Explore South Africa: A Country Research

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Country Research: South Africa
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Country Research: Homework 2
Introduction to the country,
According to Jacobs (2019), South Africa is Africa’s southernmost country and
Africa’s most populous and industrialized economy. As of today, South Africa is a global
leader in gold and diamond production. Over 8 million people live in Johannesburg and its
surrounding cities, which account for 9 percent of Africa’s total economic output (Jacobs,
2019). A democratic South Africa, or “rainbow nation,” has emerged in the 21st century,
symbolizing the country’s diverse population. Joblessness and the spread of AIDS threaten
the country’s economic success as it attempts to make up for years and years of social
upheaval and educational loss (Jacobs et al., 2019). The cultural and ethnic diversity of South
Africa is well-known. South Africa’s cultural landscape is as diversified as it gets. In rural
areas of South Africa, many black South Africans still languish in poverty. Even though the
black South Africans retain the strongest cultural traditions, traditional components of black
South African culture have dwindled as the country has become more urbanized and
westernized. Besides their mother tongue, urban black South Africans commonly
communicate in English or Afrikaans (Jacobs et al., 2019). A small but significant minority
speaks the Khoisan languages of black people. This paper is a country research that discusses
various aspects of South Africa.
Poverty and Homelessness
Since the apartheid era, squatters and homeless people have lived on South Africa’s
streets and squats. African-Americans were barred from owning and living on property
earmarked for mining by the 1885 Gold Law. As a result, there has been a long history of
housing shortages and overcrowding in black suburbs, both a product of apartheid and a
problem of the post-apartheid era (Tenai & Mbewu, 2020). South Africa’s homelessness

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problem is exacerbated by a lack of housing, high unemployment, and urbanization.
According to the United Nations, as of 2015, there were 200,000 people on the streets alone,
and almost 79 percent of the population was living below the poverty line (Tenai & Mbewu,
2020). Economic and social insecurity is exacerbated by the lack of government regulation
and informal housing, contributing to homelessness.
Individuals who live on the streets face greater financial strain because they can’t
acquire riches like those in shacks. Even when the economy improves, the unemployment
rate remains at 27 percent, increasing the number of homeless people (Gouveia, 2020). An
analysis of the efficiency of solutions to urban homelessness in South Africa. On the street,
there is a lack of agreement on the overall number of homeless people. Between 100,000 and
200,000 people are estimated to be living on the streets of the United States (Gouveia, 2020).
Street children and lone adults are the most common sight on the streets, rather than entire
families. The majority of the people living on the streets are black and male. On the streets,
men predominate, while women predominate in the shanty communities. A study showed that
homeless shelters in Cape Town were populated by three times as many men as women
(Gouveia, 2020). Because a bigger proportion of the native area is poorer than in urban
regions, rural areas have a greater proportion of the homeless population.
Wage Inequality
According to the World Bank, gender wage disparity loses the world an estimated
US$160 trillion in human capital wealth each year (Kerr & Wittenberg, 2021). It is a problem
of justice, not merely fairness when people are treated unequally. Ineffective resource
allocation and impeded poverty alleviation approaches make it unattractive. According to
Kerr & Wittenberg (2021), families headed by a woman in South Africa are more likely than
families headed by a man to be poor when the income from the labor market amounts to more