Social Development Approach Analysis

The Social Development approach which started from 1994, aims at collective empowerment, facilitating the processes that help the poor, vulnerable and marginalised to regain power and control over their lives.

Poverty according to Swanepoel and De Beer (as sited in Narayan, Chambers Shah & Petesch, 2000, p. 33) poverty is said to be like heat; one cannot see it; one can only feel it; so to know poverty one has to go through it words by a poor person living in Ethiopia. A number of individuals; families and communities are regarded as poverty stricken if they are without basic needs: no food, no shelter and no means of survival. The concept of poverty can also be clear as the state of being poor or deficient in money or means of subsistence

Although it was expected that it would take a considerable time to eradicate the legacy of the past, but it is a matter of great concern that the levels of poverty and inequality are on the increase in South Africa.

South Africa adopted the White Paper on Social Welfare (1997) in line with its developmental agenda with a view of adopting a developmental approach to social welfare and the intention to address issues of poverty and inequity, promoting social development by integrating social interventions with economic development. Furthermore, the White Paper for Social Welfare when looking at the issues of poverty in South Africa gives an indication that South Africa has experienced declining economic growth rates over the last. two decades, the average annual growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product falling below the annual population growth rate. The situation has resulted in decreased per capita income and increase in poverty and pressure on the welfare system to meet basic human needs. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study revealed that the poverty gap in South Africa has grown from R56 billion in 1996 to R81 billion in 2001, indicating that poor households were affected more during the said period and a large, poor population being the KwaZulu–Natal Province with the biggest poverty gap of

There are about 158 schools being Primary and Secondary schools, 84 Early Childhood Development facilities, 51 are said to be run and managed by the communities whereas 33 are attached to Primary Schools.

Nkandla Local municipality, on the other hand, managed to initiate an integrated programme to address Early Childhood Development issues with specific reference to children’s rights as obtained in Chapter two of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act no 108 of 1996). Partnerships were initiated and maintained with Training Resources in Early Childhood Development (TREE) and United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF).

At Nkandla, poor health and medical care is an extremely scarce social service. There are only two hospitals which are Nkandla and Ekhombe, limited number of health facilities exposes Nkandla communities to ill health. Nkandla area is so wide and scattered with the estimated population of 133 602 of which 43% are men and 57% are women (Nkandla Municipality IDP document, 2005/2006: 32-34 and Nkandla IDP, 2007/8: 118-119). Hospitals are far away from the residential areas even some clinics are not easily accessible. Some people need to travel more than 90 minutes to reach the health facility whereas in other communities no clinic seems to be accessible or available like in Dolwane