Democracy and Governance

Where communication and media are central to Democracy and Governance
Home » View »
Average Rating: no ratings submitted

National Poverty Hearings - South Africa

Country

South Africa

Regions

Global, South Asia

Programme Summary


Although the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa addressed issues related to the physically violent aspects of the political change process, they neglected the equally serious issues of the social ravages of apartheid. These include the serious consequences from apartheid policies on education, housing, employment, land ownership and labour. Such policies are major contributors to the serious poverty situation in South Africa. In response, a number of community groups worked together to create the Poverty Hearings. These provided an opportunity for people living in poverty, along with community and national decision makers and experts on poverty to present and debate their experiences and perspectives.

Communication Strategies



At the Hearings, people were able to comment on poverty - how it affected them, what can be done. The hearings provided an opportunity for the presentation of the perspectives of the people most socially affected by apartheid and for debate and discussion on the best ways forward for positive national action on poverty issues.

Development Issues



Economic development, Poverty.

Key Points



Formal democratisation in South Africa has had the perverse affect of pushing people out of the public sphere, rather than drawing them into it. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission did not address systemic deprivation of human rights (for example-housing, education, health). As a result of the process of the National Poverty Hearings, the Government of South Africa adopted the National Poverty Programme which is now being implemented.

Contact

Kumi Naidoo

Civicus, 919 18th Street NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC, 20006, USA.

Phone: 202-331-8518

fax: 202-331-8774

e-mail: kumi@civicus.org

Source

Letter from George Soule of the Rockefeller Foundation to The Communication Initiative based on a presentation by Kumi Naidoo.


Placed on the Communication Initiative site February 23 1999
Last Updated June 11 2001


How useful did you find the knowledge and contacts on this page to your work?


0
No votes yet
Your rating: None

Post your comments (review comments from others below):

Help Seed The CI Network

See who's joined!

Jobs and more...

Effective Representation

Which of the following is most important for effective representation of the interests of marginalised groups?