The disjuncture between economic growth, poverty reduction and social inclusion in South Africa

Abstract

This chapter finds that the post-apartheid state inherited a set of institutions and policies that made up a distributional regime that was originally not intended to be pro-black-poor. Even though the national economic distributional regime was deracialised in the post apartheid era, this did not transform a distributional regime that revolved around privilege for whites amidst poverty among blacks. It is clear that neither the enfranchisement of the poor, through democratic elections,nor pro-poor rhetoric and interventions crafted in post-apartheid South Africa are sufficient on their own to transform this distributional regime. More systematic efforts at inclusive growth and poverty reduction are required to make the dreams articulated by the government in post-apartheid South Africa real.