The concept of “citizenship” rights arose from an extensive consultation process with rural dwellers. The process was designed to identify rural development needs.
What emerged was a clear expression by poor rural dwellers that their rights under the new national constitution were for the most part theoretical.
They were unable to gain access to, or to engage with, State and development institutions, could not access markets or economic opportunities, and received little or no services from State and development institutions.
As rural dwellers, subsistence and small-scale farmers, they were (and are) uniquely vulnerable, and are powerless to protect vulnerable resources. In effect, the informality and subsistence nature of their existence have created powerless poverty traps whose inhabitants have become (in their own words) “invisible citizens”.
In other words, they perceived themselves to be invisible to the State and to development agencies, and felt unable to assert their rights as citizens under the new constitution.
Key Result Area
Result Area
Indicators
Poor black rural dwellers in KwaZulu-Natal influence the institutions responsible for land and rural development.
Representatives of six communities are invited to participate in decision-making institutions
Inclusion of development proposals in municipal Integrated Development Plans
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