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Transforming the Present

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South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world ... do not have even the most basic income for transport, food and basic clothing ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Transforming the Present


1
Transforming the Present Protecting the
FutureBriefing to Portfolio Committee on Social
Development
  • 13 November 2002

2
Current Poverty
  • 22 million people or 53 of the population live
    on average on less than R144 p/month
  • 2 in 3 children live in poverty
  • 25 of children under 5 have severe to moderate
    stunting
  • 10 of Africans are malnourished
  • 3.1 million workerless African households (1999)
    1.9 million in 1995
  • Long term structural unemployment 38 of
    economically active population are unemployed

3
Current Poverty contd
  • South Africa is one of the most unequal societies
    in the world
  • 21,9 of households reported hunger in 1999
  • The poor have particular difficulties in
    accessing healthcare and education because they
    do not have even the most basic income for
    transport, food and basic clothing

4
Current Social Grants
Grant Amount Current beneficiaries
Old Age Pension R640.00 1.9 million
Child Support Grant R140.00 1.8 million
Disability Grant R640.00 700 000
Care Dependency Grant R640.00 47 000
Foster Care Grant R460.00 117 000
Grant in Aid R140.00
Total 4.6 million
5
Gaps in the Current System
  • No income support for poor children between 7-18
    years
  • No general social assistance for households where
    no-one is employed
  • Over 13 million people live below the poverty
    line with no access to social security

6
Gaps in the Current System contd
  • Most adults (81) and children (76) live in
    households without pensioners, so they are less
    likely to benefit from any grants paid to
    pensioners.
  • Therefore our social security system is neither
    comprehensive nor adequate.

7
Taylor Committee Conclusions
  • Lack of policy to address income poverty has been
    a constraining feature of South Africas
    socio-economic programmes
  • The committee therefore recommends that an
    appropriate social security concept for South
    Africa must prioritise the needs of people
    without any incomes, with insufficient incomes or
    who are engaged in informal activities

8
Conclusions to address the Poverty Gap
  • The committee has formulated a comprehensive
    social protection system that enables the
    attainment of positive-sum policy
    interventions, rather than narrow policy
    trade-offs between social and economic policy
    objectives.

9
Conclusions contd
  • The committee believes that by creating greater
    income security the poor, who are currently
    trapped in survivalist and low-income informal
    work, become empowered to risk pursuing
    higher-return activities that can break their
    cycle of poverty.

10
Recommendations contd
  • To address income poverty, and underpin the
    Comprehensive Social Protection framework as a
    whole, the Committee has recommended a
    comprehensive and integrated medium-to-long-term
    framework for income support.

11
Recommendations contd
  • The CSP framework would simultaneously address
    the constitutional and socio-economic imperatives
    through emphasising two aspects

12
Comprehensive Social Protection
  • ensuring that all citizens have a minimum
    acceptable standard of living through a social
    protection package, enabling them to participate
    and advance in social and economic life, thus
    reducing socio-economic constraints to
    sustainable growth in South Africa

13
Comprehensive Social Protection
  • Providing people with their socio-economic
    rights, thus enabling them to enjoy their
    democratic rights. As such comprehensive social
    protection, by providing universal coverage, thus
    embeds an important form of social citizenship
    and could be seen to form a central component of
    the democratic States contract with the people.
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