Rural Development And Poverty

My first critique of the State of the Nation Address is that it lacked strategic focus and political luster. My novice understanding is that the address actually has a political and strategic purpose in the life (perceived and real)of a nation.

That is why it is delivered by the head of state and not its foot soldiers. It is actually intended to set the political and strategic agenda for the government and parliament, and set the pace for the workmanship. It is meant to give a critique (politically ,economically,socially) of the state of the nation as the name dictates, and then INSPIRE confidence in the government's program to address national interests. It does not simply mean to itemize government activity items (as you would expect in the cabinet memo or programmer of action) but to inspire confidence in government people and strategic program to respond to the nation's need and aspirations.

Activity items are intended to bear evidence of an agenda in motion, and can't dominate an entire address of this nature. Facts/statistics/quotas alone have never changed the hearts and minds of ordinary people like me. The major problem that affects our economy today is poverty and rural development, whilst reading through the State of the Nation Address and the Mail&Guardian i was touched by these issues.The president outlines what he intends to do during the time period as president, but lack going into detail/depth on how he intends doing that.

Using data from a national living standards survey undertaken in late 1993, this paper disaggregates and explores the economics of livelihood generation and class in rural South Africa in an effort to contribute to the ongoing and vociferous debate in South Africa about poverty and its alleviation. Pursuant to the suggestion of participants in a recent participatory poverty assessment poverty assessment, this paper analyzes what might be termed the class structure of poverty. After exploring the range of claiming systems and livelihood tactics available in rural South Africa, the paper offers a first look at who the poor are by disaggregating the rural population into discrete livelihood strategy classes. Non-parametic regression methods are used to then estimate and graphically explore the nature of the livelihood mapping between endowments and real incomes. In addition to identifying levels below the poverty line (the asset basis of poverty), the topography of the estimated livelihood mapping helps identify the constraints that limit household's ability to effectively utilize their constraints, which limit the effectiveness with which those assets and endowments. These results suggest that poverty is a matter of not only having a few assets, but also of constraints, which limit the effectiveness with which those assets are used, and poverty and livelihood policy needs to be designed accordingly.

Growth, development, poverty and inequality

Over the past decade government have ben seen to be increasingly constrained in terms of the actions that they are able to take which promote growth or regulate the ways in which the benefits of growth or regulate the ways in which the benefits of growth are distributed. An inherent belief behind this approach has been that the benefits of the growth would reach the poor through a trickle down effect. All that was needed for successful development was the freeing up of markets and removals of state controls and intervention. Increasingly these views are being challenged from both the perspectives of neo-classical economics and political economy. Experience has also shown the unqualified belief in the market to be incorrect. In many instances, the poor have not benefited from market-oriented microeconomic policy reforms because the underlying institutional context has remained the same.

The question thats running through my mind is that will the president use the same tactics an strategies which were used in the past an improve on those or will he introduce a new way of doing things and will it work in our favor as South Africans.The RDP housing plan has surely helped those certain individuals in South Africa but hasn't made much difference to the majority of the poor people in South Africa,is it wise for the president to continue with this seeing that there are an estimated 1 billion people in South Africa who are homeless as well as very poor and the number is increasing. These people are not only materially poor,they are also often deprived of basic Knowledge about their rights as citizens and as city dwellers. Their own capacity to change their situation. These two aspects of their poverty conspire to reduce the option the perceive as being available to them as human begins. These people are waiting to see if the government will keep there promises and be able to fulfill their needs, will determine if they will take part in the regional elections next year.

Reference: Mail&Guardian online,Google-RDP development/Rural development/poverty and iol.com/scholar(1993-2010).

The road to a better South Africa.

Twenty years ago,we showed the world that we could unite around common beliefs,the South Africa we living in today has transformed an we are now a democratic,non-sexist and non-racial nation.We showed that working together makes a difference in building a better South Africa for our children and grandchildren.

We should again use the remarkable capability of the nation to address the problems that are affecting our economy. But before we do that we should understand as people living today is that nothing starts from nothing ,we as individuals should look at what we doing wrong an identify those small thing so we'll be able to bring change in South Africa.I believe the one thing that affects our judgement as people living in South Africa is that we no longer have a backbone,we can't make our own decisions we are more reliant on other peoples opinions,we are now living in peoples shadows.

South Africa has introduced a new president,Jacob Zuma to stand for the civilians of South Africa an introduce new traits which will put the South African economy to an advantage.I admire that president is taking a new approach in making South Africa a better place,but the question is will this change be for the better or worst, time will tell.When you read through the

Budget speech an the State of the Nation Address you find that there are a lot of promises made such as introducing more jobs that are aimed towards the youth-but the did not specify on how they were going to implement this,improving rural development and sanitation infrastructure,reshaping our cities-will it be worth pumping so much of money into shaping our cities after the 2010 world cup ,townships and informal settlements.Pravin Gordhan speech was impressive over all so was the State of the Nation Address(SONA) but i believe the SONA was not in detail, the president did not go in-depth an specify the departments in which they want to improve,my personal opinion is not enough,i looked at this through the eyes of the public.

Marea Sing on february 18,2010,9:26 am,Mail and Guardian

I hate what Jacob Zuma is doing to the "education" people of this country-exposing their innate weakness and political misguidedness.Mbeki and Zuma called upon South Africa not to trust entirely analysis and media. After the state of the Nation Address ,President Zuma was attacked by opposition parties before consulting with their constituencies. They asked questions whose answers are in the address. I would of said "speech is good,the presenter was bad".Da,COPE,ID and ACDP did not hear Zuma.He made it clear during session in Parliament when he had to answer their questions that their question lack substance and material.He kept referring them to his his address, which obviously did not read before making some how stupid comments.Pravin's speech was well-anticipated and many got disappointed that ANC's appointment has been extremely balanced and intelligent.

Thuthukani Mkhize on February 17,2010,9:15 pm,Mail and Guardian

Anyone spot how little he looked at his notes while he spoke-really impressive,which means he really understands and believes in what he says.On the other hand,Mr Zuma -glued to his notes.

Time will tell if the Government will live up to their promises and if this sudden change will be for the best. An important thing that people should know is that change does not happen over night an we have to work together to make "our" country a better place.(Andile Makhaye)

Reference:Mail & Guardian online;17 February 2010,Comments on Budget speech and State of the Nation Address,Google.