South Africa

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Recommended: Poverty as a social issue in South Africa

Imagine being in the shoes of a person who suffers without sufficient water or any access to healthcare. Imagine how you would feel if you were not able to eat each day. Imagine not being able to sleep because you hear your people fighting for their lives. Unfortunately, these situations are not fictional. In South Africa, Human Rights are violated because basic resources are limited, police abuse their power, and people are forced into labor. In South Africa, people suffer due to the lack of basic resources . A vivid example that demonstrates how pressing and hardship it is to obtain water supply is the story of Butsi Mashilone. This grandmother from Pietersburg, South Africa must walk miles to obtain scraps of water to maintain her six nephews (McClure). Her story represents the suffering of thousands of South African citizens. “‘Statistics’ revealed that in 1999, only 27% of non-urban African-headed households had access to running water inside the dwelling or in the yard as compared to 83% of urban African households.” “This shows that the access to water for the people was very limited in 1999 and is still going on today (Kehler). In addition to the problem of water supply, many women are fighting for their chance to obtain a good healthcare. The health care in South Africa lacks from services, materials, and advanced knowledge and because of that there is an average of 4,500 deaths per year of just women and children. These deaths are mostly due to Hiv/Aids. In conclusion there is a human drama of suffering and death of people that could have been saved if they had obtained the basic services in a timely manner. This situation can improve if South Africa makes a better use of its economic resources to provide basic servic...

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...ter giving birth to her children. (Baker) Even though people suffer with horrible working conditions, they continue doing it because they need the money to survive, and maintain their families. South Africa has many problems as mentioned before like brutality, lack of vital resources, and sweat shops.

Works Cited

Baker, Mallen. "South Africa: Sweat Shops." Mallenbaker.net. N.p., n.d. Web.
Evans, Sarah. "Mail & Guardian Account Login." The M&G Online. ORIGINAL, 15 Jan. 2014. Web.
03 Apr. 2014.
Kehler, Johanna. "Women and Poverty: The South African Experience." Journal of International Women Studies. N.p., Nov. 2001. Web.
McClure, Vicky. "South Africa's Water Shortage -- the Future Looks Dry." N.p., n.d. Web
"South Africa Human Rights." Amnesty International. Amnesty International USA,
"The Sugar Factories Are Sweatshops." Scission. N.p., 12 Mar. 2012. Web.

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