This thesis examines the role that the church can play in alleviating poverty in black rural areas of South Africa through a case study of the Thaba'Nchu community in the Free State Province. Poverty has continued to be a major factor in the lives of rural black South Africans. This situation obliges the church according to its vocation to make a difference in the lives of the poor rural areas like in Thaba'Nchu.
Infrastructural Development
In 1977, the then Republic of South Africa granted Bophuthatswana "independence", making Thaba'Nchu, along with other areas, part of the Bantustan. His lifetime under the control of Bophuthatswana lasted until 1994, when it again became part of the free democratic South Africa.
The Geography
MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY
This means that everyone now has the right to live in the area, regardless of their ethnicity. Of particular relevance to this study is the cry of the people of Thaba'Nchu who survived the Bophuthatswana government and are now in the new South Africa. This is mainly due to the government's policy of introducing foreign companies, such as those from Taiwan, to invest in the region.
RESEARCH PROBLEM
This study examines the causes of unemployment and looks at the effect it has on society. The nature, extent and causes of poverty require cooperation and coordination of efforts. It is therefore imperative that the same partnership be created and society mobilized to eradicate poverty.
RESEARCH QUESTION
Real development is about empowering the poor so they can take charge of their lives. The hungry and poor must both be fed a fish and given the strength to catch a fish themselves.
HYPOTHESIS
METHODOLOGY
AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
DEFINITION OF TERMS
The purpose of this chapter is to describe and analyze poverty as it occurs in Thaba'Nchu. Because different studies portray poverty differently, we will look at the definitions of poverty and see which best fits our situation and context. Having done this, we will look at the root causes of poverty, and argue that unemployment is the largest contributor to poverty in the area.
WHAT IS POVERTY?
Towards a Definition of Poverty
The problem with such definitions and the studies that formulate them is that they view the full human development of the poor as "afrill". The poor are not talking about a situation where they will be able to afford "basic necessities". The poor speak of a comprehensive approach to poverty, which takes into account their full human development.
The UNDP Definition of Poverty
The poor can only be provided for to the extent that their basic needs are met, and no more. This understanding of poverty suggests why poverty is never truly eradicated among poor communities, as the rich and powerful define and determine what is best for the poor. The poor simply become objects of development and potential donors do not seek to hear from the poor about their experiences and what they think would be real solutions to their problems.
THE EXTENT OF POVERTY IN THABA'NCHU
After defining the problem, it is imperative to focus on the extent and causes of poverty in Thaba'Nchu. Without repeating (this is covered in Chapter 1), we will simply highlight the depth of poverty in Thaba'Nchu. Finally, one of the characteristics of poverty in Thaba'Nchu is unemployment, which is both a symptom and a cause.
THE CAUSES OF POVERTY
The search for the causes of poverty in Thaba'Nchu will be incomplete without mentioning the contribution of the migrant labor system, especially in mining, and how it affected the region. One of the reasons why blacks are in poverty today is because of the color bar. In discussing the causes of poverty in Thaba'Nchu we have tried to show how they are related to the history of apartheid policies of the then South African government.
THE EXTENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT
What is known is that privatization contributes to high unemployment and poverty in the area. A description of what is happening is given by Lenong who says: "Puso e reldsa mijru mme sea se dira hore batho ba latlhehelwelee mijru ya bona." Translated it reads that "the government sells jobs and it makes workers unemployed". Privatization did not affect workers in Thaba'Nchu alone, but those who work in and around Bloemfontein but were resident in Thaba'Nchu. The unemployment rate is supported by the perceptions of people in Thaba'Nchu who speak in interviews of a very high unemployment rate in the area.
THE CAUSES OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN THABA 'NCHU
Disinvestment by Taiwanese Investors
Although they do not have the conventional tools to measure unemployment, they can say that it is 'extreme' (see interview 1,2,3,4). Unemployment affects everyone, but women and young people have been hit the hardest. a number of men have gone into migrant labor, or work locally or in the neighboring towns. As shown above in Table 1, most statistics show that a higher percentage of the unemployed were women.
To ensure that business could continue uninterrupted and that, if conditions were not favorable, large amounts of capital would not be invested in Bophuthatswana, the government initiated a system of repression and repression of political activists. When the new government came to power, Taiwanese businessmen realized that things would not be the same again. They divested from Thaba'Nchu and moved elsewhere in South Africa, leaving behind empty buildings that still stand today.
These former employees, who had the skills and knowledge, could not continue their activities because they did not have the resources to do so.
