Central to the increase in urban poverty in the post-apartheid period is the rise in
unemployment, and this provides our point of departure. In the first section of the
paper we show how, although Johannesburg and its environs constitute the
industrial and commercial heartland of South Africa, it is a city that has not
reached its potential economic development. Having outlined the causes and
dimensions of the sluggish economic position we move to consider how the poor
survive in Johannesburg through both economic and non-economic strategies.
With this in mind we then argue that addressing the current situation of growing
poverty and inequality (as well as redressing the legacy of past inequities) requires
broad municipal response to urban unemployment. Instead of the current tendency
to view poverty simply as the product of income and consumption deprivation, a
more broadly defined response to urban poverty reduction based on a livelihoods
framework is proposed.