JOHANNESBURG - The statistics South African (StatsSA) on Tuesday said poverty rose in the country since 2015.
The latest “Poverty Trends in South Africa” report shows that more than half of South Africans were poor in 2015, with the poverty headcount increasing to 55,5% from a series low of 53,2% in 2011.
StatsSA said that the South African economy, in the last five years, notably between 2011 and 2015, has been driven by a combination of international and domestic factors such as low and weak economic growth, continuing high unemployment levels, lower commodity prices, higher consumer prices (especially for energy and food), lower investment levels, greater household dependency on credit, and policy uncertainty.
A profile of poor household’s vs non-poor households in SA. Poor households spend 30% of expenditure on food. #StatsSA pic.twitter.com/phL1485Bd2
— South African Gov (@GovernmentZA) August 22, 2017
“This period has seen the financial health of South African households decline under the weight of these economic pressures and, in turn, has pulled more households and individuals down into poverty.”
Democratic Alliance (DA) in a statement said: “There can surely be no greater indictment of any government’s performance than the number of people living in poverty actually rising on their watch. After all, the primary objective of being in government must be to improve the lives of the poor.”
“We reiterate our call for South Africans to be given the power to usher in the new beginning our country so urgently needs, by going to an early election. The power ought to be in the hands of the people, not politicians,” the statement read.
People took on to twitter to share their opinions on the “Poverty Trends in South Africa” report.
#Poverty: 3 out of every 4 poor people in SA are aged 34 or younger - #StatsSA
This is scary. pic.twitter.com/QqhhyfYXK2
— Karabo Mokgoko 🥀 (@Karabo_Mokgoko) August 22, 2017
Female-headed households remain significantly poorer than male-headed households #Poverty #StatsSA https://t.co/6toE3rtGiY pic.twitter.com/vbYV0shfRq
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) August 22, 2017 We, black folks may not like to hear it it but 👉👉👉FACT is: Majority of SAns are poor today - under an admin led by @MYANC. #ANCJHB #StatsSA
— Nko Mboyi Matomela (@Mntakwenda) August 22, 2017
Knowing that more than 50% of SAn's are living is porverty really breaks my heart...💔 #StatsSA
— Zimkita Vanda👑 (@ZimkitaZimmy) August 22, 2017