The Challenges of Inequality in South Africa’s Communities: The Role of Indigent Policy

Most South African communities faced issues of inequality as a result of the skewed policies of the pre-1994 era. This indicated that the vast majority of the villages were impoverished. In order to address these issues of inequity, the Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP) was quickly tabled. The provision of basic services to all citizens was the main goal of the RDP, among its many other purposes. Therefore, it was the responsibility of municipalities to provide tools that would facilitate the delivery of these services to the communities. The Indigent Policy was created in the South African townships as a result of this exercise. In an effort to understand the role that indigent policy plays in eradicating the inherited poverty, this study adopted a systematic review. The results show that the practice of not paying for essential services appeared to make the policy's execution difficult. The registration process also appeared to be difficult for several homes. Since the indigent policy is not nationally recognized and accepted as a national policy because of the aforementioned challenges, it is recommended that a national indigent policy be cascaded from the national government to all provincial governments and must be pushed down through all municipalities.