Abstract
Household debt in South Africa has grown significantly relative to income over the past twentyyears under the guise of financial liberalisation (FinMark Trust, 2007). Currently householdsspend approximately 60c to 70c of every rand of their income on repayment of debt (Gous,2008; Van Rooyen, 2008a). During the past decade the disposable income, financial assets andnet prosperity of households have therefore not accrued to the same extent as their debtobligations. For this reason households’ savings are urgently needed to contribute to alessening of the country’s current account deficit in order to sustain economic growth and jobcreation (Van Tonder, 2008). On the macro level, economic growth and job creation form partof the ideal underpinning the social development philosophy in South Africa. This ideal is tocombine social welfare assistance with developmental strategies, thereby promoting botheconomic and social development in order to strengthen people’s capacity to enhance theirsocial and economic inclusion and alleviate poverty (Patel, 2005:118). Social work, as aprofession within the social development paradigm, is primarily focused on the poorest of thepoor households (Department of Social Development, 2006). In the context of a relativepoverty line, set in relation to changing standards of living (Statistics South Africa, 2007), apoor household is to be understood when the household’s condition of poverty endures over aperiod of time, when the household has an inability or lack of opportunity to improve itscircumstances over time, or to sustain itself through difficult times (Aliber, 2001:2). Research(Collins, 2007; Rand, 2004) has shown that poor households have the highest debt to incomeratio. For this reason social work intervention focusing on household debt is also essential onthe micro level within the social development paradigm in order to reduce households’financial vulnerability (Engelbrecht, 2008a).
Highlights
Household debt in South Africa has grown significantly relative to income over the past twenty years under the guise of financial liberalisation (FinMark Trust, 2007)
A purposive sample targeted a universe of 85 front-line social workers who are all attached to an NGO operating in three provinces in South Africa (Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape), doing generalist social work according to an integrated service delivery model (Department of Social Development, 2006) within South Africa’s social development paradigm
The findings of this research study clearly indicate that economic growth in South Africa cannot be handled on the macro-level only, but should be managed by means of social welfare assistance on a micro-level
Summary
Household debt in South Africa has grown significantly relative to income over the past twenty years under the guise of financial liberalisation (FinMark Trust, 2007). During the past decade the disposable income, financial assets and net prosperity of households have not accrued to the same extent as their debt obligations For this reason households’ savings are urgently needed to contribute to a lessening of the country’s current account deficit in order to sustain economic growth and job creation (Van Tonder, 2008). Economic growth and job creation form part of the ideal underpinning the social development philosophy in South Africa. Research (Collins, 2007; Rand, 2004) has shown that poor households have the highest debt to income ratio For this reason social work intervention focusing on household debt is essential on the micro level within the social development paradigm in order to reduce households’ financial vulnerability (Engelbrecht, 2008a).
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