Poverty in South Africa

5 Stories

Zuma's First Big Test: South Africa's 23% Jobless

At 23.5%, unemployment keeps nation locked in poverty

(Newser) - South Africa is facing its first post-apartheid recession, and unemployment has hit 23.5%—a punishing figure that has ended the honeymoon of its new president, Jacob Zuma. Many who voted for Zuma have never had a job at all and are desperate for work, Celia Dugger reports for the...

Mbeki Leaves Mixed Legacy
 Mbeki Leaves 
 Mixed Legacy 
Analysis
Sep 20, 2008 4:55 PM CDT

Mbeki Leaves Mixed Legacy

How aloof leader will be remembered

(Newser) - Thabo Mbeki could never be as beloved as Nelson Mandela, so he didn’t try, writes Mark Tran in the Guardian. Instead, Mbeki projected himself as a competent technocrat: cool, aloof, almost disdainful of popular opinion. He leaves behind a legacy as inscrutable as that persona, with clear victories, like...

Mandela's Birthday Wish: Help the Poor

South African legend celebrates 90th, calls on rich to do more

(Newser) - Nelson Mandela turned 90 today, and he used the occasion to talk to reporters about the plight of South Africa’s poor, the BBC reports. “If you are poor, you are not likely to live long,” he said. “There are many people in South Africa who are...

S. Africa to Build Refugee Camps for Foreigners

Affluent nation shocked by settlement plan

(Newser) - South Africa is planning to establish refugee camps for the foreigners driven from their homes by anti-immigrant violence, the New York Times reports. The shelters, dubbed “temporary places of safety,” would initially house the 11,000 people sheltered near police stations across the country, but could eventually be...

Twice as Many South Africans Now Subsisting on $1 a Day

Poverty skyrockets in land of HIV and no jobs

(Newser) - The number of South Africans living on less than $1 a day has more than doubled in a decade since shortly after the end of apartheid, reports the BBC. Some 4.2 million people managed to eke out a living on a daily buck in 2005, according to a report...

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