Exploring the link between poverty and human rights in Africa Edited by Ebenezer Durojaye and Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi 2020 Exploring the link between poverty and human rights in Africa Published by: Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) The Pretoria University Law Press (PULP) is a publisher at the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa. PULP endeavours to publish and make available innovative, high-quality scholarly texts on law in Africa. PULP also publishes a series of collections of legal documents related to public law in Africa, as well as text books from African countries other than South Africa. This book was peer reviewed prior to publication. For more information on PULP, see www.pulp.up.ac.za Printed and bound by: Pinetown Printers, South Africa To order, contact: PULP Faculty of Law University of Pretoria South Africa 0002 Tel: +27 12 420 4948 Fax: +27 86 610 6668 [email protected] www.pulp.up.ac.za Cover design: Yolanda Booyzen, Centre for Human Rights ISBN: 978-1-920538-92-7 © 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS x CONTRIBUTORS xi General introduction to poverty and human rights 1 in Africa 1 Ebenezer Durojaye & Gladys Mirugi-Mukundi 1 Introduction 1 2 Understanding poverty 3 3 Nexus between poverty and human rights 4 4 Significance of this book 8 4.1 The relevance 10 5 Overview of the book 10 5.1 Section I: Trends and incidence of poverty in Africa 10 5.2 Section II: Poverty and socio-economic rights 12 5.3 Section III: Poverty and vulnerable groups 12 5.4 Section IV: Poverty and access to justice 13 Integrating a human rights approach to food security 2 in national plans and budgets: The South African National Development Plan 15 Julian May 1 Introduction 15 2 Human rights and food security 16 3 Development planning and human rights 20 4 The components of budgeting for human rights 23 4.1 Diagnostic analysis 23 4.2 Identifying interventions and budget prioritisation 23 4.3 Estimating the financial costs of achieving food security 25 4.5 Estimating social and economic benefits 26 5 Public expenditure management for food security 26 5.1 Fiscal and monetary policy 26 5.2 Multi-year budgeting 28 6Conclusion 29 Is South Africa winning the war on poverty and 3 inequality? What do the available statistics tell us? 33 Emmanuel Sekyere, Steven Gordon, Gary Pienaar & Narnia Bohler-Muller 1 Introduction 33 1.1 Income inequality in South Africa 33 2 Poverty and human development trends in South Africa 41 2.1 South African Social Attitudes Survey: Perceptions of poverty 42 2.2 Human development 46 iii 3 Access to services 48 4 Addressing social inequality in South Africa 51 4.1 Addressing income inequality in South Africa 51 4.2 Addressing human development challenges 54 4.3 Addressing service delivery 54 5 Conclusion and summary of findings 54 Who really ‘state-captured’ South Africa? 4 Revealing silences in poverty, inequality and structurally-corrupt capitalism 59 Patrick Bond 1Introduction 59 2 Inequality, the state and its ‘capture’ 63 3 The political economy of the capitalist state 66 4 World Bank inequality denialism 68 5 The fight between hostile brothers: The ‘Zuptas’ and ‘White Monopoly Capital’ 76 6 Social resistances 82 Poverty, women and the human right to water for 5 growing food 95 Ngcimezile Mbano-Mweso 1Introduction 95 2 The human right to water 97 2.1 Recognition in international law 97 2.2 Definition and content: Is there a right to water for growing food? 100 2.3 Normative content of the human right to water for growing food 107 3Conclusion 111 The link between environmental pollution and 6 poverty in Africa 115 Olubayo Oluduro 1 Introduction 115 2 Legal framework for the protection of the environment in Africa 117 3 Nature of environmental pollution in Africa 120 3.1 Environmental pollution in Africa: Case studies of some countries 121 4 Nexus between pollution and poverty 129 4.1 Environmental pollution leads to diversion of labour 130 4.2 Increased burden of disease in poor countries 131 4.3 Problem of food security 131 4.4 Right to safe drinking water 133 5 Protecting the environment to fight poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 134 6 Recommendations 135 6.1 Political commitment 135 6.2 Promotion of education and information sharing 136 6.3 Eliminating poverty 136 iv 7Conclusion 138 Alleviating poverty through retirement reforms 143 7 Kitty Malherbe 1 Introduction 143 2 Poverty among older persons 143 3 Current social security provision for older persons 145 4 Arguments for the reform of the current retirement income system 146 5 Proposed retirement reforms 150 5.1 Comprehensive social security and retirement reform process 150 5.2 Reforms proposed by National Treasury 152 6 Constitutional principles guiding reforms 153 6.1 