Revisiting the Self-Help Housing debate: Perception of Self-Help Housing by the beneficiaries of South African low-cost housing

2.4.2 Inequality at the Global level

Inequality is not only a reality concerning individuals within the community or city or country. It is also a global reality (Bradshaw and Wallace, 1996). These authors define our World which indeed is more and more global or unified as an unequal world. In fact, in the world, some countries are rich and give their citizens the opportunity to properly plan their future while some countries are poor and do not provide to their citizens assurance for having a peaceful future. These authors point out some forms of inequalities between poor and rich countries. Firstly, it may be observed throughout the world that the Gross National Product (GNP) is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. In referring to the World Bank, Woolard (2002) observes that in South Africa, which is a developing country, «7% of the population were living on less than $ 1 a day in 2000, and ten million people, 23% of the population, on less than $ 2 a day» (quoted in Gelb, 2004: 2-3). The second form of inequality is population expansion. It is found that the population of developing countries grows faster than the population of developed countries. Although this phenomenon is seen by some authors as the need for urbanization and to correspond to social change^14(*) (see Tait, 1997), it creates in developing countries some serious issues such as unemployment, migration from rural to urban areas which in turn exacerbate the problem of housing and also poverty (United Nations Human Settlement programme, 2003). The third form of inequality that the authors acknowledge is life expectancy. As it is observed, in poor countries the quality of life is lower than in developed countries. The fourth form of inequality may be found in educational achievement. Here again, poor countries offer fewer opportunities for their citizens to achieve good education through good university and colleges than developed countries. In South Africa for example, as Nelson Mandela, the former president pointed out on the day of local elections (1 March, 2005), lack of education and unemployment remain the main challenges that the country is facing. In addition, Baumaan (2003) notes that in South Africa there is not only the shortage of enterprises but also of qualified skills.

Likewise, Bradshaw et al (1996) also point out political opportunities and freedom as element of inequality between poor and rich countries. According to them, developed countries offer political opportunities and freedom to their citizens through democracy. However, in developing countries there is a tendency for the presidents to remain as long as possible in power and the restriction of fundamental freedoms for their citizens. Finally these authors recognize that some forms of inequalities may not be easily quantified or enumerated. They note for example the ability for the developed countries to deal with new diseases or viruses while in poor countries the lack of resources and advanced technology do not allow them to intervene as quickly as developed countries. As a result, poor countries must wait for assistance from developed countries.

These forms of inequalities presented above allow us to understand inequalities at the global level and require in turn an effort to create at the global level better environments and chances for every citizen in the world. It may be argued that the recognition for every citizen to have access to adequate housing may be considered as global fight at the global level. However, in looking at inequalities at the global level, there is a risk to go away from inequalities experienced within our concrete living spaces of our cities or our communities. The following section will focus on inequalities within South Africa

* ¹⁴ See for this purpose defenders of the theory of modernization and also the Marxist view about the growing population.