In the areas where we work, approx. 85% of the population are unemployed. The reason being that the area used to be a homeland. Homelands were rural "ghettos" created by Apartheid politics in which a lot of African farmers were resettled after their farms had been re-distributed to white farmers. There is very little employment in former homeland areas due to population density and no formal infrastructure. To this day, in fact, services and infrastructure are still poor. Approximately 60% of the population in the area does not have access to potable water.
Approximately 720,000 people live within the Bushbuckridge municipality with about 84% of the housholds earning less than R1300 (£130) per month. Approximately 60% of the population are female reflecting the effects of labour migration. Population density is high with 21 people per ha. The marjority of the population speaks Shangaan/XiTsonga.
In more than one school where we interview, more than 50% of children are orphaned and the marjority of children claims to go to bed hungry more than 3 nights per week.
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