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Introduction
For at least the last decade civil society organisations have advocated and worked towards a Comprehensive Social Security System (CSSS) that would be able to provide everyone, as provided for in the constitution section 27 (1) (c) with assistance
when they need it. This work has always been premised on the provisions of the South African constitution and the rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Many gains have been made in the area and much more needs to be done.
In 2008 advocacy work amongst civil society for a CSSS intensified when the Department of Social Development publicly
shared their social security reform proposals in a series of consultative conferences organised by civil society in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Mafikeng. In those meeting civil society organisations developed a series of
principles to guide our ongoing thinking and direction.
The following principles in the platform are adopted by civil society and should inform the roadmap:
Rights-based approach: Social security for those in need is a basic right as enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the South African Constitution.
Universalism: Everyone should have access to a particular social assistance grant/income support, but in order to ensure efficient and cost-effective access to this support where it is needed, it should be without means testing.
Inclusion: Everyone who lives in South Africa should receive social assistance when they need it.
Developmental: Comprehensive social protection entitles recipients to a basket of psycho-social and economic benefits to enable the realisation of the spectrum of human dignity.
Redistribution, Transparency and Democratic Governance and Accountability with full civil society participation.
A country in crisis
South Africa is a country of contradictions, with one of the most progressive constitutions in the world which guarantees life, dignity and equality to all - yet we have one of the highest rates of income inequality internationally.
More than half of the 48 million people in South Africa live in poverty - and their children seldom escape the cycle of
disadvantage. Seventy four percent of the unemployed people in South Africa are youth – and most of these people have never worked before. The spatial pattern of inequality continues to follow the demographics and spatial inheritance of the
Bantustans under the Apartheid regime, with a growth in inner city poverty and inequality as people move from rural areas to look for work that often does not exist.
Our government has committed itself to eradicating poverty and ensuring a decent life for all. Why is it then that the reality for
so many people is so different from this promise?
We have to accept that we need extraordinary policies in consultation with civil society to really begin to eradicate the legacy
of apartheid. Our policies need to be bold, and unapologetic. Our policies need to make a difference to everybody living in
this country, and soon. One of the most successful ways of making a difference as a matter of urgency is to adopt a CSSS that offers both a safety net and a springboard out of poverty.
Social Security – a Constitutional Right
The Constitution is the supreme law of the land, founded on the values of human dignity, equality, the advancement of human rights and freedoms. It is also an overarching legislative instrument that makes provision for social security and social
assistance in Section 27(1)(c). Every other act or policy or reform process in social security stems from Section 27 and so
must be consistent with the spirit, letter and ethos it establishes.
Social security reform must give effect in the first instance to social security, as a right and not as an administrative or discretional policy issue. At the very least the state has a duty to articulate a roadmap for the full realisation of the right to
social security as enshrined in our constitution.
Whilst acknowledging the state’s efforts to date, the absence of a road map and the state’s failure to realise the full vision of the Constitution results in the undermining of the rule of law, mainly because it defers the rights enshrined in the Constitution
to some distant and unknown point in the future
Current Social Security coverage in SA
Since 1993 social grants were deracialised and extended to a much greater number of people. Now, over 12 million people receive social assistance. However, many people are still excluded. This is due to the fact that grants are not awarded based
on the actual need that exists, but on the notion that assistance is given to those traditionally considered vulnerable like the
old, young and disabled. At the same time, the system of means testing categorical grants for ‘vulnerable groups’ has been
maintained. Means testing is expensive, cumbersome and discretionary and too often leads to or incorrect exclusion on the one side and fraudulent or un-transparent behaviours on the other. The means test should be reviewed in relation to principles
above.
Post-1994, policies, including social security policies, have failed to sufficiently address the massive structural problems such as unemployment, endemic poverty as well as huge inequalities.
In 2002, the Taylor Committee recommended the adoption and implementation of a comprehensive system of social
protection which included a universal Basic Income Grant (BIG) to meet the needs created by high levels of unemployment
and poverty. The Taylor Committee noted: “there is a growing need for a platform of general social protection that supports both the unemployed and the working poor”.
Most striking now is that children between ages of 16-18 years, youth, caregivers, the unemployed and the chronically ill have
no form of social assistance. With respect to social insurance, a large proportion of working people are still not included in
private retirement or health savings, and many vulnerable workers remain outside of the protection of state regulated social insurance schemes such as Unemployment Insurance (UI) and Compensation for Occupational Injury and Disease (COID).
Political interest and commitment to realise a Comprehensive Social Security System for SA
Starting with the Reconstruction and Development Programme, government has adopted a number of policies that have tried to address the unequal legacies of apartheid, but if we really want to eradicate the impact of the past, we need to adopt much
stronger policies than we have to date.
As civil society we will use our collective strength to call for an irrevocable commitment by government to implement such a system within a clear timeframe.
Therefore as an immediate way forward, civil society calls for:
The state to provide a clear road map, underpinned by the principles agreed to herein, that demonstrates how the right to social security within a genuinely reasonable framework will be realised as guaranteed in our Constitution.
- The establishment of the Social Development Advisory Board as provided for the relevant Act as a multi-stakeholder body to oversee the roll out and monitoring of a comprehensive social security system.
- The South African Government to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(ICESECR).
- The road map should embrace developmental social protection which acknowledges that poverty has many dimensions beyond income, which entitles recipients to a basket of psychosocial and economic benefits to enable the realisation of the spectrum of human dignity.
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