Journal of Social Development in Africa (1996), 11,2,107-118 
Book Reviews 
South Africa: Wealth, Poverty and Reconstruction, edited by Lual A Deng & 
Elling N Tjonneland, Chr Michelsen Institute in cooperation with the Centre for 
South African Studies, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, 1996, ISBN: 
82-90584-20-2 (p/b) 207pp, Price N/K. 
This book attempts to do one thing that previous research in this field may not have 
seriously attempted to do and that is: present a picture of poverty among all the 
peoples of South Africa, including the blacks. It is comprised of seven papers 
written by a group of South African and non-South African researchers. In general, 
papers present an overview and analysis of poverty in South Africa and the efforts 
to alleviate and reduce poverty through the reconstruction and development 
programme. It also offers lessons and experiences from poverty reduction and 
poverty-oriented aid in sub-Saharan Africa. 
The overview paper by Elling N Tjonneland discusses study projects undertaken 
by the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit (S ALDRU) 
at the University of Cape Town's School of Economics; The Project for Statistics 
on Living Standards and Development; and Household Survey. These projects and 
surveys present a comprehensive statistical analysis of poverty in South Africa. 
The author brings up very important facts that: about a third of all households, or 
half the population, can be classified as poor, and that the poor are overwhelmingly 
African, living in rural areas, are women and others living in female-headed 
households. The article further points out that the gap between the rich and the poor 
has been growing; the disparity between the racial groups is still large; and that the 
foreign migrants are an unknown factor in the poverty profile of the country. On 
the reduction of poverty, the article identifies the Reconstruction and Development 
Programme (RDP) as the main instrument of the (Government of National Unity 
(GNU). It lists achievements such as the school feeding programme which 
provides free mid-days meals for more than 6 million children; free health care for 
pregnant women and infants; affordable water supply schemes; affordable homes 
for up to 300,000 families in rural areas; and affordable electricity supply for many 
families in the urban area. It does, however, point out that the RDP programme has 
not done enough to alleviate poverty among the majority of the people, and 
concludes that the success of poverty alleviation programmes will depend upon a 
well-performing economy; and job creation and income-generating opportunities. 
Revisiting the surveys mentioned in the overview paper by Ell ing N Tjonneland, 
Pundy Pillay's paper analyses the poverty situation in South Africa by using 
statistical data and graphical representations. Pillay uses six poverty indicators of:
108 Book Reviews 
Expenditure levels; Education; A ccess to services; Access to and use of rural land; 
Labour market activity and inactivity; and Income distribution, to demonstrate the 
pattern of poverty along the lines of location of residence, province; race; 
household structure; gender and age; and employment and income. 
Peter le Roux dwells substantially on the RDP and its capability to deal with 
poverty alleviation. The paper starts by pointing out that the RDP White Paper 
should have set alleviation of poverty as an unambiguous priority, which it did not. 
Although uprooting of poverty is said to be first priority of the RDP, it is clearly 
not the only goal. There are other related priorities such as: delivery of the social 
and physical infrustructural development; the restructuring of the economy; and 
the development of human resources across the board. These are sometimes 
regarded as benefitting more the relatively better-off groups and classes than 
alleviating poverty among the very poor. No wonder the RDP base document has 
been criticised by some experts for not being an integrated plan of action, but rather 
a pre-election shopping list of goals the ANC had hoped to attain once it took over 
government. The paper further discusses the RDP policies to deal with poverty 
under the subheadings of: Employment generating growth; Provision of Basic 
Needs; Social old age pensions; and Mother and child maintenance grants. The 
last section of the article discusses the RDP delivery and anti-poverty programme, 
and sets out the following strategies: Affirmative action in favour of the poor; 
Restructuring of the poor; Establishing appropriate delivery institutions; Spending 
the RDP funds wisely; and the Existence of a sustainable economic growth and 
development. 
Bill Davies looks at poverty disparities in the Eastern Cape Province. The 
chapter considers four aspects of the situation, namely: overall provincial context 
in terms of population distribution; discrepancies between the province and the 
country as a whole; some indicators of internal disparities within the province; and 
finally reference is made to some specific poverty-alleviation measures in the 
province. It is a well-presented chapter with statistical information from various 
studies being extensively used. 
