Social Security In South Africa Research Articles

The role and impact of constitutional values of ubuntu, equality, and human dignity in the interpretation and protection of the right to have access to social security in South Africa

This article examines the role and impact of constitutional values of ubuntu, equality, and human dignity in the interpretation and protection of the right to have access to social security entrenched in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. Sec. 27(1)(c) of the Constitution provides a universal social security protection to everyone, including if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants’ appropriate social assistance. Against this background, this article has three objectives. First, it enters the debate on the universal approach that comes with a human right to social security. Secondly, it examines the impact of the constitutional values of human dignity, equality, and ubuntu on the right to have access to social security. Thirdly, it looks at how the South African courts have incorporated and interpreted these values in their drive to protect and enforce the constitutional right to have access to social security. The article concludes by examining South Africa’s compliance with its constitutional obligation in respect of ensuring that everyone has the right to have access to social security.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF ACCESS TO SOCIAL SECURITY: PART II  PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

This is the second of two articles dealing with the constitutional right to have access to social security in South Africa. Part I dealt with the general introduction to the topic and highlighted some concerns relating to the right to have access to social security in South Africa and the inclusion of this right in the Constitution. Part II contains a study of various proposed solutions to these problems with particular emphasis on attempts to assist those excluded from the formal framework of social security.

Workers’ Social Security in South Africa: COIDA amended

This contribution briefly outlines the history and background of workers’ compensation in South Africa, with a focus on its legal purpose and function. In doing so, the genesis of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) during apartheid and its development into the constitutional era is considered. This includes an analysis of the latest Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Amendment Act (COIDAA) and a critique of the likely success, partial success and/or failure of the amendments to rectify some of the problems stemming from the legislation. It focuses on the elements of rehabilitation, rationalisation, restrictions, privatisation, constitutionalism, parity, decriminalisation, governance, and compliance as contained in the amendments.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM: THE NEED FOR MORE APPROPRIATE APPROACHES

The right to social security in South Africa is adjudicated and enforced mainly by means of litigation. This article examines litigation as a mechanism for the resolution of social security disputes in South Africa and its impact on both the right to have access to court and to social security. It argues that court-based adjudication may not be the most appropriate means of adjudicating social security claims. This is particularly as South Africa is a country where social security beneficiaries have limited knowledge of the laws and procedures, coupled with a lack of publicly-provided legal assistance/representation for social security cases. Dispute resolution mainly through the courts may contribute to the limitation of their right to seek redress and by implication, their right to have access to social security. Finally, the article proposes the investigation of more appropriate dispute-resolution processes. This is due to the failure of court-based adjudication to ensure access to justice (and to social security); constitutional requirements arising from the protection of the rights of access to justice and to social security; the Constitution’s focus on protecting persons who are particularly vulnerable and desperate; the availability of other (more appropriate) dispute-resolution mechanisms; and the relatively successful implementation of these mechanisms in the resolution of social security disputes in comparative jurisdictions.

PART A: Socio-Economic Inequality in South Africa and the Continual Plight for Social Protection in the Future World of Work

ABSTRACTThe paper examines the socio-economic landscape of South Africa by exploring the different determinants of inequality and poverty. The paper seeks to bring to the fore how the above mentioned landscape feeds the continual plight for social security in South Africa even in the advent of new systematic revolutions such as the 4th Industrial revolution.

Social Security in South Africa -- A Gender and Human Rights Analysis

South Africa has a large social assistance programme that plays a critical role in addressing extreme poverty. The strong constitutional rights framework, including a right to social security, underpins the development of this programme. Women are the major recipients of social assistance grants but in most cases collect grants for the benefit of their children (in the form of Child Support Grants). Working age people who are able-bodied are not provided with social assistance despite the high levels of unemployment in the country. Women, who are poorer with less access to paid work, are most disadvantaged by this gap. A recent move to attach conditions to the Child Support Grant is analysed from a gender and human rights perspective. The article considers some of the arguments relating to ‘conditionality’ in social security and finds that this move is unnecessary, impractical and a possible violation of human rights as well as a worrying trend in a system that has previously made little use of conditions. The article concludes by proposing a deliberative process of ensuring that the social security right becomes a gender-responsive vehicle for fundamental social change.