Government Policy after 1994
The result of the rationalization of the public service was the downsizing, cuts and closure of some government institutions (See Appendix 1,2,4). We will look at all the affected institutions and see how they have been affected by the rationalization. a) Health Service. As the hospital transformed, some members of staff moved to Bloemfontein, while others received redundancy packages.
The most unfortunate were the unskilled who had to be laid off and thus added to the already high numbers of unemployed. For example, this meant that some full-time teachers would be redeployed outside of Thaba'Nchu. But the problem of unemployment in Thaba'Nchu was also caused by what Cawker and Whiteford (1993:2) refer to as a problem of the demand for labor in an economy that is unable to match the supply of labor in that economy. doesn't fit_ Thaba'Nchu, like most places in South Africa, is faced with the problem of having to deal with an oversupply of qualified teachers. c) Assets of Thaba'Nchu.
The problem of unemployment is exacerbated by the continued possession of Thaba'Nchu assets by the North West Province (See Annexes 2 and 4). The call of the community is for the North West Province to hand over these assets so that the community can begin to initiate employment creation schemes. This chapter would be incomplete if we excluded the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on unemployment.
Another way of explaining the impact of HIV/AIDS on unemployment is that employees suffering from the disease are laid off, thus increasing the unemployment statistics.
THE EFFECTS OF POVERTY AND UNEMPLOYMENT
Studies conclude that HIV/AIDS causes a decrease in labor demand, which in turn is caused by a decrease in economic growth (Arndt and Lewis, 2001). In my opinion, HIV/AIDS contributes to unemployment by the government spending large amounts of money on taking care of the sick instead of funding job creation projects, thus not fighting poverty and unemployment. In other words, HIV/AIDS is very expensive because it not only robs us of a life, but also has economic consequences.
But vulnerability is also caused, according to De Beer and Swanepoel, by the poor's dependence on owners and traditional authorities, who also make claims on them. 5) The household is powerless. Powerlessness is caused by stigmatization which, according to loners, effectively denies that the poor are fellow human beings who are "fit, willing and able" to participate in the world of human affairs. Both men and women are affected, although the situation can be very difficult for men who are traditionally expected to be providers in the home.
This is true because development depends on the members' participation in the economy. Apartheid ensured that blacks were discriminated against for years in the distribution of resources in education, residence and work. In post-1994 South Africa, poverty in Thaba'Nchu was exacerbated by the closure of the Taiwanese businesses, the freezing of Thaba'Nchu assets, government rationalization policies and the impact of HIV/AIDS.
Unemployment is very high and this contributes to social problems such as criminal activity, conflicts in the family and suicide.
JUDGING
THE OLD TESTAMENT AND POVERTY
- THE NEW TESTAMENT AND POVERTY
- The Letter of James and the poor
- THE CHURCH'S PERSPECTIVE ON POVERTY
- The South African Council of Churches
- The Lutheran Church
- THE CHURCH'S CONTRIBUTION IN DEVELPOMENT To ensure that development takes place the church must do the following
- Planning
- Empowerment
- Decision-making
- Control
- INTRODUCTION
- INITIATING AND SUSTAINING PROJECTS
- A Constitution
- A Committee and Manager
- Training
- Conscientizing
- Funding
- INCOME GENERATING PROJECTS
- CONCLUSION
The pilgrim skillfully expresses that God becomes the protector of the poor and the needy. Pilgrim (1981 :22) is incorrect when he says that the description of this law, as it stands above, provided for the good of the poor. The church serves the spiritual aspect of the person at the expense of the economic and social one.
So far we have dealt with texts whose involvement with the poor is traced to the liberating motif of the exodus. Mary's song, the Magnificat, stands as a critique of the attitude of the state and the church towards the poor. Because God cares for the humble, the poor, and the needy, no one should behave differently.
Second, judgment is pronounced on the rich and powerful for exploiting the working poor. Sider (1980:58) notes here the failure of the rich to pay wages due to poor workers. Judgment is pronounced for all those who participated in the economic exploitation and oppression of the poor.
Justice must be done to the poor, which means the issue of land must be addressed. The basis of their involvement is the mandate given to them by the God of the poor. Given the plight of the poor and the rich, according to Huber of the South African Council of Churches, it became imperative for the SACC to decide on the preferred option for the poor.
As the church takes the side of the poor and engages the powerful on behalf of the poor, it will remind the state of its responsibility for the poor. The task of the church is to ask for help/donations in the form of food or money.
