declined. This is based on two essential measures, namely the
proportion of the population who live below the thresholds of $1
up to $2.50 per day, and the poverty gap ratio which has also
reduced. Applying this measure, South Africa has effectively
more than halved the population living below the poverty line of
a $1 per day, thus achieving MDG1 of halving poverty.
Whilst poverty has been halved for both males and females, the
proportion of females living below $1 (PPP) per day remains
high compared to that of males: inequality remains high, we
cannot automatically infer from the data that inequality has
worsened the proportion of females living below the food
poverty line (similar to the trend observed using the
international lines) remains high compared to that of males.
The racial distribution of poverty in South Africa and shows that
Interracial inequality remains high. In this regard, the Black
African population which in 2006 constituted 79.4 per cent of
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the population and 76.8% of households, earned 41.2 per cent of
the 747.6 billion ZAR of income.Poverty and underemployment
and or unemployment generally result in poor levels of nutrition,
increased levels of food insecurity and incidences of
malnutrition.
The government’s anti-poverty strategy has been to implement a
comprehensive social security programme that combines income
support (through the grant system) with a social wage package
that includes clinic-based free primary health care (PHC) for all,
compulsory education for all those aged seven to thirteen years,
and subsidised housing, electricity, water, sanitation, refuse
removal and transportation for those that qualify.
Municipalities across the country have identified and registered
households that are indigent. The definition of an indigent
household however, varies across municipalities, making it
difficult to compare the figures directly. The policy of
Government is to discriminate provision of free basic services in
favour of the indigent.
Minimum standard for each basic service, source vision
2014
Sector Minimum standard 2014 target
 Water all households to have access to at least clean piped
water located at least within 200 m from the household.
 Sanitation All households to have access to at least a
ventilated pit latrine on site.
 Electricity All households to be connected to the national
grid
 Refuse removal all households to have access to at least
once-a-week refuse removal services.
 Housing all existing informal settlements to be formalised
with land-use plans for economic and social facilities and
with provision of permanent basic services.
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Others include education, health, roads, transport, sports and
recreation, street trading, parks, community halls, etc.
 Standards for access for all other social, government and
economic services must be clearly defined, planned; and
where possible implemented by each sector working
together with municipalities in the development and
implementation of IDPs.
As part of its poverty alleviation programme, the government
operates a number of income support programmes including the
old age grant, the child support grant, the disability grant, the
foster care grant, care dependency and grant in aid.
Structural challenges that are hindering successful poverty
eradication
 The effects of declining GDP growth on the poor
 Persistent high levels of income and expenditure
inequalities
 Poverty levels remain high, with a disproportionate
impact on women
Given the legacy of poverty, inequality and marginalisation, the
government has made significant progress in a number of
poverty reduction initiatives.
 A significant strengthening and expansion of the social
wage
 A noticeable reduction in the poverty gap
 A reduction in income disparity and general socioeconomic inequalities
 The positive impact of social transfers and other
poverty reduction strategies for the poor
 Rising per capita expenditure of the Black African
middle income Population
 A reduction in childhood Malnutrition and undernutrition
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 Government has through Comprehensive rural
development programme committed itself to address
poverty on the rural poor. The programme put more
emphasis on eradication of poverty, hunger,
unemployment and underdevelopment in rural areas.
Parliament and Legislatures would have to intensify its
oversight role to ensure that government programmes are worth
the paper they are written on . Parliament and Legislature need
to be proactive in their legislative mandate and always hold the
executive accountable. Parliament and Legislatures role is also
to educate the community about progress made for realisation of
Millennium goals and allow them to participate meaningfully.
Professor Robert Hazell CBE Constitution Unit, Dept of
Political Science, UCL raised the following during CPA
Governance Seminar on 18 November 2010
The challenge is that Parliaments and Legislatures are faced
with the reality that there are
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Advantages and disadvantages of parliamentary systems
Special problems of small parliaments
Questions like who governs Parliament?
Questions on types of parliamentary committee and types
of parliamentary scrutiny
Advantages of parliamentary systems
• Executive has a majority in the legislature
• No risk of deadlock between the two
• More flexible, allows government to fall mid term if it
loses the confidence of the legislature
• More coherent public policy, because the Executive
initiates legislation which it will have to implement
Disadvantages of parliamentary systems
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Disadvantages of parliamentary systems
• Executive domination of the Legislature
• Limited public understanding of how the government is
formed from the legislature
• Limited understanding of how the government derives its
legitimacy, through maintaining the confidence of
Parliament (Harper in Canada; Brown in UK)
Special Problems of Small Parliaments
• Can be even more executive dominated
• Fewer, smaller parliamentary committees
• Smaller capacity: Library, research, legislative drafting,
support staff
• No second chamber: need extra checks and balances?
• More friendly?
Who governs Parliament? Executive domination vs
Parliamentary autonomy
• How is the Speaker elected (party vote or free vote;
open or secret ballot)
• How are committee members and chairmen selected?
• Who determines the agenda of Parliament, and the
timetable?
• Who decides the Parliament’s budget?
• Who controls access to resources (offices, information,
staff)
Techniques of committee scrutiny and How can David tackle
Goliath?
• Oral evidence: ministers, officials, experts, NGOs
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Calls for written evidence
Questionnaires
Private seminars. Public conferences
Use of Special Advisers
Commission research
Possible Issues for Discussion
• How can parliament become less dominated by the
executive?
• How much of the agenda should be determined by the
government, and how much by Parliament or Legislature?
• What is the ideal size for a parliamentary committee?
• What new techniques can committees adopt for more
effective scrutiny?
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