Poverty Politics and Health

South Africa is currently experiencing high levels ofpoverty increasing unemployment and widening socialand economic gaps between the wealthy and poor of allracial groups. This study focuses on four raciallydemarcated areas within the capital city Pretoriaand offers survey data and qualitative illustrationsof day-to-day hardship and ordinary people's effortsto sustain the continuity of households and familialrelations. Additionally attention is paid todescriptions of health and perceptions of thepost-apartheid state's commitment to transform thesocio-economic existences of indigent communities. Itis shown that whilst sectors of the poor acknowledgepositive changes to their lives many view themselvesas marginalised and disengaged from active forms ofcitizen participation. The comparative focus onAfricanwhite coloured and Indian communitieshighlights particular challenges and South Africanrealities. This book will be of interest toresearchers working in the field of poverty and whowish to draw on contemporary South Africancomparative case study material.