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By Paul Tembe<\/p>\n
In 2020 the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC) attained an unprecedented historical feat by achieving Goal 1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).<\/p>\n
Goal 1 of the SDGs enjoins countries to end all forms of poverty. The PRC eradicated absolute poverty 10 years before the 2030 cut-off date. Goal 1 has the explicit aim to \u201cEnd poverty in all its forms everywhere\u201d. This SDG goal build targets on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce the proportion of people subsisting daily on less than $1.25 (about R19), and provide decent work, especially for women and the youth.<\/p>\n
Using these targets, the PRC has set a new global benchmark by declaring \u201ccomplete victory\u201d in poverty eradication, more so for China\u2019s rural citizens and communities.<\/p>\n
In February 2021, the same year that the Communist Party of China (CPC) was celebrating its 100th anniversary, President Xi Jinping proclaimed that from 2012-2020, China had raised the living standards of 98.99 million rural folks from absolute poverty \u2013 empowering 832 poor counties and 128 000 poor villages from eking out a daily living on $1.25.<\/p>\n
The criteria used by the PRC relied on \u201ctwo assurances and three guarantees\u201d. The two assurances centred on producing policies, measured constantly for their impact, that provides adequate food and clothing for the poor.<\/p>\n
This was supplemented with access to non-negotiable basic medical service, nine years of compulsory education and safe housing. The net outcome was that in 2020 the PRC had ensured that 94.8% of targets had been reached to provide education and 99.9% of medical coverage for its population.<\/p>\n
In addition, absolute poverty eradication was attained via public delivery of infrastructure, ensuring rural areas had access to 1.1 million km of reconstructed highways and 35 000km of new railways.<\/p>\n
These rural areas were capacitated with optical fibre communications (OFC) and 4G technology covering 98% of the rural areas. These achievements were the total outcome from the 1978 opening up and reform process.<\/p>\n
Former president Deng Xiaoping was decisive in leading the battle against poverty by introducing agrarian reforms. To be effective, these early reforms built on improving infrastructure to reform and revolutionise agricultural sectors. <\/p>\n
This required sufficient investment in irrigation, drainage systems, road infrastructure and internet access to connect farmers to markets, encouraging service sectors to invest in rural areas, and in the process generating employment opportunities in rural areas. <\/p>\n
The PRC\u2019s experience is a model to the world about what is possible when there is in a country (i) decisive leadership, (ii) uninterrupted legal and policy continuity, (iii) bottom-up people\u2019s empowerment, (iv) solid intergovernmental relations and private sector partnerships, and (v) leveraging contextual circumstances (in geography, politics, technology, etc).<\/p>\n
All these factors have coalesced and translated into \u201cpoverty eradication with Chinese characteristics\u201d. China eliminated absolute poverty and hunger by making widely available distance education, making sure that impoverished rural areas had OFC and so access telemedicine and e-commerce.<\/p>\n
It is not inconceivable for South Africa to replicate the Chinese model of ending poverty in all its forms. What is needed is bold decisive leadership that transcends ideological party affiliation and focuses on realising one goal.<\/p>\n
Second, is to empower citizens with the tools for their own liberation so that they aren\u2019t mainly dependent on social grants. Third, the involvement of the private sector is irreplaceable in mobilising a whole-of-society approach.<\/p>\n
As China deservedly celebrates ending poverty in all its forms in the PRC, there is still more to be done. As President Xi said, \u201cbeing lifted out of poverty is not an end in itself, but the starting point of a new life and pursuit\u201d.<\/p>\n
* Tembe is a sinologist and founder of SELE Encounters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Paul Tembe In 2020 the People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC) attained an unprecedented historical feat by achieving Goal 1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goal 1 of the SDGs enjoins countries to end all forms of poverty. The PRC eradicated absolute poverty 10 years before the 2030 cut-off date. Goal 1 has the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[11156,11155,11154,1905],"class_list":["post-45868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-characteristics","tag-chinese","tag-eradication","tag-poverty"],"yoast_head":"\n