Why Most Africa is Poor
The Case of One Village in Limpopo Province: Towards Empowerment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26458/jedep.v14i4.903Abstract
The study offers preliminary findings on the research project that was undertaken at One village in Limpopo Province. It was investigating the impact of the mining activity at one village whose residents languish in abject poverty notwithstanding that the mining sector in Limpopo Province are 108 and generates an annual revenue of R237,7 billion. Most villagers are victims of colonialism that created illusions such as that of education and Christian church to stunt and de-inferioritise villagers into believing the absurdity that the reason they are poor is because they lack knowledge and faith that God will intervene while the mining sector keeps eating away and contaminating their socio-ecological spaces. The results show that villagers are generationally stunted and de-inferioritised leading to years of inactivity. Agricultural and animal husbandry activities are history. Naturally growing fruits such as bananas, mango, avocados have been lost to a community that relies on social grants to survive. This has led to my new research which is community-driven I call Vukuzakhe research method. This method consists of various workshops of which the first two are dedicated to de-stunting and de-inferioritising the villagers.References
Armstrong, P. & Burger, C. (2009). Poverty, Inequality and the Role of Social Grants: An Analysis using Decomposition Techniques. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers 15(9): 3-22.
Bernstein, B. (1990). The Structuring of the Pedagogic Discourse. London: Routledge.
Bhorat, M.; Leibbrandt, M.; Maziya, M. Van der Berg, S. & Woolard, I. (2001). Fighting Poverty: Labour Markets and Inequality in South Africa. Cape Town: UCT Press.
Burgis, T. (2015). The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers and the Theft of Africa’s Wealth. USA: Public Affairs.
Budka, J. (2021). Tomb 26 on Sai Island. Netherlands: Side stone Press
CODERA (2024). Available@ www.codera.co.za. Accessed: 07/09/2024.
Craven, M. (2015). Between Law and History: The Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 and the Logic of Free Trade. London Review of International Law 3(1): 31-59.
Darnell, J. (2013). A Bureaucratic Challenge. Archeology and Administration in a Desert. (2nd Millennium BCE). In Moreno Garcia (Ed.) The Administration of Egypt. HdO 104, Leiden 2013.
David, R. (2003). Handbook of Life in Ancient Egypt. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Decerf, B. (2022). Absolute and Relative Poverty Measurements. Available@ https://documents12worldbank.org. Accessed: 07/09/2024.
DESA (2022). Reducing Poverty and inequality. Available@ https://social.desa.un.org. Accessed 03/09/2024.
Ghada, M.; Kaboub, F. & Sylla, N. (2022). Economic and Monetary Sovereignty in 21st Century Africa. Great Britain: Pluto Press.
Kalu, N. (2015). The Looting Machine: Warlords, Oligarchs, Corporations, Smugglers and the Theft of Africa’s Wealth Book Reviews. African Review of Economics and Finance 11(2): 1-4.
Klem, R. & Klem, D. Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia. Geo-archaeology of the Ancient Mining Sites in the Egyptian and Sudanese Eastern Deserts. Natural Science in Archaeology. Heidelberg, New York: Springer.
Kotze, H. (1993). Attitudes in Transition towards Elite Settlement. Indicator 10(2): 5-11.
Lebeloane, M. & Quan-Baffour, K. (2008). Letsema: A Way of Inculcating and Preserving African Indigenous Knowledge in the Youth through Formal Education. Journal of Education Studies 7(2): 43-49.
Lekezwa, B. (2011). The Impact of Social Grants as Anti-Poverty Policy Instruments in South Africa. An Analysis using Household Theory to Determine Intra-Household Allocation of Unearned Income. Master’s Dissertation. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University Press.
Limpopo Province Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (2007). Agro-processing Research Study Final Report.
Mackett, O. (2020). Social Grants as a Tool for Poverty Reduction in South Africa? A Longitudinal Analysis Using the NIDS Survey. African Studies Quarterly 19(1): 41-64.
Momanu, M. (2012). The Pedagogical Dimension of Indoctrination: Criticism of Indoctrination and Constructivism in Education. Available@ Researchgate.net. Accessed 03/09/202=.
Mbeki, M. (2009)..Architects of Poverty: Why African Capitalism Needs Changing.. Cape Town: Pandemic Macmillan Limited.
Olmstead, A. (1948). History of the Persian Empire. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
Patel, L.; Dikoko, V. & Archer, J. (2023). Social Grants, Livelihoods and Poverty Responses of Social Grants Beneficiaries in South Africa. Johannesburg: University of Johannesburg Centre for Social Development in Africa.
Perkins, J. (2016). The New Confessions of the Economic Hitman. New York: Ferret Koehler Publishers.
Phillips, J. (2020). Aksum, Kingdom of. Available@ www.researchgate.net. Accessed: 09/09/2024.
Quan-Baffour,; Poku, K. & Lebeloane, L. (2008). “Letsema”: A Way of Inculcating and Preserving African Indigenous Knowledge in the Youth through Formal Education in the 21st century. Journal of Educational Studies 7(2): 42-48.
Ramphoma, S. (2014). Understanding Poverty: Causes, Effects and Characteristics. GAvailable@ sabinet https://journals.co.za. Accessed: 03/09/2024.
Richmond, J. (2007). A Consensual (Democratic) Definition of Poverty for South Africa. Available@ https://spii.org.za. Accessed 07/09/2024.
Renima, Tliouine, H. & Estes, R. (2016). The Islamic Golden Age: A Story of Islamic Triumph of the Islamic Civilization. Available@ www.researchgate.net. Accessed: 09/09/2024.
Risch, M. (2023). Trickle-down Revisited. Available@ https://www.academic.oup.com. Accessed 09/09/2024.
Ryan, R. & Deci, L. (2000). Self-determination Theory and the Facilitation of Intrinsic Motivation, Social Development and Well-being. American Psychologist 55 (1): 68-78.
Sarlo, C. (2019).. The Causes of Poverty. AAvailable@ https://fraserinstitute.org. Accessed on 07/09/2024.
Spindler, F. (1994). Giles Delueze and Felix Guattari: A Philosophy of Immanence. New York: Columbia University Press.
Strathern, P. (2000). Mendeleev’s Dream: The Quest for the Elements. New York: Thomas Dunne Books
Terreblanche, S. (2011). Lost in Transformation: South Africa’s Search for a New Future since 1986. Johannesburg: KMM Review Publishing Company LTD.
Uljens, M. (2023). Non-Affirmative Theory of Education and Bildung. Switzerland: Springer.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Teboho Pitso

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People by Authors is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://ojs.spiruharet.ro/index.php/jedep/issue/archive.