Development aid in South Africa : a contribution or impediment to poverty alleviation?

Abstract

South Africa has been experiencing steady economic growth since 1994, but is increasingly battling with development issues such as persisting poverty and growing socio-economic inequality. This apparent contradiction is part of the complex South African development landscape in which development aid has gradually shifted from being transitional to a stable factor in development processes. Possible limitations and potential of development aid are set out by the dominating schools of thought; mainstream, neo-liberal, and radical left. The main aim of this thesis was to evaluate if and how development aid contributes to poverty alleviation in South Africa according to the theoretical and historical arguments of these schools of thought.