The next chapter in the book is about illegal immigrants in South Africa. The 
objective of the chapter is three-fold: to describe the condition under which illegal 
immigrants live, and what is being done to alleviate their lot; to expose the 
interface/linkage between their presence in the country and the poverty of native 
South Africans; and to propose strategics to alleviate their problem. The chapter 
presents a comprehensive discussion of the issues in historical perspective in 
southern Africa. Various approaches have been put forward to manage mass 
migrations; and the chapter concludes with some policy recommendations. 
The last two chapters discuss poverty in relation to sub-Saharan Africa. The first 
of the two discusses poverty-oriented aid and the second discusses poverty
Book Reviews 109 
reduction: lessons from sub-Saharan Africa. Both papers have elaborate discussions 
on Structural Adjustment Programmes and how these have turned out to be 
"poverty-generating" rather than "poverty alleviating." 
This collection of papers is a very important study in the subject of poverty and 
poverty alleviation in South Africa specifically, and in the southern Africa region 
in general. The issues discussed have been well-handled and it will add a worth of 
background information to future studies on the subject. However, its handling of 
the RDP as the main strategy for the alleviation of poverty in South Africa has 
rendered the whole work rather short-sighted. Poverty is a long-standing problem 
in southern Africa, and it is high time studies of combating it came with long-term 
and sustainable strategies which will not only be seen to alleviate poverty, but also 
lessen tremendously the dependence of the poor countries on donor agencies. 
Reviewed by Bright Nkhata, SAPES Trust, P O Box MP111, Mount Pleasant, 
Harare. 
Panos Media Briefing No 16 (October 1995) The Internet and the South: Superhighway 
or Dirt-track?, Panos Institute, 9 White Lion Street, London Nl 9PD, 
UK, Fax: 071-278-0345, email: panoslondon@gn.apc.org 
In September last year I was privileged to be able to "listen in" on one of the earliest 
"global network academies" - a Virtual Seminar in Global Political Economy. The 
GPE as it is known, was initiated by a Canadian professor now resident in the 
United States, and linked students and staff in universities in those two countries 
as well as such widely dispersed locations as Britain, Mexico, Brazil, Japan - and 
Zimbabwe. The second GPE dealt with Global Cities and Social Movements: an 
exploration of theories and cases, presumably looking toward this year's Habitat 
II Conference. Through the Internet participants were able to acquire readings, 
organise tutorial groups and also enter into a wider debate with the whole GPE 
seminar. 
Web Review (October 13-26, 1995) Special Issue on the Digital Academy, 
called this Virtual Seminar the "most ambitious of these experiments... and the 
most significant in the long term....the first step towards a university without 
walls." 
Two months later I had to unsubscribe. 
Why withdraw from such a truly ground-breaking experiment? Firstly, I was 
unable to subscribe to the full seminar, as my institution cannot afford to pay the 
fees for access to the Internet (we use the "NGO" Email system, ESANET) (]). 
(1) For a description of this system, see S ARDC's review of this Panos Briefing 
dated 9 April 1996.
110 Book Reviews 
I therefore missed much of the debate and the detail of the lessons, and almost all 
of the readings: these were only accessible from a Web site. Our accounts 
department was also beginning to complain about the sudden rise in our Email bills: 
supposedly only the cost of a local telephone call, the messages received from the 
GPE cost significantly more. And then there were what I might term "cultural" 
factors. Staff at our college did not participate, despite the fact that one of the 
subjects taught here is urbanisation. This I attribute to resistance to the technology. 
Another "cultural" factor was that the actual content of that part of the wider debate 
which I was able to access (though not the lectures themselves) was very 
"Northern" biased, and "personal." 
Last week I received a letter from the IDRC (an organisation that is much 
concerned with information) informing me that one of its publications will 
henceforward only be available on the World Wide Web. I have been denied access 
to a useful source of information because I do not have the technology. 
