Transforming Social Protection in South Africa

Abstract

Abstract This chapter provides an analysis of social policy transformation in South Africa’s post-apartheid, post-independent era after 1994 over a 20-year period until 2014. Using social protection as the lens, it highlights that while the policy intentions over the period were transformative, there was, and still is, a disjuncture in the administration and implementation of policy that constrains the fulfillment of social and economic rights derived from the Constitution. The role and place of social assistance (primarily in the form of cash grants) and social policy in broader processes of transformation and innovation in South Africa inform the analysis. Among the issues raised is that of navigating social policy change in a fluid, neoliberal global economic system in which terms of trade and development are predetermined. In addition, the context of neoliberal globalization and its consequences for social policy interventions by national governments is a focus. It is particularly difficult to mitigate the negative impacts and address the roots of inequities, especially in South Africa, when the terms of national social development are shaped by transnational processes.