Household vulnerability crisis?

There is a crisis when public policies and spending fall short of helping the needy

- NKOSIKHULULE NYEMBEZI

CHRONIC vulnerabilities of people living in low-income womenand child-headed households are today's medieval plagues, more than 30 years into our democracy that promised to improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person.

Boils suppurate on the political backside every time official statistics emerge, every time Parliament receives public views on crucial governance issues and every time more people slide into poverty and unemployment in the face of the cost of living that rises uncontrollably. People rush to find culprits to lynch in every public demonstration and engagement with government officials. Quacks appear on street corners with fake remedies in every election manifesto. Reason takes a holiday.

On May 27, Statistics SA released the latest annual General Household Survey, exposing a familiar and gloomy picture: in 2024, 42.4% of households were headed by females, with the highest prevalence in rural areas (47.1%), particularly in the Eastern Cape (48.8%) and KwaZulu-Natal (46.8%). Yet, cheap political talk about the shortcomings in implementing government policies and public spending to address household vulnerabilities is out of sync.

Take Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's May 21 Budget speech casual announcement on the rescission of the expansion of the zero-rated basket of food items meant to cushion poor households, because of no VAT increases. Meanwhile, citizens are justified in screaming crisis! There is a crisis when public policies and spending fall short of helping the needy. According to the survey, "Families and households are profoundly important to the developmental, emotional, and cognitive growth of children, and parents and/ or caregivers can play a central role in the development of children". Yet, over three decades in our democracy,