Collapse of extended family contributes to poverty

Ike Vavi
Correspondent | Monday November 29, 2010 00:00

It is this extended family that for a long time has ensured that common social problems such as issues of poverty were dealt with at family level.

Tanyala Moipolai believes that, 'The collapse of the extended family has one way or the other contributed to and compounded the problem of poverty. This is because in the past relatives were so concerned about each other and knew that it was the responsibility of other relatives to uplift any family member who was trapped in a poverty web. This was because the family was not defined only in terms of the father, mother and their children.' She continues; 'People were so concerned about their kinsmen that a close contact and working relationship was established even with far-between generations for as long as they were relatives somehow. The extended families were so broad that in some instances one would think that almost the whole village ward comprised of people who were to some extent related. There were no such issues as 'distant relatives', which is common today. A relative was simply a relative and was treated as such,' she says.

She also says that, 'Because of this closeness, it was nearly impossible to find a member of the family living in abject poverty because people supported each other. This explains why in the past, it was easy for people to go and live with their relatives such as uncles, aunts and grandmothers and grandfathers. Life was that nice and simple in the past. Even in situations where a member passes on, members of the extended family were prepared to divide the deceased's children amongst themselves in order to take care of them.'

Petit Ramogwana is also of the view that the disintegration of the extended family has one way or the other contributed to the increasing levels of poverty. 'The extended family has for a long time acted as one of the social safety nets in the society. It has provided refuge to most of the down trodden in the society such that it made it difficult to find extreme cases of poverty in the society. Relatives were there for each other. They perceived the welfare of any member as a collective responsibility. The success of one member was equally perceived as the success of the whole family,' he says.

He argues that in the past, the economic muscle of one of the families would one way or the other strategically trickle down to other (families) members. 'The success of one of the members was regarded as the success of the entire extended family. This therefore camouflaged the sufferings of those members who might be of lower social status,' he reveals.

He castigates the emergence of the nuclear family as a dark cloud that has completely altered the social relations that have for a long time held communities together. 'It is unfortunate that today people do not care about their extended family members. They only care about their immediate family. This breakdown in the social and family networks has unfortunately left those relatives who are reeling in poverty in the lurch,' he says.

He says that it is now common to find people living large while their relatives live in poverty. 'It has become common for some people to sleep like sardines in a one room or a shack when their relatives have dolls or other stuff in their spare bedrooms. It is also common to find people throwing foodstuffs in their dustbins when their relatives are sleeping on empty stomachs. This is the kind of society we are becoming,' he explains.

Boitumelo (as she prefers to be identified) also argues that, 'If you are to do a research about the relatives of most of the people who have been registered by the department of social services as destitutes you will realise that most of them do not deserve to be regarded as such at all. Some of their relatives are living comfortable lives and do not even want to be associated with those who are living in poverty. Some of their relatives are people who are well off but have decided to ignore the plight of their relatives. To them the poorer relatives are nothing but a burden and as such they do not want anything to do with them.'

People are now self-centered and have abdicated their responsibility of taking care of their own, she says. 'They now want to think that the welfare of the poor is the responsibility of the government alone.

This explains why when children lose their parents, the relatives will not try to intervene by taking them in but will resort to registering them with the Social Services department. This at times happens despite the fact that some relatives of those innocent souls are in economic positions that can easily accommodate the children,' she laments.

Sociology and Psychology lecturer at the Institute of Health Sciences, Anita Lebengo maintains that the disintegration of the extended family is one of the characteristics of modernity. 'This is because modernity has altered the way people define a family. In most cases families are of nuclear type that is also planned such that it is in harmony with the socio economic status of the couples. Because the number of children per family today in most nuclear setups is dictated by the economic position, most people feel that they cannot stretch their resources by taking care of their relatives. The relatives in this case will be regarded as extra burdens that come with extra costs. This is a clear example of how the so called modernity at times makes people irresponsible and less responsive to the plight of others,' she says.

Lebengo says that socially the outlook has also changed. 'People nowadays do not care much about their relatives. Some people tend to think that they can make it in life without their blood relatives. This is why there are new terms that are now surfacing such as distant cousins or relatives'.

There is also a new trend that is emerging and is quickly gaining root in our society. This is the culture of man-made or artificial relatives. This is where friends are elevated to the position of being 'relatives'.

This has mostly to do with the issue of social class. People look for people of the same or better socio and economic status and treat them as their relatives. This makes them completely forget about their blood relatives.

Even their children grow up knowing and valuing these friends-turned relatives more than their blood relatives,' Lebengo says.

She is of the view that, 'The fight against poverty can be helped by the resuscitation of the extended family.

Poverty reduction and eradication can be better dealt with at family level if people commit themselves to the resuscitation of the extended family system. There is still no alternative to the extended family,' she maintains.