03 Aug 2006: ISS Today: Breaking Out of Poverty? The Plight of Women

03 August 2006: Breaking Out of Poverty? The Plight of Women

 

On 26 July (1) The Star’s front page lead story highlighted the plight of South African female drug mules. This followed several similar articles over recent weeks that referred to the apparent increase in the use of South African women as drug mules by international syndicates. The article noted that the Department of Inquiries on Narcotics in Brazil has recorded an increase in arrests of groups of women carrying in excess of 30kg of cocaine at a time and suggested a massive increase in the use of women, including South Africans, as drug mules by syndicates. This article referred particularly to the plight of single, unemployed women who are desperate enough to accept the risk of carrying drugs across borders for drug syndicates. A day later, the Cape Times lead story referred to looming violent conflict between backyard dwellers in Delft, and former Langa residents whose homes were destroyed in a fire that broke out in the Joe Slovo informal settlement. Delft residents expressed anger and bitterness that one-roomed temporary structures were being allocated to Langa residents before their own housing needs had been attended to.

 

Both articles reinforce the fact that the failure to respond to increasing dissatisfaction and desperation over the absence of services and social support, creates the conditions in which crime and conflict are set to increase. While this is not a new, nor unique, phenomenon, stories like these again highlight the need for social problems to be attended to in a holistic manner. The National Crime Prevention Strategy recognises the effect of poverty and the history of structural violence in South Africa as contributing factors to the increase in crime. Yet, despite this having been recognised as a problem more than eight years ago we continue to grapple with social issues individually as if they can be solved with individual ‘sticking-plaster’ solutions.

 

Social problems such as foetal alcohol syndrome, the inability of children to achieve at school because they are malnourished, and the vulnerability of poor women and children to the approaches of human traffickers, share the same root cause – poverty and the inability of victims to access social support.

 

Consider the case of a fourteen year old girl selling sex in the gang-ridden suburbs of Cape Town. The absence of sufficient shelters means that when she runs away from home to escape an abusive step-father, the only warm place to sleep off the street is offered by those who run the numerous crack houses. Her presence will be tolerated for a week as long as she cleans the house and contributes to daily activities. Thereafter she is required to make a financial contribution to cover the cost of the drugs she has been given. The only solution for her is to hit the road along with many other women and girls who sell sex in that area. When her addiction takes hold there is very little chance of her being able to get out of the cycle of debt and drugs that she is captive too. Her best chance to get off the drugs and have somewhere to sleep where regular meals are assured would be through committing a crime, preferably a violent crime against a client resulting in her incarceration. The fact is there is a long waiting list for out-patient drug rehabilitation in the Western Cape, no in-house drug rehabilitation facilities for the poor, and only one shelter that provides free accommodation for homeless people (others require payment). In the absence of social services such as these there is very little chance that anyone trapped in the cycle of crime and abuse will be able to escape.

 

As trite as such observations tend to be, there is no doubt that until attention is paid to social problems, and these are adequately addressed, the struggle against poverty, crime and violence will be doomed to failure. The problem will not be solved through the long -term strategy of growing the economy in the (false) hope that wealth will eventually filter down through the system in the form of new jobs. Rather there is an urgent need to provide a safety net in the form of better services and financial support in the form of social grants.

 

Chandre Gould

1.   26 July: “New face of a drug mule”, The Star; 27 July: “We will petrol-bomb you homes, say Delft Residents”, Cape Times