On the other hand, through the limited "conferences" available to me through 
Email I have been informed of various issues before they emerge in the media, and 
of others - particularly human rights issues - which are never mentioned in the 
more "official" news channels. One recent example of this is the issue of the young 
woman from Togo who had sought refuge in the United States in order to avoid 
undergoing genital mutilation. Pressure groups used Email to circulate the address 
to write to for letters and faxes protesting her extradition, and she was finally 
granted asylum. Another example of the "liberating" force of the Internet is the 
concern demonstrated through this medium over the Chiapas uprising in Mexico. 
It would seem that the Internet will not empower on a regional level. South 
Africa currently rates No 16 in terms of worldwide registered Internet hosts. In 
southern Africa, like the transport routes, so do the Email routes all have to pass 
through South Africa. The old structures are not dismantled by the new technologies. 
The above are illustrations of some of the points raised in the Panos Briefing, 
which reinforced and helped focus my somewhat subjective "non" experience with 
the Internet from the point of view of users from the South. 
The Briefing, one of a series "designed to foster informed debate on issues of 
environment and development" is not so much a paper or an argument, but a list 
of points, a sort of "did you know?" about the Internet. It does not set out to prove 
that the Internet is either a superhighway or a dirt track, but to provide information. 
It gives a brief history of the Internet, first conceived of by the Rand Corporation 
- a right-wing US think tank and no friend of humankind. It explains in simple 
terms the how and why (why has it spread so fast?), and it gives some very quotable 
quotes, such as Thabo Mbeki's "half of humanity has never made a telephone 
call." Mention is made of all the most salient issues, including AT & T's plan to
Book Reviews \ 11 
"surround" Africa with fibre-optic cable - an issue which has given rise to a great 
deal of debate: the "pro" (not mentioned in this Briefing) being that this would give 
Africa access to telephones and significantly decrease that proportion of humanity 
which has never made a call. One thing which is not quite made clear in the Briefing 
is the difference between the Net (or the Web) and Email: throughout the report 
Email is sometimes mentioned, sometimes the Internet, without adequately 
distinguishing between the two, even at the end of the Briefing under "your 
Internet guide." Even SARDC in its own review of the Briefing does not clarify 
this distinction for the lay person. 
Ultimately it will be the policy-makers' will or resistance to technology which 
will make it more widely available. The Internet is there, it has only to be made 
accessible. Governments can facilitate the spread of information, as in Zimbabwe's 
AIDS education campaign, or it can obstruct, as in the issue of cellular 
phones. Part of the problem is the phenomenon widely observed in Africa of the 
higher echelons of management, those who make the policy decisions, being the 
least familiar with the technology - often to the extent of being resistant to it. If 
development is conditional on transforming the economy to a "know ledge-based" 
one, as in the OECD countries, then such factors will hold Africa back, and the 
Internet will be no Superhighway but will remain a plaything of the elite academic 
class. 
Reviewed by Anne Derges, School of Social Work, P Bag 66022, Kopje, Harare. 
In Search of Hope for Zimbabwe's Farm Workers, Dcde Esi Amanor-Wilks & 
Contributors, Dateline Southern Africa and Panos, London 1995, 70 pp. 
"Management only bothers with us when they want something done or 
when we make noise over something. They do not care less how we survi ve." 
Amanor-Wilks and contributors chronicle the lives of farm workers living and 
working on Zimbabwe's mostly white-owned commercial farms and the unacceptable 
conditions they continue to endure. The writers' honest pens outline the dismal 
lives of about 1.8 million commercial farm workers and their children who provide 
cheap labour to 4,500 white commercial farmers who own and control 12 million 
hectares or 70% of Zimbabwe's land. 
The book relates the hardships farm labourers experienced during the era of 
colonial rule, moves through their hopes and aspirations for a better life in the 
liberation struggle and independence phase until the present time. Nine main 
chapters of text broken with boxes of oral testimony which give voice to farm 
workers, present research based on past and current legal provisions, the political 
situation and historical background to show how farm labourers experience life.
112 Book Reviews 
The haunting image of the white master who drives a Mercedes Benz and practices 
rifle discipline reflects the master-servant relationship between farmers and 
workers, illuminating a slavelike existence for workers. 