Social Security in South Africa – a Gender and Human Rights Analysis

Social Security in South Africa – a Gender and Human Rights Analysis

The history and impact of social security in South Africa: experiences and lessons

This paper examines the history and impact of the rapidly expanding social protection system in South Africa. We document the dominance of cash transfer-based assistance programmes compared to social insurance. There is a clear racial pattern of social protection coverage, with Africans benefitting largely from social assistance and whites being disproportionately covered by social insurance. We also find that the expanded social assistance has a substantial impact on poverty and nutrition, with little evidence of adverse labour market effects. The programme appears to be affordable and, in the South African context, administratively feasible. We discuss potential economic and political incentive problems with the co-existence of social assistance and social insurance and, finally, the implications for the design of social protection programmes in other sub-Saharan African countries. Résumé Cette rédaction étudie l'histoire et l'impact du système de protection sociale qui est en expansion rapide en Afrique du Sud. Nous décrivons la prépondérance des programmes d'assistance de transfert d'argent comparé aux programmes d'assurance sociale. Il y a une tendance raciale nette de la couverture de la protection sociale dans laquelle les africains profitent en grand partie de l'assistance sociale et les blancs, de façon disproportionnée, sont couverts par l'assurance sociale. Nous trouvons aussi que ce système d'assistance sociale expansé a un impact important sur la pauvreté et la nutrition, et très peu de preuve des effets défavorables sur le marché du travail. Il semble que le programme est abordable et, dans le contexte sud-africain, viable administrativement. Nous examinons les problèmes potentiels des incitations politiques et économiques avec l'existence simultanée de l'assistance sociale et de l'assurance sociale. Et finalement, nous examinons les possibles conséquences de créer des programmes de protection sociale dans d'autres pays de l'Afrique subsaharienne.

Mind the gap: suggestions for bridging the divide between formal and informal social security

Adriette Dekker argues that the protection provided by social security is necessary not only to achieve social justice but is also an indispensable tool in the fight against poverty. Formal government-regulated social security in South Africa comprises both social insurance and social assistance. Due to the legacy of apartheid, this formal social security system is not comprehensive and excludes many of those who need it most, leading many people and communities to devise their own social security mechanisms. These alternatives can be termed informal social security which, although providing a certain degree of security, functions outside the protection and recognition of the formal system. The article offers suggestions for mechanisms to enhance offers cooperation between these two social security systems that can assist government in providing improved and more comprehensive social security.

The role of social security in South Africa

The article examines the role of social security in South Africa based on a review of secondary data. The author argues that the role of social security is to prevent and reduce poverty and to promote reintegration. The social security system needs to be strengthened in order to enhance effectiveness.

The Emerging Role of the Constitutional Value of Ubuntu for Informal Social Security in South Africa

AbstractThis paper explores the significance of the African value of ubuntu within the context of social protection. The paper argues that ubuntu as a constitutional value plays a crucial role in supporting the existence of informal social security in South Africa. It concludes by reflecting the overarching potential that the traditional African value has for influencing the social protection and enhancing family solidarity in the South African context.

The constitutionality of the right to social security in South Africa: the case of South African women

This paper contributes to the current debate on the constitutionality of South African's poor to social security through the examination of the relevant constitutional provisions, the White Paper for Social Welfare (1997), Social Assistance Act (1992), and the Taylor Committee Report (2002). The paper argues that although there are provisions within these legal frameworks, there are also phrases which reiterate the progressive implementation of these provisions. The government is therefore using them as a defense mechanism against the introduction of the basic income grant. The paper concludes that the recommendation of the Taylor Committee Report (2002) should be adhered to if poverty is to be reduced in South Africa as well as the full respect of the rights of the poor as enshrined in the constitution and other legal frameworks.African Journal of Cross-Cultural psychology and sport facilitation (AJCPSF) Vol. 9 2007: pp. 12-25

Civil society and the right to have access to social security in South Africa

This article examines transformation in South Africa's social security system from a human rights and civil society perspective. Three claims are made: rights can be realised by civil society organisations, civil society organisations can transform social security, and the realisation of social security rights by civil society organisations can give us a means to address many of the problems identified with the involvement of NGOs in development. The basis of this assessment is a performative conception of rights, derived from the Grootboom legal judgment, which would allow civil society action to address the problems inherent in the social security system in South Africa. An analysis is thus made of this kind of public action and it is shown how it can be subsumed under the 1996 South African Constitution, and how the Constitution could transform civil society organisations' social action. Civil society action, it is proposed, could be valuable in further reforming the South African social security system, and in realising rights as autonomous social action.

