Poverty – The Scourge of Africa
AutoThe most likely reason why poverty exists is insufficient job opportunities in combination with a lack of basic education and skills training, is it not?
In Africa, drought is labeled the most common cause of poverty, often accompanied by a war here and there, a hint of genocide, or the enrichment of a political dictator and his merry men. Poverty is the scourge of Africa, it knows no borders and, to quote Mr. Jacob Zuma, it knows no colours.
During a recent television report it was stated that five children a day die in South Africa from malnutrition and that the incidence of abandoned babies has increased by a third, shocking statistics from one of the richest economies in Africa, one can only imagine the true scope of this problem.
Poverty cannot be categorized as another apartheid legacy and simply swept under the rug, it is not unique to those countries with a history of racism or other human rights atrocities. Poverty is a human catastrophe and is on the rise, the rising trend in food and energy prices, the implications of both global warming and rising oil prices are factors that ensure that this trend continues.
The question is whether poverty is an inevitable phenomenon or an unintentional creation of society. Our leaders talk lightly of job creation, particularly during election speeches, often seen cutting the ribbon in front of cameras at some local self-help project, this is not enough to reverse a trend.
Go back a few years to the cement and brick industries and you will remember hundreds and thousands of workers on construction sites across the country, manually loading cement and throwing bricks, all of this labor has been replaced by automatic palletizing systems. The automobile industry and many employment sectors have become increasingly automated. I know a farmer who, after being absolutely frustrated by theft and his continuing labor difficulties, installed as many automated systems as he could to reduce his reliance on physical labor. In the field of sports, some years ago uneducated and unskilled labor was used as caddies or bag carriers, these employment opportunities have been substantially reduced in most cases and replaced by pull carts and golf carts with some golf courses that completely ban caddies in their vicinity. .
The employment sectors mentioned above were largely forced to reduce employment opportunities as a result of efficiency or economic factors, in simple terms, labor became too expensive with cheaper and more productive alternatives. It would be dangerous to risk guessing at the number of jobs lost by the population as a result. When this situation is considered in parallel with the lower cost of production in some of our supplying countries, China and our textile industry as an example, we have mounting evidence to support the likelihood that poverty is exacerbated by our own actions, including action among the first to complain of being unemployed.
For the unemployed masses in Africa, the fundamental lack of education and skills development must surely contribute significantly to a poor economic environment and consequent lack of employment opportunities. Until the standard of educational opportunity is meaningfully addressed, this situation will fester in perpetuity, as appears to be the case.
If this is avoidable, the answer must surely be yes. An immediate short-term solution comes with obvious difficulties, the catch-22 position where in order to finance schools and qualified teachers an economy needs to be in good shape, an elusive state in the midst of poverty problems. However, the long-term solution must be urgently addressed by our leadership group, the politicians, the church and the traditional leaders. It is your inescapable duty, even if only in office for a short time, to make a public commitment to immediately address this problem with a long-term goal. The effect of fraud, financial and administrative mismanagement by our leaders in public office, if quantified and represented as the number of teacher appointments this mismanagement could have funded, would be terrifying.
Viewing the problem from the perspective of job creation, union leaders and organizations must review their relationship with the industry, strive to develop an atmosphere of consultation and cooperation, rather than confrontation and demand. Job creation, even at the risk of lower wages, must remain high on any negotiating agenda; this needs government support in all aspects, including the reduction of requirements related to white-collar employees for small businesses.
Poverty alleviation through improvements in educational infrastructure is not someone else’s problem, it is ours as responsible people who supposedly care about the future of Africa, consider this the next time you elect the person who will represent your neighbourhood.
Poverty alleviation will undoubtedly have immediate social benefits for all South Africans, improving our economy, less financial commitment to handouts, a reduction in the crime rate. Our generation, in South Africa and also in the richer countries, needs to take immediate significant action to reverse the trend, we are not talking about food parcels and donations, we are talking about improvements and significant investments in the education of the children of Africa, of Otherwise, a humanitarian disaster is inevitable.