Abstract
Social security is one of the most important areas of social policy.As part of its social policy, the government of Lesotho has promulgated various pieces of legislation and introduced an assortment of public assistance programmes for the benefit of the people of the country. There are also various informal social security measures which are the result of coordinated activities by individuals and groupings in Lesotho. These initiatives together provide a broad spectrum of social security provisioning for the people of Lesotho. This article sets out to discuss the said social security provisioning measures and appraises the efficacy of their interventions. Lesotho is a constitutional state. The Constitution of Lesotho came into force on 2 April 1993. It provides for a Bill of Rights as well as principles of state policy. There is, however, no express provision in the Constitution for a right to social security. This is regrettable. Thus, the intersection between constitutional law and social security within the context of Lesotho can be achieved only through the interpretation of the fundamental rights as well as the principles of state policy provided in the Constitution. While the provisions relating to fundamental rights help to establish entitlements to social security, the principles of state policy play an important role in giving direction to service delivery. Understanding the link between the various governmental and social initiatives is crucial if interventions are to be designed which will enhance the provision of social security for the benefit of the people of Lesotho.KEYWORDS: Social security provisioning; 1993 Lesotho Constitution; the Bill of Rights; principles of state policy; social legislation; informal social security.
Highlights
One of the most important social policy achievements of the 20th century was the development of social security programmes and systems in many countries of the world
Another important right in the Constitution is the right to equality: "[e]very person shall be entitled to equality before the law and to the equal protection of the law."8These provisions are of enormous relevance to a large variety of social security benefits such as those determined by reference to familial relationships, as such benefits may be challenged for treating different classes of parents, spouses, and children differently
The Constitution prohibits a law from making any provision that is discriminatory either in itself or in its effect.13Discrimination on the ground of nationality is of special interest in social security law as it helps to define the scope and the contents of several legal instruments relating to a person's relation to social advantages
Summary
One of the most important social policy achievements of the 20th century was the development of social security programmes and systems in many countries of the world. For many countries the enhancement and extension of social security have remained among their major challenges. The purpose of this article is to discuss the various social security and social protection mechanisms in place in Lesotho. The first section briefly deals with the conceptualisation of social security in Lesotho. The second section carries out an overview of the current social security system of Lesotho with a view to determining its status and the extent to which it needs improvement. The third step will be to evaluate the system from a social policy perspective with the object of identifying its strengths and weaknesses, employing some critical social security benchmarks. By way of conclusion, some salient issues resulting from the discussion in this article will be highlighted
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