In 1999, The Forum made a submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission regarding the role played by welfare organisations, academic institutions and professional associations in the development, maintenance and implementation of the apartheid welfare system. Click here for the full text of the submission.

Overview by Prof. Leila Patel, June 1999:

The submission by The Forum to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a bold step in promoting reconciliation and healing in the welfare field. The submission is also an important historical document.

The “Forum” successfully mobilized its member organisations to reflect on our painful past. This process involved coming to terms with the role played by welfare organisations, academic institutions and professional associations in the development, maintenance and implementation of the apartheid welfare system. In its apology to the people of South Africa, members of the “Forum” acknowledged their failure to uphold the ethics and values of the social work profession.

Whilst welfare systems worldwide were designed to support and promote human development, social justice and peace, the South African welfare policies violated universal principles. The testimonies speak of the hurt and anger caused by a welfare system which was racially discriminatory, inequitable, undemocratic and unresponsive to the needs and rights of the majority of the people. The submission have also pointed to the relationship between the welfare system and the security establishment., the phenomenon of “state abuse” of children and youth during the 1980s, and the harassment of social workers and development organisations opposed to government policy.

Circular 29 of 1966 issued by the Department of Social Welfare and Pension is an illustration of the undemocratic nature of the policies and how these where implemented. Hundreds of non-governmental organisations operating in the welfare field became willing or unwilling partners of the apartheid state. Their silence and complicity was “bought” in exchange for state subsidies for services. It is the first time in welfare circles that the role of the members of the Afrikaner Broederbond has been brought to light. They were members of both governmental and non-governmental structures where they were not only the architects of apartheid welfare policy, but also the implementers of the system. In many organisations they also played a powerful role in defending the system itself.

This brief review of the apartheid welfare system demonstrates its impact on the lives of people. It also shows how this ideology was translated into action through the way in which society was governed and administrated. The social work profession in South Africa was torn apart. There were those who fought to uphold the concern of the profession with issues of mass poverty, social justice and human rights, and those who interpreted the role of the profession within the dominant apartheid ideology. To give effect to this interpretation, social work education was aligned with the broader policy framework. Those institutions which were critical of the ideological foundations of the policy, attempted to provide a more liberal education which was fraught with its own contradictions.

Ultimately individual social workers had to make the difficult choice for themselves. The social work profession lost many capable people to other professions. Many left the country, some chose to work within the system whilst others took a stand. Nobody was unaffected by the context in which they worked. Implicitly or explicitly we all complied in one way or another with an unjust social order. This could have taken the form of a placement of a child in a racially segregated children’s home, or through the processing of a social grant for a person in need which was inequitable. It is vital that we reflect on what it meant to be a social worker in apartheid South Africa, and to take personal and organisational responsibility for one’s actions.

The TRC testimonies also shows how social workers wrestled with their conscience and the struggles by social workers to fight for a democratic welfare system founded on universal democratic principles. Today, the building blocks of such a democratic welfare policy are in place. To realize this vision, we need social work practitioners to be grounded in the values and ethics of the profession and to be true to their professional ideals.

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