Poverty is one of the many challenges facing our country and it cuts across the racial divide. Though blacks are most affected by this scourge, whites are also victims.

I recently heard that the government does not give grants to poor white people. I don't know what the reason for this is. Are grants given to poor black people only? If that is the case, then poor white people are being discriminated against on the basis of their skin colour. And that is unfair.

The government should treat all citizens equally, irrespective of the colour of their skin. Poor white people should not be victimised because of our past. They too deserve a better life.

Previously, there was a perception that there were no poor whites in our country. It wasn't until President Thabo Mbeki campaigned in white areas that most of us became aware that there are indeed poor whites in South Africa.

There is no voice that speaks for this marginalised minority. Even white politicians don't give a damn about their own poor white people. In essence, theirs is a hopeless case and they don't have anyone who gives a hoot about them. That's cruel.

Poor white people must be feeling like strangers in their own land. It shouldn't be like that. They are citizens of this country and should be made to feel like citizens. They deserve to be treated the same as all other citizens.

Thabile Mange, Johannesburg