People queue outside a South African Social Security Agency office.
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Many grant recipients are young, unemployed, and not necessarily loyal to the governing ANC like older generations.
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Healthy mothers mean healthy babies. Giving pregnant women cash grants could help prevent conditions such as stunting.
The impact of extra cash payments introduced during the COVID pandemic in South Africa is being considered.
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When evaluating the costs and benefits of the employment programme, and similar ones such as social grants, ‘extra’ economic benefits need to be part of the calculation.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his eighth State of the Nation Address at City Hall in Cape Town.
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The president’s speech couldn’t cover up for the fact that the last five years have been among the most difficult for ordinary South Africans.
Studies show cash grants help the cognitive function of older people.
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Nearly half of South Africa’s 60 million people receive social grants. Health experts say they improve cognitive health among the elderly.
Informal trading is one way grant recipients use to supplement their income.
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As much as 31% of grant beneficiaries engage in informal work to ‘grow’ their income.
Students from the University of Johannesburg: finding jobs even for graduates is tough in South Africa.
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There’s a case to be made for combining cash grants and job-search assistance services.
A charity in Westbury, Johannesburg, hands out food parcels during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
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Social grants are the largest source of support for many vulnerable groups. They are the government’s primary response to poverty, food insecurity and inequality.
A protest in Johannesburg against the lack of service delivery or basic necessities such as access to water and electricity.
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The country is still a very different political space. It’s a noisy democracy with a free media, lots of dissenting voices, and insulting the government doesn’t carry any overt sanction.
Francis Wilson: an academic who never fitted easily into any school of thought or belonged in anyone’s camp.
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He used his powerful research to promote social change for justice in South Africa.
South Africa has an extensive social security network, but poverty levels remain obstinately high.
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Social security reforms are needed that include support for the long-term and chronically unemployed and informal workers.
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The sums aren’t adding for South Africa on either the spending or revenue side. It’s a problem that’s developed over time with no action being taken.
Rural women in Agincourt, South Africa, with water collection containers.
Lauren Porter
The provision of better health services and social grants has aided rural women’s progress in South Africa, but there are still tremendous needs to be met.
Ederies Samodien offers a child apples at a shack settlement as part of a poverty relief effort in Cape Town. Almost 56% of South Africans live in poverty.
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There’s a crucial need to connect the most vulnerable people with public services in order to tackle systemic poverty and disadvantage. An integrated approach is key.
A woman running her stall on Vilakazi Street, Orlando West. Soweto, Johannesburg.
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South Africa has a huge gender gap in terms of policies and interventions that would help women entrepreneurs.
Residents clean up the streets and local businesses after looting incidents in Alexandra, Johannesburg.
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Much of the commentary on the July riots, which cost over 300 lives and billions of rands in damage to the economy, has neglected the long history of violent protests in the country.
An unemployed man collects trash for resale in Diepsloot Johannesburg. Calls are growing for a basic income grant for poor South Africans.
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Basic income must be embedded within a broader strategy of economic reform, aimed at increasing the social wage and improving working conditions.
Residents in a Cape Town suburb queue to vote during previous municipal elections in South Africa.
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Concerns about socioeconomic well-being were the main reason why people voted for a certain political party.
Children receive biscuits and other foods from the Groundbreakers community feeding programme in Ocean View, Cape Town.
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South Africans have experienced significant shocks to their livelihoods, and the threat of hunger presents a major concern for health, political and social stability.
Grootvlei, Snake Park, an impoverished suburb on the fringe of one of the biggest mine dumps in Soweto, Johannesburg. Poor people have been hit hardest by the fallout of COVID-19.
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The net effect is that the shocks are most severe on poorer, more vulnerable households.