The Bible and Politics in Africa

Hunter, The Bible and the quest for Developmental Justice

Firstly, it looks at how much food an average person needs to eat per day,

and how much it would cost. That is then called the ‘food poverty line’: the

amount of money needed to buy just enough food to survive. To that, the

cost of other non-food basic needs, such as shelter and clothing, is added to

obtain the absolute ‘poverty line’. If a household spends less than that

amount per adult, it is considered ‘poor’. In Namibia, this poverty line was

N$ 264 per month for each adult in the household in 2003/4.

Schmidt (ibid.) admits that the CBN method is not ideal or completely
objective, “but the CBN method is better than most”.
In the above report of Schmidt the share of poor individuals in Namibia
is on average 38% in 2003/4. In rural areas the share stood at 49%
(Schmidt 2009c:3). There is, however, a difference between the various
regions in Namibia. In the Kavango, for example, the share of poor indi-
viduals stood at 64%. The latest (2010) figures now show that Namibia
has an unemployment rate of 51,2%, a staggering figure indeed (see a
report in The Namibian, June 1, 2010). For the purposes of this paper
and in light of what is said above about the fact that most orphans are
cared for by their grandparents, the information that those who are the
poorest in the country, are the pensioners with a poverty rating of 65% is
most disturbing. (See also the paper of Schmidt 2009b, which provides
more extensive explanations and statistics about poverty and the sharing
of services.) In this respect, an article in The Republikein of July 2006 by
Nicolette Laubscher may be of interest: she writes that 57% of people
who care for orphans have an income of N$101 to N$500, whilst 32% of
care givers must make do with an income of less than N$100. She also
notes that 55% of persons who care for orphans are between 60 and 96
years old. The statistics come from a survey made by Project Hope in 5
constituencies in Northern Namibia. Mónica Ruiz-Casares (2005:35)
writes in a report on the Third National Conference on Orphans and
Vulnerable Children in Namibia (2005) that in 2001 over 7,000 house-
holds were headed by persons younger than 18 years of age. Only one in
four of these persons had a job. Polisi Kivava (In die Welt für die Welt
1/2006:4-5) notes that for some girls in Africa prostitution is the only
possibility to earn some money in order to care for their younger broth-
ers and sisters. Ruiz-Casares (2005:39) confirms Kivava’s findings that
girls will turn to prostitution for money. This she reports in quote form
from a Kavango girl, aged 16. (See in this respect also Jauch, Edwards
and Cupido 2009:15).