The book points out that the power commercial farmers wield is based on how 
produce grown on their sprawling hundred-acre farms makes an important contribution 
to Zimbabwe's agricultural based economy. This translates into an inequality 
in access to land ownership and control for workers and the spiral effect, as one 
farm worker interviewed states, "...we are the driving force behind the firm, but we 
get peanuts. We are paid a pittance." 
The opening chapter, Relations Between Farm Owners and Workers displays 
the 1990s, characterised by land designation and economic deregulation, as a 
decade which has pushed farm workers into a deeper abyss of job uncertainty, 
poverty and distress. This theme reemerges in chapter eight called Farm Workers 
and the Global Economy, examining how regional and world market forces have 
worsened the working and living conditions of farm workers. 
Chapter two picks up a point made earlier, "The working conditions of farm 
workers have never been a leading topic on the political agenda," and examines 
the Wages and Working Conditions for farm workers. Looking at the pay cheques 
workers take home and how these meagre incomes are useless in relation to the 
current cost of living, what comes out here is a stark reality of the desperate 
conditions farm labourers work and live in. 
Anderson's voice brings chapter three Amenities and Environmental Health to 
life. "Some doesn' t see his value," saysthe farmworker,"he just lives like amombe 
(cow). He works and eats and sleeps. They just want us to be down down down, 
until we die." 
For many workers malnutrition, poverty, lack of education and health facilities 
are the natural order of the day. The life of female workers is captured in Female 
Workers, Wives and Daughters, which shows how women on farms, who are 
mostly wives of permanent or casual labourers there, are seldom seen as workers 
in their own right and are often asked to trade in sexual favours for employment. 
Formost women, lifeon commercial farms is an ugly web of prostitution, AIDS, 
punishment for getting pregnant, beer brewing, no education, with widows, 
especially migrants the most insecure, because they can be thrown out onto the 
streets once their husbands die, to a life of begging or destitution in cities and towns. 
Although the most hard-working group, women earn much less than male workers, 
and under prevailing economic conditions seem likely to be replaced by men as 
casual labour. 
As mothers, women workers can only spend limited hours away from their 
homes and family and must do farm work by day and house work by night, leaving 
them with little time to themselves. 
In chapter five the growing problem of Child Labour and children living on 
commercial farms which needs urgent attention, comes to the fore. Children bom
Book Reviews 113 
and growing up on commercial farms do piece jobs and more serious work during 
peak season. They do not have schools, have limited career prospects as unskilled 
farm and domestic workers and are caught in a trap of malnutrition, disease, 
hunger, poverty and most recently, AIDS. 
Chapter six says little attention has been paid to lack of Education for Farm 
Workers and as a result the large majority of workers, except maybe the younger 
ones, cannot read and write. High levels of illiteracy among farm worker communities 
mean many do not know or understand the kind of rights that exist for them 
and generally feel they cannot fight for any rights. High fees coupled with the costs 
of examination fees, uniforms, books and stationary, transport, plus cultural 
preferences for boys means secondary schools are out of reach for most farm 
children, especially for girls. 
Chapter seven explores the lives of the large population of Migrant Workers on 
commercial farms who originally came from neighbouring Malawi and Mozambique 
as refugees in search of work. Although many migrants have been integrated 
into local communities, they do not have Zimbabwean citizenship and as such do 
not qualify for social or medical assistance. Retired migrants, who are now at the 
end of their working life pose a growing problem on commercial farms which is 
yet to be addressed. Single aged migrants, especially women are at the mercy of 
individual farmers and can easily be thrown off farms, becoming homeless, 
stateless and destitute. 
The conclusions offered in chapter nine show that while the past century has 
created impressive wealth for commercial farmers, the ugly side to the agricultural 
success story is shown in how 15 years after independence farm workers are still 
invisible from Zimbabwe's social and political structures 
The book notes that, "conditions of farm workers today reflects a huge failure 
of policy and a distressing willingness of all but a few groups involved in the 
development of activities in Zimbabwe to turn a blind eye to their plight...The 
voices of Zimbabwe's farm workers heard in this study need to be given a platform 
to influence groups such as donors and to translate individual voices into practical 
programmes." 
