Lorenzo Davids|Published
South Africa’s poor can no longer be held hostage by political theatre, firebrand rhetoric, and election campaigns littered with promises but bereft of clear plans and tested policies that can end poverty.
Political promises can no longer be allowed to become the currency politicians use to win elections, while they refuse to do the work of ending poverty once in office.
Our fragile constitutional framework can no longer accommodate political mandates that seek to "improve the lives of the poor" while also aggressively advancing the prosperity of the wealthy, making South Africa the global capital of economic inequality.
Within the mandates that political parties offer the electorate is the oft-used phrase that they seek to "improve the lives of the poor." Herein lies the problem. Our body politic has defined solving poverty a consequence rather than a mission. The question is not whether South Africa needs investment and economic growth.
Growth is not reaching South Africa’s poor
It does. The question is why we continue to assume that the benefits of growth will eventually reach the poor, when the economy repeatedly concentrates wealth and excludes millions from meaningful participation. One can almost see the Reaganomics ticking over in their minds as if it were a new idea.
They stare at the poverty and inhumane suffering of the majority of their voters, decade after decade, but still believe that moving the State away from an expansive commitment to social provision and economic redistribution, and towards the protection and expansion of market-based economic activity, is the best way to improve the lives of poor people.
Yet the evidence stares them in the face: ghetto upon ghetto upon ghetto, while wealth increases for those who manipulate market competition, have the power of private ownership, and benefit from massive capital accumulation, all while the State's role has been constrained as economic planner, regulator, and redistributor,
We are not changing the poverty trajectory in South Africa. We have two principal economies: a survivalist economy trapped in exploitative conditions and forced into illicit economic activities, often ruled by violence and exploitation, and an elite economy where luxury and comfort dominate.
Many who seek power in the current election cycle have no economic theory that will change South Africa’s current poverty trajectory. We are, for the foreseeable future, stuck in the current poverty cycles because the indefinable "improving the lives of the poor" mantra is still the dominant theory.
Voters are demanding more than political promises
If we continue to believe that a father of four, earning a minimum wage of R1 209.20 per week of which 30% goes to transport to and from work, leaving him with R846.44 for electricity and food, is earning a wage that can "improve their lives", we will be partners in the erosion of our democratic viability.
Add extortion, protection fees, and debt owed to moneylenders, and this wage isn't a way out of poverty. It's a wage that deepens poverty. Having too little money can lead to deeper, more destructive poverty. That's what politicians and economists don't understand.
This past week, the newly launched National Media Group hosted one of the largest election debates of 2026, with eleven party representatives addressing a range of issues, including housing, crime, and land.
These debates ensure democracy has a necessary public interface. While much of it focused on these well-known tension points, it was the voice of Bonteheuwel resident Vanessa Le Roux from Parents for Equal Education South Africa who said, "I will never trust you with my vote, because everything in our community starts with the child … you are out of a plan. We are tired of listening to your nonsense while our children are dying in the streets …"
Poverty reduction needs measurable plans
Too many minimum wage jobs that cannot break the cycles of poverty. Too many children still doomed to drop out of school. Too many politicians who have no idea how to fix South Africa, and too many opportunities that let the wealthy grow even wealthier, all while the other 80% survive on R30.23 an hour.
Having a plan to deal with poverty is no longer optional. It should be missional. Power without well-informed convictions and policies about our poverty crisis will lead our new politicians to adopt past and current bad practices instead of curating ideas and policies on how to fix our poverty crisis. Know this: if South Africa continues to pamper the powerful and punish the poor, we will reap a harvest that we will rue.
The time for Corporate Social Investment programmes as the flagship for poverty reduction in South Africa is fast reaching an inevitable decline. CSI is at best an appeasement programme. It's not a sustainable empowerment plan to end poverty. And appeasement never works. Politicians must be competent for the task at hand.
We must know: Can they create sustainable, scalable opportunities that lift entire communities out of poverty?