Poverty remains a major challenge in South Africa. The government has decided, through the adoption of the National Development Plan (NDP), to focus on sustainable measures aimed at overcoming the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. The NDA is committed to making a meaningful contribution towards the government’s priority of creating jobs and reducing poverty.

The 2011 census data reflects huge gaps in the prevalence of poverty, unemployment and inequality among all the different population groups. The black African population accounts for the majority of the working population and yet remains the lowest active participant in the labour force, accounting for 53.7 percent of the active labour force. This indicates that unemployment amongst the black African population remains high, and that efforts must be made to address this problem.