White South Africans say it has become harder for them to get a job because of a policy aimed at helping to rectify past apartheid wrongs, called black economic empowerment.

Key points: Black economic empowerment policy imposes quotas on government positions

Black economic empowerment policy imposes quotas on government positions Afrikaner are white South Africans, a group descended from predominately Dutch settlers

Afrikaner are white South Africans, a group descended from predominately Dutch settlers Overwhelming majority of poor South Africans are black or coloured

The policy has imposed quotas on government positions to ensure black South Africans are appropriately represented in the public sector.

But there has been an unintended by-product, with more and more white South Africans saying they have been finding it difficult to get a job and are living in poverty.

But South Africa's Institute for Race Relations said while white poverty levels have increased, they still pale in comparison to black poverty levels.

Andree Coetzee, a qualified cabinetmaker, lives in what many consider to be a slum, a community called Munsieville, with around 300 other white people.

Mr Coetzee said he and many others living there believe a reverse apartheid was playing out in South Africa, and he said he had been on the receiving end of discriminatory racial policies.

He said he experienced it when he applied for a job.

"I gave them my papers to prove I'm qualified, they said, 'Sorry Mister, you're white and you're too old'.

"How can you survive in a country like this when he says straight to you, 'you're white'? What have they got against the whites? And it's white people [saying that].

"Just because I'm white I can't get a job."

Danie Brink, the chief executive of an Afrikaner aid organisation called Solidarity, Helping Hand, said affirmative action was "driving our people out of positions."

The organisation focuses on providing assistance for poor white South Africans, or Afrikaner's — a group descended from predominately Dutch settlers.

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"[It] prevents our people Afrikaners, white people specifically to get into jobs, specifically in the public sector," Mr Brink said.

"The public sector is supposed to give jobs to all the people of a country, but affirmative action keeps our people out."

Black poverty levels remain much higher: IRR

The truth however is that the overwhelming majority of poor South Africans are black or coloured and the number has continued to grow.

During apartheid, jobs and housing were protected for whites, even those with a poor education and no skills were protected.

But that all changed with the introduction of democracy — white people living in slums in South Africa has been a post-1994 trend.

Frans Cronje, the chief executive of South Africa's Institute for Race Relations [IRR], acknowledged the problem and said there was a problem of white poverty in South Africa.

"White poverty levels have increased," he said.

But he said it all needed to be put into perspective.

"When they compare to black poverty levels they tend to pale into the background," Mr Cronje said.

"It's not to say that whites who are poor are not a problem, each individual case obviously is a problem that needs to be addressed."