User:RthB4/Social Welfare Programs in South Africa

Social assistance, including grants and public works, is funded through tax revenue, unlike statutory and voluntary funds that are funded by employers and employees.

The Child Support Grant (CSG)[edit]
The Child Support Grant was introduced in 1998. CSG is a cash assistance to poor children under the age of 6 and expanded to children under the age of 14 in 2005. CSG paid the guardians of the eligible children R460 per month per child in 2022. According to the National Treasury of South Africa, "the CSG is now one of the largest social assistance programmes in post-apartheid South Africa reaching 11.2 million children in 2012–13, i.e., approximately 59 per cent of children." The government expenditure on CSG accounts for 3.4 percent of GDP in 2014.

The government did not add any conditions upon the reception of CSG initially. However, since 2010, the children have to attend school to be eligible to receive CSG.

Studies have revealed that the recipients of CSG showed better nutrition status and better school enrollment rates compared to children who are equally poor.

The Foster Child Grant (FCG)[edit]
Foster parents of children under the age of 15 were eligible for the Foster Child Grant in 2010 through the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) under the DSD. Since 2012, the qualification for FCG expanded to include foster children under the age of 18. The value of FCG per month per child is R1050 in 2022, more than twice the size of the Child Support Grant. These benefits are received through cash, direct deposit, or through an overseeing institution. The grant is reviewed every 2 years through a court, and may be suspended or lapse if the child's parental circumstances have changed, the guardians fail to comply with the court, or there is evidence of fraudulence when filing for FCG.

Disability grant
People with disabilities above the age of 18 are eligible for the disability grant. They can receive R1010 per month per person.

Care Dependency Grant
Parents, guardians, and primary caregivers of children with disabilities are able to qualify for the Care Dependency Grant. To qualify, single parents must earn less than R223 200 annually and couples must earn less than R446 400 collectively, with exemptions made for foster parents. The grant provides recipients R1 890 per month via cash, electronic deposit, or administrative institution.

War veterans grant
Veterans who fought in the Second World War (1939–1945) or the Korean War (1950–1953) and who are above the age of 60 or disabled are eligible to the war veteran grant. This grant is means tested with the aim of targeting veterans unable to support themselves. Each veteran can receive R1,800 per month from the South African Social Security Agency.

Old-age pension
The old-age pension accounts for the highest amount of government expenditure among all social assistance programs in South Africa. The old-age pension was established in South Africa as early as the 1920s. However, the old-age pension system had reflected strong racial inequality until the 1990s. For example, in the early 1980s, white South Aricans received benefits 10 times the benefits received by black South Africans. From 1989 to 1993, the government took efforts to reform the old-age pension to expand it to the entire population and eliminate racial inequality in the pension program. The benefits black citizens received increased from R1555 a year in 1980 to R3081 a year in 1993. The pension program has not undergone large reforms since 1993 but the government adjusts the monetary value in accordance to inflation rates. In 2010, women aged 60 and above and men aged 61 above could receive R21000 per year.

Housing
In 1994, the post-apartheid government announced its plan to provide one million homes in the next 5 years as part of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The program's goal was to address the housing disparity created during apartheid. The government fulfilled its claim by providing 1,155,300 homes that could house 5,776,300 people by 2000. In order to address housing disparity during apartheid, the post-apartheid government launched housing subsidies based on recipients' income in 1994. Recipients whose monthly income is below R800 can receive a subsidy of R15,000; recipients whose monthly income ranges from 801 to R1500 receive R12,500; recipients whose monthly income ranges from R1501 to R2500 receive R9,500; recipients whose monthly income ranges from R2501 to R3500 receive R5,000. According to Stats SA's GHS of 2018, "the percentage of households that received some form of government housing subsidy increased from 5.6% in 2002 to 13.6%  in 2018." The government has distributed 4 million housing subsidies, though only 1.5 million subsidized homes have officially registered as of 2014.

In 1994, the post-apartheid government announced its plan to provide one million homes in the next 5 years as part of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). The program's goal was to address the housing disparity created during apartheid. The government fulfilled its claim by providing 1,155,300 homes that could house 5,776,300 people by 2000. The post-apartheid government launched housing subsidies based on recipients' income in 1994. Recipients whose monthly income is below R800 can receive a subsidy of R15,000; recipients whose monthly income ranges from 801 to R1500 receive R12,500; recipients whose monthly income ranges from R1501 to R2500 receive R9,500; recipients whose monthly income ranges from R2501 to R3500 receive R5,000. According to Stats SA's GHS of 2018, "the percentage of households that received some form of government housing subsidy increased from 5.6% in 2002 to 13.6%  in 2018."

SASSA faced significant issues distributing grants after striking a contract with Cash Paymaster Services in 2012 to distribute cash transfers.

Corruption and maladministration are huge problems that exist in South African social welfare system. According to Reddy, South Africa lost R1,5 billion per year through corruption and maladministration in the delivery of social grants.

Despite the government's efforts to provide RDP housing, homelessness continues to increase due to increasing level of unemployment and the lack of affordable housing. Moreover, since the government did not establish a standard building regulations for the developers of RDP housing, many RDP housing units are characterized with inferior quality. Residents complained about the lack of air bricks, roofs without ceilings, improperly built walls, doors that did not open or close properly, lack of privacy, and improperly designed kitchen and lavatory. Houses built through the grant are located on the edges of towns where land is cheapest, making commutes especially difficult for residents. Additionally, only South African citizens are eligible for RDP housing which excludes a significant population of immigrants that are living in unsuitable housing. Nearly 2,000 government officials were arrested for corruption during the project and several housing projects may be improperly built because of relations between contractors and officials.

The other criticism with RDP housing units are the lack of basic services such as running water, sewerage and electricity and amenities such as schools and clinics. For example, one of the RDP housing units in Braamfischerville, Soweto, established in 1996, only had one temporary primary school housed in shipping containers and no secondary school nor high school in 2002. The main roads were not paved until 2008. The storm-water drainage system was not installed. RDP housing units are also characterized with small size. RDP homes are also characterized with small size. According to David Pottie, only 30% of all houses built by the government were larger than 30 m2.