Coordinated approach 154 6.2 Inclusivity 155 6.3 Progressive realisation 156 6.4 Governance and accountability 156 6.5 Availability of resources 156 6.6 ‘Lifespan’ view to addressing poverty 158 7 Potential impact of social security and retirement income reforms 158 Disability, poverty and human rights in Africa: 8 Opportunities for poverty reduction from the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 163 Enoch M Chilemba 1 Introduction 163 2 Poverty, disability and human rights link in Africa 165 2.1 Persons with disabilities in Africa: Among the poorest of the poor 165 2.2 Poverty, disability and human rights linkage 168 3 Utilising the opportunities from CRPD in countering obstacles relating to disability and poverty in Africa 170 3.1 Fostering equality and non-discrimination to reduce poverty 171 3.2 Fostering inclusive education to eradicate poverty 175 3.3 Enhancing employment in the open labour market to eradicate poverty 180 3.4 Ensuring social protection to reduce poverty 184 4Conclusion 188 The co-existence of gender inequality and poverty 9 in Southern Africa 195 Nomthandazo Ntlama 1 Introduction 195 2 SADC’s transformative vision in eliminating gender inequalities and poverty 198 v 2.1 Reducing poverty and eliminating gender inequality: A mammoth task 198 2.2 Towards a transformative region: Advancing the principles of the community of nations 204 3Conclusion 213 The potential of the African human rights system 10 in addressing poverty 217 Bright Nkrumah 1Introduction 217 2 Norm creation and norm enforcement: Issues and implications 219 2.1 Normative framework for addressing poverty 219 2.2 African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights 220 2.3 Little angels: African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 221 2.4 Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa 222 3 Other instruments relating to poverty 223 3.1 AU Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption (Anti-Corruption Convention) 223 3.2 Declaration on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa 223 3.4 Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme 224 4 Institutional frameworks for addressing poverty 225 4.1 African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights 225 4.2 African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 226 4.3 African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights 228 4.4 Need for complementarity: The road not taken 230 5 Other related mechanisms 231 5.1 New Partnership for Africa’s Development 231 5.2 African Peer Review Mechanism 231 6 International best practice dealing with poverty 232 7Concluding reflections 234 Realising access to justice for the poor: Lessons 11 from working with rural communities 241 Victoria Balogun 1Introduction 241 2 What is access to justice for the poor? 243 3 How are non-profit organisations such as the Centre for Community Justice and Development promoting access to justice in South Africa post-1994? 243 4 Are there any barriers to access to justice and do they have any implication(s) for the poor in poor communities? 247 5 The intersection between poverty and access to justice for poor communities 249 vi 6 Access to justice, the role of legal aid offices and the commitment to serve the poor in poor communities 249 7 Equality and access to justice for the poor 251 8Conclusion 252 The role of the South African Human Rights 12 Commission in ensuring state accountability to address poverty 255 Rachael Adams 1 Introduction 255 2 Poverty and human rights 257 2.1 International human rights law 257 2.2 Poverty and human rights in South Africa 259 2.3 Socio-economic rights 260 3 What do we mean by state accountability? 261 3.1 State accountability 261 4 South African Human Rights Commission 263 4.1 Mandate and functions 263 4.2 Reporting requirements 265 5 Structures of accountability 266 5.1 Complaints 266 5.2 Reporting 269 6 Inequality and intersectional discrimination 273 6.1 Interdependence of rights and the role of government 274 7 Conclusion: The role of the South African Human Rights Commission 274 vii PREFACE It is a great honour for me to write the preface to this book, which deals with a very important issue affecting not only our continent but also the world. Poverty is a serious challenge to the realisation of economic and social well-being. It manifests itself in different forms and is reinforced by conflicts, structural inequality, lack of capabilities, high unemployment rate, lack of access to social amenities, food insecurity and unequal pay. It is also as a result of failure to adopt appropriate policies and programmes that will meet the needs of the people or poor implementation of poverty- reduction programmes as well as impediments in accessing justice particularly by vulnerable and marginalised groups.