Mainstreaming poverty, inequality and social exclusion: A systematic assessment of public policy in South Africa

Many developing countries experience high levels of poverty and inequality. The South African Constitution and the National Development Plan 2030 establish poverty, inequality and social exclusion as central to national policy mandates. This article reports the findings of a systematic assessment of the extent to which these mandates have been grafted into the laws, policy and strategy documents across public policy sectors. The study reviews both the frequency of references to poverty, inequality and social exclusion (differentiated by gender, race, disability status and spatial dimensions), as well as the qualitative nature of engagement with these issues. Findings show that there is at least a moderate degree of engagement with poverty, inequality and social exclusion across all sectors, although the permeation into sectoral policies is uneven. There is a much higher level of recognition in policy and strategy documents in comparison with legislative documents.