Twenty years ago, South Africa embarked on a bold strategy to overhaul its welfare system. This was part of a larger project to transform South African society to achieve peace and social justice and overcome the social divisions of the past.
Significant policy and legislative achievements were achieved, promoting a rights-based approach to social welfare. Formal racial discrimination in access to services has been abolished. A single nationally integrated welfare system was created for all South Africans.
South Africa is recognized as a leader and innovator in social development in the Global South. However, the implementation of social development policies was not smooth.
Subsidies as a political tool
Social subsidies have had a significant effect on poverty reduction and, to some extent, on inequality reduction. But without employment growth, it will be difficult to significantly reduce income poverty.
Despite the achievements of the social protection system, there is still considerable debate about whether this is the right path for the country. Problems include widespread beliefs that grant recipients are abusing their funds and that social grants encourage teenage pregnancy and dependence on the state.
Although there is no evidence that social assistance or social subsidies have such unintended effects, these views pose a threat. These could cause a backlash against the program among politicians, taxpayers, and the public.
Recent local and national election campaigns have also shown how ruling parties can use social protection to gain electoral advantage. The argument among ruling party politicians during the 2014 election campaign was that subsidy beneficiaries who voted for the opposition were betraying the hands that fed them. Grant recipients were also unsure whether their grants would be protected if they voted for a different party.
This has led to the view that social subsidies are a form of “vote buying.'' For example, distributing food parcels during elections. These issues concern the future prospects of social assistance.
system flaws
The Social Welfare White Paper sets out the policy framework, proposals for implementation and recommendations. However, confusion remained about the theory underlying this approach. There was a lack of clarity regarding the definition and application of the approach. This is believed to be the main factor behind implementation delays.
Various interpretations exist, including the replacement of individual therapeutic interventions and statutory child protection services with community development and income-generating programs. Social workers felt inadequately equipped to implement new approaches. Some saw it as alienating the social work profession. This has historically been a major occupation in the human services field. So the resistance was obvious.
Large-scale transformation of a country's welfare system requires significant change management interventions. These help professionals and service providers change their strategies. This did not happen systematically.
Monitoring and evaluation of social development policies was also inadequate. There are no agreed indicators to measure and track changes over time.
And in the absence of leaders who could drive change, momentum in the implementation of developmental welfare services was lost.
Welfare services are crowded
In the late 1990s, the government adopted the Growth, Employment and Redistribution Policy (GEAR). This signaled a retreat from the basic needs approach of earlier recovery and development programmes. Although this did not lead to significant cuts in social spending, the government was concerned about reducing its debt burden.
Although GEAR can be described as a voluntary structural adjustment program, it was heavily criticized by the labor movement and civil society organizations. They campaigned against creeping neoliberalism in social and economic policy.
Later, as economic growth and states' ability to raise taxes increased, increased resources were directed to the social sector. Political support also increased and social grants expanded.
However, the expansion of social assistance at the time had a negative impact on education and health services. The trade-off between the growth of some social development programs and the sacrifice of other important programs was emphasized by both governments and social sector bodies.
Although the National Treasury attempted to balance these trade-offs, welfare services continued to become crowded with the expansion of social assistance. Although some increases have been made in recent years to address the imbalance, welfare services and community development programs continue to be neglected. They still lack funding and social policy innovation.
impeded implementation
Challenges of an institutional, economic and political nature influenced the way development approaches were implemented.
Social welfare services are also provided by the state government. The ability of states to redirect welfare funding to other services and priorities means that developmental welfare services continue to be underfunded.
Service delivery was also hampered by state governments' lack of capacity to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate service delivery outcomes.
Power struggles between government officials and nonprofit organization (NPO) partners also hindered the potential benefits that could be realized through the partnership model.
Furthermore, the services provided by NPOs were provided to a limited number of people and did not extend to rural or underserved areas. Many NPOs are concentrated in urban areas.
Lack of institutional capacity is a serious impediment, including the loss of staff to government by NPOs and insufficient numbers of social workers, community development workers, child and youth care workers, and paraprofessionals.
However, increasing the number of practitioners implementing social therapeutic approaches to social work and service delivery will not produce the desired results. Greater attention should be paid to the proper training of students and existing personnel in developmental welfare.
A culture of research and innovation is also needed in the welfare sector. A lack of resources to support innovation and a lack of change leaders to drive social development are also barriers.
There were widespread reports of corruption at various levels within government. In the field of welfare, this is important in the operation of social security systems.
Protests against community service delivery have focused attention on corruption by public officials and the failure of local governments to meet community needs.
Labor disputes can also lead to local protests and community violence, especially in areas where mining operations are taking place. Political divisions and power relations between political parties also affect local communities and are at the root of conflicts and tensions at the local level.
The government has implemented various interventions to increase efficiency, particularly in the administration of social grants. However, welfare and development agencies and health professionals continue to face many challenges in how to best facilitate service delivery and participatory development.
This is an excerpt from the second edition of the author's book, Social Welfare and Social Development.
