NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION 297
INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER [No 23-2010]
DATE OF PUBLICATION:Â Â 27 August 2010
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297. Mr Z Mlenzana (COPE-EC) to ask the Minister of Rural Development and
Land Reform:
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Whether his department has undertaken any studies to determine the extent
of proportion of the rural African households living below the minimum
subsistence level that has lessened from 68% in 1990; if not, why not; if
so, what is the percentage of rural African households still living below
the minimum subsistence level during the period 1 January 2010 up to the
latest specified date for which information is available?     Â
CW370E
THE MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LAND REFORM:
No. The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has not undertaken
any such study. However a study undertaken by the Department of Social
Development in 2008 examined, amongst others, trends on rural and urban
poverty between 1996 and 2008 in the 18 Presidential Poverty Nodes. Another
study was the Ten Year Review of 2004 by The Presidency that examined the
performance of Government on, amongst others, poverty trends between 1994
and 2004.
Statistics are mentioned in many studies and publications but none of these
are official figures. Part of the work that Cabinet sanctioned under the
draft Anti-Poverty Strategy is to produce official measurements of poverty
such as national poverty and hunger levels in the country and the monetary
measurement of the poverty line. The draft Anti-Poverty Strategy is
currently before the National Economic Development and Labour Council, with
the poverty line being the key factor awaiting discussion.