Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen - Do individuals spend their money better than families? This foundational question in the design of income support programmes for the poor has not been robustly debated. Instead, the strong and robust debates have historically focussed on the possibilities of the universal provision of state income support through a Basic Income Grant (BIG). During his inaugural State of the Nation address, President Jacob Zuma expressed ANC policy to mean that future expansion of the social grants...
Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: "Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality." This clip produced by Youth for Human Rights explains the right to social...
Members of an HIV support group in Khayelitsha talk about the challenges and successes of living with HIV. Members argue that "the stigma of AIDS" is still a huge problem that must be overcome. Highlighting the tragic circumstances of poverty, members report that some people deliberately drop their CD4 count to become eligible for the state's disability grant, valued at R940 per month (about US$120). See part two of the report here.
Isobel Frye - South Africa has arguably one of the most extensive social security systems amongst developing countries. Currently just over 12 million people receive some form of social assistance grant, and in addition we have a number of social insurance schemes, including the Unemployment Insurance Fund and private pension and provident funds which together form a social security system. The main historical objective of social security is to secure people against vulnerability which arises as a...
Mohamed Motala - A recent review of the child support grant (CSG) concludes that while the grant is reaching poor households as intended, it could do better by developing better coordination with other social relief programmes. This finding was supported by evidence collected in an extensive survey of 2 640 households. The survey revealed that households receiving the grant, exhibit characteristics of poverty in relation to access to basic services, education levels, employment opportunities and...
Langa Mtshali - One of the legacies of apartheid South Africa and the Bantustan system is the unequal distribution of resources between urban and rural areas, which has created a perpetual divide that even under our democratic dispensation is not being bridged. The ongoing lack of importance given to rural South Africa in the post-apartheid era, has created a rural backwater where poverty is entrenched and where people are simply abandoned and expected to fend for themselves in the face of what can...