Thesis (MComm)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Social assistance is a large and fiscally costly component of anti-poverty policy in South
Africa and therefore lends to the questions: Are the grants effective tools for reducing
poverty in South Africa and, moreover, how significant is their impact on poverty? As a
measure of reducing poverty and improving the non-social indicators of the poor, the
government has expanded the social grants since the advent of the new democracy. The
country‟s social grant system is advanced and covers a broad range of individuals, as it is
intended to cover vulnerable individuals over their life course from childhood to adulthood
and into old age. Policy discourse surrounding the grants centres on the sustainability of the
system and their implications for development. It is therefore important that their
significance is shown and that their impact is illustrated by highlighting their reach into
severely poor households. As a measure of poverty alleviation on their own, the grants are
not enough and South Africa‟s poverty alleviation strategy has to rest primarily on economic
growth and job creation. In addition, there are significant challenges in the system, such as
the fact that there is no poverty grant targeted specifically at the unemployed; consequently,
too much strain is placed on the resources of grant-receiving households that the whole
household is plunged into poverty. Accordingly, the question this raises is: How can
government solve the problem of the poor clustering around these grants? This dissertation
will systematically show that the use of social security as a poverty-alleviating tool is
effective given the extent of poverty in South Africa and the limitations on resources. It will
also show that the decision-making structures in households influence the way grants affect
the resource allocation needed for achieving lower levels of poverty. The extent to which the
cash transferred to poor households via the grant programmes reduces poverty is likely to be
influenced significantly by the decision-making structures in the grant-receiving households.
There is evidence that grant money is shared in extended households, which suggests that
decision making is broadly unitary or cooperative. However, we can only observe the
outcomes and not the decision-making process in this regard and therefore can only draw
tentative conclusions. Although there is cause for concern regarding the propensity of social
grants to affect people‟s behaviour negatively, there is a case to be made for retaining grants
as an important, though not the only, form of anti-poverty strategy. This highlights the need
for continued research on the labour market and the social grants causal relationship. It also
shows that research into the fertility effects of the grants is wanting, especially if there are speculative concerns that might inform policy on the impact of CSG on fertility. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sosiale bystand is „n groot en duur fiskale komponent van anti-armoede verligtingsbeleid in
Suid Afrika en lei daarom tot die vrae: Is die toelaes effektiewe instrumente om armoede te
verlig in Suid Afrika, en nog meer, hoe noemenswaardig is hulle impak op armoede? As „n
maatstaf om armoede te verlig en die nie-sosiale armoede- aanwysers te verbeter van die
armes, het die regering die sosiale toelaes vermeerder sedert die aanvang van demokrasie.
Die land se sosiale toelae stelsel is gevorderd en dek „n wye verskeidenheid groepe van
individue, aangesien dit bedoel is om weerlose individue te dek vanaf kind tot volwassene
deurlopend tot die bejaarde. Beleidsdiskoers om die toelaes fokus op die volhoubaarheid van
die stelsel en die implikasies daarvan vir ontwikkeling. Dit is daarom van belang dat die
belangrikheid hiervan uitgewys word en die impak daarvan geillustreer word, deur op hul
trefkrag te fokus in die armste van huishoudings. As „n middel to armoedeverligting op
sigself is toelaes nie voldoende nie, en Suid-Afrika se armoede verligtingstrategie moet
hoofsaaklik lê in werkskepping en ekonomiese groei. Verder is daar belangrike uitdagings in
die stelsel, soos byvoorbeeld die feit dat daar geen armoede toelaes spesifiek gemik op die
werkloses is nie; „n gevolg hiervan is dat daar te veel druk geplaas word op die bronne van
die huishoudings wat toelaes ontvang en dat die hele huishouding in armoede gedompel
word. Gevolglik ontstaan die vraag: Hoe kan die regering die probleem oplos van
konsentrering van die armes rondom die toelaes? Hierdie dissertasie sal sistematies wys dat
die gebruik van sosiale sekuriteit as „n armoede- verligtingsbeleid is effektiek gegewe die
omvangreikheid van armoede in Suid Afrika en die beperkings op bronne. Dit sal ook wys
dat die besluitnemingstrukture in huishoudings beinvloed die manier waarop toelaes die
bron-allokasie beinvloed om laer vlakke van armoede te bereik. Die vlak waartoe die kontant
oordraging na die arm huishoudings via die toelaes die vlak van armoede verlig word in alle
waarskynlikheid tot „n groot mate beinvloed deur die besluitnemingstrukture in sodanige
huishoudings wat toelaes ontvang. Daar is bewyse dat die toelaes gedeel word in uitgebreide
huishoudings, wat daarop aandui dat besluitneming breedweg unitêr geneem word of
gesamentlik. Ons kan egter slegs die uitkomste en nie die besluitnemingsproses in die
verband bespeur nie en kan daarom slegs tot tentatiewe gevolgtrekkings kom. Alhoewel daar
wel rede to kommer is vir die geneigdheid van toelaes om mense se gedrag negatief te
beinvloed, is waar wel „n saak om toelaes te behou, hoewel nie as die enigste, maar wel as „n
belangrike vorm van armoedeverligting. Dit lê die klem op die nodigheid van deurlopende
navorsing op die arbeidsmark en die toelae- oorsaaklikheidsverhouding. Dit wys ook dat navorsing op die vrugbaarheidseffek van die toelaes is nodig, veral as daar spekulatiewe
besorgdheid is wat die beleid op die impak van kindertoelaes op fertiliteit mag beinvloed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/6653 |
| Date | 03 1900 |
| Creators | Lekezwa, Bongisa Indira |
| Contributors | Siebrits, Krige F., University of Stellenbosch. Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. Dept. of Economics. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 130 p. : ill. |
| Rights | University of Stellenbosch |
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