ABSTRACT
Government priorities, decisions, and the values informing them are all part of the public manifestation of the intentions and vision they hold with regard to the form of society they wish to see develop and continue. Thus, the allocation of human and material resources are fundamentally political decisions. Their significance is much more crucial in a societal context in which there are both limited resources and extensive inequalities arising from the existing economic and structural relations. Questions of power and control are central in this situation. The nature of discrimination and its impact on the lives of different groups must be carefully explored and exposed. This will be particularly important where a "blaming the victim" mentality represents the official discourse used to explain these conditions and experiences (Ryan, 1976).
