Class activity: Give a thorough definition of poverty as suggested by experts.

According Peter Townsend, a family, group or individual is said to be poor when they cannot get the different types of diets or take part in activities and if they do not have the living conditions and amenities which are customary in the society they live in.

Existing poverty concepts and definitions within South Africa and how those definitions are conceptualised/ measured by experts:

1. Fractions of the income distribution

   In South Africa, the resource-based conceptualization of relative poverty is usually defined by reference to the bottom 20% or 40% of the expenditure distribution. The study of RDP adopted a practice which defines 'poor' as the poorest 40% of households and ultra poor as the poorest 20% of households (May 1998:27)

2. $1 and $2 a day

3. The Poverty Datum Line

   This was the first poverty line in South Africa which was founded in the 1940s by Magasela, 2005. This is made up of 2 parts namely the Primary and Secondary Poverty Datum Line. The Primary datum line consisted of cost of food, cleaning equipment, fuel and light and clothing. The Secondary datum line made provision for the cost of accommodation (rent), transport and taxation for the breadwinner (LIBID).

4. Minimum Living Level and Supplemental Living Level

   The MLL was developed in the mid 1970s and was described as the “lowest sum possible on which a specific size household can live” (Budlender et al, 1994, quoted Magasela)

5. The Household Subsistence Llevel and Household Effective Level

   The household subsistence level excluded medical expenses, savings, education, insurance, holidays, buying household equipment and any transport which did not include the breadwinner going and coming back from work. To accommodate these needs, this line was augmented by the household effective level which in effect increased the value by 50% ( Meth, 2006).

6. Hoogeveen and Ozler- Upper and Lower bound poverty lines

   This line was developed in 2004 by Hoogeveen and Ozler. They used the 'cost of basice needs' approach based on the 2000s prices. The upper bound line was set at R593 per capita per month and the lower bound line was set at R322 per capita per month.

7. Food insecurity measures of poverty