More than 10% of South Africans “live in extreme poverty” on less than R16 a day‚ according to an Oxfam report to be released on Friday.

“South Africa faces the triple challenge of poverty‚ inequality and unemployment‚” the Oxfam report said.

And those challenges are huge‚ it said.

“The wealthiest 4% (of) households receive 32% of all income‚ while 66% of households receive only 21%‚” a new research paper‚ “Is South Africa Operating in a Safe and Just Space?”‚ has revealed.

The country’s Gini Co-efficient – the measurement of the income distribution of its citizens - is 0.69‚ the paper found. A “0” would represent perfect equality‚ while “1” represents perfect inequality.

And‚ at 25%‚ South African “has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world”‚ Oxfam said.

“The hopes of South Africa’s citizens depend on the country’s ability to address such injustices and end social deprivation‚” said Oxfam’s programmes manager Mthandazo Ndlovu.

But‚ he added: “The fight against inequality and hunger must be positioned at the heart of the low-carbon agenda‚ with economic development assessed against delivery on these goals. More coordinated policy development is required at higher planning levels.”

The paper‚ using Oxfam’s “doughnut model to describe the multi-faceted nature of poverty and environmental change‚” has found that “a significant proportion of South Africans are living below the social floor‚ while the country has already crossed its safe environmental boundaries for climate change‚ freshwater use‚ biodiversity loss and marine harvesting”.

“Securing a safe social foundation requires looking at of energy‚ water‚ sanitation‚ housing‚ education‚ health care‚ voice‚ jobs‚ income‚ household goods‚ food security and safety‚” Ndlovu said.

“We can do so by informing policy-making on these key areas.”

Ndlovu said that Oxfam has “long recognised the potential” for the creation of “one million climate jobs”.

“We now need to act‚” he said.