Tort claims for road accident compensation and social security in South Africa

The statutory scheme of road accident compensation in South Africa encapsulates both the common law of tort or delict and the residue of liability insurance principles. The absence of meaningful interaction between the road accident compensation scheme and the broader social security system raises significant challenges. There are dissonant responses to the targeted misfortune, provision of benefits, financing, choice of remedies and socioeconomic‐political priorities selected by the South African government. It is argued that the current scheme should be identified as falling squarely within a state‐funded and regulated scheme of comprehensive social protection.

Ideology and social policy: 'handouts' and the spectre of 'dependency'

As so many commentators have observed, alongside the AIDS pandemic(and related to it), poverty, inequality and unemployment are the mostdaunting challenges facing the South African government. To begin dealingwith the poverty part of that dreaded triad, the Committee of Inquiry intoComprehensive Social Security in South Africa (the Taylor Committee)recommended that a basic income grant (BIG) be introduced. The primarypurpose of the BIG, as the Committee understood it, was to address theproblem of destitution in South Africa, consequent largely upon massunemployment. Although it was argued that it would have developmentaleffects, the BIG was not seen as being able to eradicate poverty – thepoverty gap is simply too large to make politically feasible the redistributionthrough the fiscus required each year to do so. The BIG can eradicate mostdestitution, and lift as well, some substantial number out of poverty.

The case for social security in South Africa: An economic perspective

Sound economic arguments exist for social security in a market system, since it can promote efficiency and equity. Furthermore, social security can reduce the risks of economic insecurities caused by unemployment, poverty and the new international economic environment to individuals and society. For a developing country, South Africa has a relatively well-developed social security system. However, it cannot address all the needs without major fiscal adjustments. The most viable approach may be to target only the most vulnerable groups, although such an approach may be criticised from an equity perspective. An important limitation of the South African social security system is that many unemployed individuals go without coverage, which may contribute towards instability. It may be necessary to revisit public works programmes in conjunction with the private sector.

The South African pension system

A. Sagner. 1998. The 1944 Pension Laws Amendment Bill: old-age security policy in South Africa in historical perspective, ca. 1920–1960. Southern African Journal of Gerontology7, 1, 10–14.S. van der Berg. 1998. Ageing, public finance and social security in South Africa. Southern African Journal of Gerontology7, 1, 3–9.The latest issue of Southern African Journal of Gerontology traces the origins of the South African social pensions system and addresses contemporary issues. In her editorial, Monica Ferreira (1998) notes that South Africa is one of only two countries in Africa that operates a social old-age system. Although the value of the South African social pension system is low in terms of real income (R490 in July 1998 – approximately US$100), the pension is generous in comparison with other developing countries. The take-up rate of the pension is virtually 90 per cent in the case of Africans, who historically were the most disadvantaged group under apartheid.

Ageing, public finance and social security in South Africa

South Africa has a relatively youthful population but ageing is nonetheless an important economic issue. The number of older persons is increasing rapidly, as the population starts the ageing process from a low base. The care of the white elderly in the past followed an expensive institution-based model that is now making way for a more affordable model based on greater integration of older people in the community. Both occupational/private pensions and means-tested social pensions for poor individuals are remarkably advanced for a middle-income developing country and the integration of these two modes of social security for retirement, in which the means test plays a crucial role, is problematic.

Events, views and ideologies which shaped social security in South Africa*

Insecurity, caused by poverty and circumstances such as sickness and unemployment, is one of the important social issues that all communities need to address. The most significant set of policy measures available to societies in this regard is social security, which is defined here as programmes initiated by either government or private organisations to assist the poor and other people in need to achieve or maintain a certain minimum standard of living. This article highlights some of the most important events, views and ideologies that have shaped social security in South Africa over the past few centuries.

Welfare policy and the transformation of social security in South Africa

Social security is based on the belief that all citizens should be protected by the state against the main vicissitudes of life: old age, unemployment, disability and sickness. The success of welfare programmes internationally in improving poverty, income distribution and unemployment is appraised. Income maintenance in South Africa, which is discriminatory and ineffective in meeting real human needs, is examined. Although welfare should not promote dependence, neither should it be so hard to come by as to punish the poor.