South Africa’s poverty has increased to 21.5 per cent in 2014 compared to 20 per cent in 2010.
According to Statistics SA, this means that not only do we have more people living below the poverty line, but the cost for an average South African to buy food has increased to R355.
“The same is true for the austere poverty line, which stipulates the threshold below which one has to sacrifice some food to obtain some basic non-food items. These items included airtime and transportation costs. This line is revised upwards from R441 to R501, per person per month,” said statistician general Pali Lehohla.
Managing director of the Joint Aid Management (JAM), David Brown said they have observed a continually widening gap between the rich and poor in the country, which plays a role in the increasing statistics.
“We start by giving children in poverty-stricken areas food first with the essential nutritional needs before we address education and infrastructure. If they do not have food first, then it will not help initiating on other areas.”
