Socio-economic development of the Coloured community since the Theron Commission

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Poverty is a widespread phenomenon within the coloured community of SouthAfrica. In 1976 the Theron Commission reported on coloured poverty andrecommended widespread reform to the apartheid system to incorporatecoloureds into social and economic life on an equal footing with whites. Thecommission was of the opinion that the poorest 40% of coloureds lived in a stateof chronic community poverty. This conclusion was based on the culture ofpoverty approach, which states that negative external factors and an internalprocess of self-perpetuation can sometimes combine to cause a povertysyndrome.The original culture of poverty approach was widely misinterpretedand criticised and consequently lost much of its support. However, if properlyunderstood, the approach can still be used effectively. Since the Theroncommission made a healthy reinterpretation of this approach it also provides agood theoretical framework to analyse coloured poverty.The socio-economic position of coloureds has improved markedly since the eraof the Theron commission. Total fertility rates and infant mortality rates declined,while life expectancy increased. The educational status of coloureds increasedconsiderably. There is, however, still a large disparity between rural and urbancoloureds. The per capita income of coloureds almost doubled in this period.This rise in income can be attributed to an improvement in occupational status(which was in turn influenced by an improvement in educational status) as wellas a decrease in wage discrimination. In spite of the overall improvement in thesocio-economic position of coloureds, poverty rates did not decrease significantlysince the era of the Theron Commission. Although poverty is still morewidespread in rural areas, there has been a relative improvement in the socioeconomicposition of rural coloureds and agricultural labourers. This has partlybeen caused by the urbanisation of the rural poor. Coloured poverty is, however,still at much lower levels than black poverty. Since the era of the Theron Commission the culture of poverty has beenpositively influenced by several factors: racial discrimination in public educationand other social spending decreased, levels of education improved andcontributed to the rise in per capita income, social work has become betterfocussed and is provided on a more equal basis and the socio-politicalemancipation of coloureds were achieved with the rise of a democratic society.However, it seems that the good economic growth rates during the 1960's andearly 1970's provided the biggest thrust to the upward socio-economic mobility ofcoloureds and played a more important role than the Theron report or any othersocio-political changes.It can be concluded that the culture of poverty as it existed at the time of theTheron report has weakened considerably and that the approach shouldtherefore not be used as the basic model to describe the socio-economic positionof poor coloureds any more. Current anti-poverty measures should be focussedon job creation, community building and education.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University