The final section of the book lists seven recommendations and actions for 
various sectors of society to take up. 
In the current climate of land debate and redistribution, this book clearly has an 
activist agenda. It is a must-read for all those who want to push for change and bring 
true hope to the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children who live and 
work on Zimbabwe's commercial farms. 
And as the book points out, "// is not just Zimbabwe's image abroad that is at 
stake but the lives of more than one million people caught in a terrible trap of 
labour uncertainty, illiteracy, ill health and immeasurable poverty." 
Reviewed by Isabella Matambanadzo, Freelance Journalist. Acknowledgement to 
Woman Plus, Vol 1, No 1,1996, Zimbabwe Womens Resource Centre & Network, 
P O Box 2192, Harare, where this review was first published.
114 Book Reviews 
Helping Gay and Lesbian Youth: New Policies, New Programs, New Practices, 
DeCrescenzo, T (ed), The Haworth Press, Inc, New York, 1994, ISBN: 1- 
56024-678-2; 1-56023-057-6,69 pp, (p/b). Price: US$19.95. 
This book provides insight into the world of gay and lesbian adolescents. The book 
is composed of a series of articles, by different authors, which focus on the 
development of gay/lesbian youth as they learn to live in a society in which they 
are perceived as "different" The reader is given an opportunity to become familiar 
with a wide range of issues, problems, attitudes and political policies, etc, which 
can have a profound effect on this specific group of adolescents. Although the 
book's societal context is the United States, much of the information and topics 
presented are relevant to any society in which there are gay/lesbian youth. 
The presented material is interesting, informative and easily understood. This 
fact enables the book to be accessible to a diverse population of interested individuals 
- such as parents, teachers and friends of gay/lesbian youth. It will also be of 
particular interest to professionals who may be in a position of providing understanding, 
assistance, or therapy to gay/lesbian adolescents. 
I felt that the tone of the book encouraged mental health workers to take an active 
political role in supporting issues, problems and societal inequities relating to gay/ 
lesbian youth. Certainly such an approach would have interesting and possibly 
controversial implications for mental health workers in Zimbabwe. 
As a therapist at CONNECT, I was especially interested in two of the articles 
contained in the book. One, by Mallon, deals with counselling strategies useful 
with gay/lesbian youth. The other article, by Jackson & Sullivan, examines the 
impact of homophobia on gay/lesbian youth. 
Mallon, in his article, not only focuses on effective approaches and interventions 
with regard to counselling needs, but also examines factors which may 
intensify 'normal' transitional problems in teenagers. The factors explored include: 
stigmatisation, hiding and isolation, sense of differentness, lack of familial 
support, harassment and violence. Mallon takes a brief look at the past and presents 
theoretical approaches which have been used with this specific population. In 
addition, he presents a list of suggestions which can be effective when counselling 
gay/lesbian adolescents. 
The second article, by Jackson & Sullivan concentrates on the social and 
cognitive developments of gay/lesbian youth. The authors show how these 
significant areas of development are impacted upon by homophobic attitudes, and 
policies of a heterosexual society. 
Also of interest was an article which dealt with the risk of HIV infection for the 
gay/lesbian youth population. The article also mentions ways in which adolescents 
could avoid being infected. Even though this particular article was aimed toward
Book Reviews 115 
gay/lesbian youth, the information is applicable for use with any adolescent who 
is beginning to deal with their own sexuality. 
All in all, I felt that the book provided a lot of helpful, and appropriate 
information for dealing with gay/lesbian youth. The references cited in the text and 
the bibliography included at the end of each article will be especially helpful for 
those interested in exploring more in-depth information. 
However, one must keep in mind that this book is based on dealing with and 
understanding gay/lesbian youth within a western societal context In a Zimbabwean 
context, gay/lesbian youth are an invisible population. Therefore, a number 
of ideas for dealing with this group of adolescents are irrelevant. For example, 
suggestions and recommendations in terms of available social and support services 
simply has no relevancy here at all. 
At the same time, one may argue, that the information, at some point in time, 
may be helpful for those who find themselves dealing with a client, friend or child 
who happens to be a gay/lesbian adolescent. The emphasis, or at least the tone of 
the book, appears to lean towards an active political role on the part of mental 
health workers, which is certainly not applicable to our Zimbabwe context. 
Reviewed by: Carolyn B Weinstock, student: Diploma of Advanced Training in 
Family Therapy, Zimbabwe Institute of Systemic Therapy/CONNECT, P 0 Box 
6298, Harare. 
From Strategies to Action: A Research Perspective, edited and published by 
Association of African Women in Research and Development (AAWORD), 
Nairobi, 1995, pp 182. 
Ahead of the Fourth World Conference for Women held in Beijing, China, the 
Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD) 
published the book From Strategies to Action: A Research Perspective. The 
timely book has also a timely message: that with regard to women in development 
the focus is shifting from the strategies to action. 
The book not only reviews the progress made in the area of Women in 
Development since 1985 when the Nairobi Women's Decade Conference was 
held, to the 1995 Beijing Conference, but also outlines specific actions that would 
see women's lot improved in the next decade. 
In virtually all the articles in the volume, two parts are discernable: The first part 
of each article reviews the progress made in the area of Women in Development 
since 1985 when the "Forward Looking Strategies" were laid down in Nairobi. The 
second part outlines the necessary action. 
The volume consists of eleven articles covering over five different themes. The
116 Book Reviews 
main themes are women and law, education, politics, culture, environment and 
economic spheres. The book appropriately opens with an article entitled "Research 
Priorities in WID (Women in Development) Issues in Kenya," by Jacqueline 
Odhiambo-Oduol. The article briefly outlines priority research issues in Women 
in Development in Kenya as envisaged by AAWORD. AAWORD (Kenya 
chapter) is involved in advocacy research, viewed as a tool for furthering women 
in Development in Kenya. The author of the article identifies crucial research 
issues as, "research practice, research training, dissemination of research findings, 
effective utilisation of research findings and consolidation of research 
efforts" (p7). 
In the area of law, Kameri-Mbote identifies and assesses laws that discriminate 
against women, particularly citizenship laws, civil laws, parental and inheritance 
laws and criminal laws. She considers the move from strategies laid down in the 
1985 Nairobi Conference to action in the constitution of the Task Force mandated 
to review laws relating to women in Kenya. The law reform is expected to result 
in the elimination of legal barriers to advancement of women. The author of the 
paper, however, cautions that, "..it is..imperative that implementation mechanisms 
be ingrained in the specific legislation if they are to benefit Kenyan women" (p9). 
Muganda acknowledges that some crucial progress has been made towards 
equity in education. It is, however, evident that much remains to be done, especially 
in higher education to achieve equity. 
The political front is portrayed in the book to have registered least progress since 
1985. This lack of significant progress is blamed on the government which is 
accused of derailing the women's movement through tokenism, divide and rule, 
compartmentalisationofwomen's issues and 'shelving. 'Judging from the political 
status of women in Kenya before 1985, readers would be excused if they consider 
the article rather hyper-cynical. 
The otherwise interesting and informative book is adversely affected by 
numerous editorial shortcomings. For example the chapters are numbered (1,2, 
3,...) in the text, but not in the table of contents. Secondly, section titles of some 
articles are numbered (1.0,2.1...) (eg, in chapter 1 and 11), while the rest (chapter 
2 to 10) have unnumbered section titles. Third, names of some authors are preceded 
by the word "by" (eg, chapter 2), while others are not. Fourth, reference and citation 
notations are not standardised for all articles. In addition, one article (chapter 5) has 
no list of references although quite a number of works are cited in the article text. 
The shortcomings notwithstanding, the book, to a significant extent, meets the 
objectives of AAWORD in that not only does it document gender issues but 
articulates crucial issues in the Women in Development debate in Kenya. 
Reviewed by Kibet A Ng'etich, Department of Sociology, Kenyatta University, 
P O Box 43844, Nairobi, Kenya.