Transitioning to Sustainable Administrative Gatekeeping in Access to Social Grants for South African Adult Persons with Disabilities

This article explores the efficiency in the administration of social grants for adult persons with disabilities (PWDs) in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The focus, in particular, is on explaining why, despite a gatekeeping element, adult PWDs presenting with the same medical condition, with mild or no verifiable impairment, keep returning and are allowed through the system, only to be rejected again, citing the same reasons as before. Administrative gatekeeping, as illustrated in the 2011 Social Grants Disability Management Model, does not extend beyond (i) verifying the correctness of supporting documents and (ii) checking documented proof of medical history to ascertain that applicants of social grants for adult PWDs are not booked for medical assessments within three months of their last assessment. This points to a weakness in the system, as the screening officials cannot turn away applicants of social grants for adult PWDs for any other reason once the documents are verified as correct. Here, we report the findings from responses to structured telephone interviews and structured face-to-face interviews with applicants of social grants for adult PWDs who are residents of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. We conclude that socio-economic circumstances, rather than impairment, are the main drivers for adult PWDs to keep on applying for social grants for adult PWDs and we offer some strategies for addressing this predicament to contribute to a sustainable and an efficient, effective, and economical administration process.

South Africa

In this chapter the authors synthesize the findings from several recent studies on South Africa’s high income inequality. These studies use new datasets—including income tax data—and new empirical methods to investigate the drivers of household income and individual earnings inequality in South Africa. Increased returns to experience and an increased rate of return to tertiary qualifications are key drivers of a widening earnings distribution. Tax data merged with survey data show that those at the top of the earnings and income distributions have done well in both absolute and relative terms, thus increasing inequality. Direct taxes and social grants are progressive, indirect taxes are less progressive, and tax exemptions for health insurance and pension fund contributions are regressive. A significant proportion of the current middle class are vulnerable to falling into poverty. Overall, South Africa has not made progress in reducing its extreme inequality over the past decade.

South African budget prompts cheer and wider divisions

Significance However, cuts to the social grants budget and a continued focus on the planned three-year wage freeze for civil servants has annoyed (among others) the ruling ANC's ‘Tripartite Alliance’ partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). Impacts Pressure will grow on a joint National Treasury-Presidency initiative, ‘Operation Vulindlela’, to hasten long-promised structural reforms. The success of the government’s mass vaccination programme will depend on its efficacy and willingness to work with the private sector. The government's modest economic recovery projections could prove too optimistic if vaccine roll-out falters or further COVID-19 waves hit.

PERANCANGAN SISTEM INFORMASI PENGELOLAAN DANA BANTUAN SOSIAL PADA SEKRETARIAT KORPRI KABUPATEN INDRAGIRI HILIR

This research is conducted in the secretariat of KORPRI management council – Indragiri Hilir regency. The Purpose of this research are to find out, to apply and to build the work system of planning information system of social grants in KORPRI Secretariat Indragiri Hilir regency, Which will give the accurate and efficient information. This research is using Qualitative Descriptive method which describes the research result and analysis in order to dermine the conclusion. In this research, the method used by researcher are through the observation, interview, and documentations to see the clear result and discussion.

Poverty, Inequality and Growth

Cilliers first explores the progress that has been made globally in poverty reduction in a historical context and then the relationship between inequality and growth. He concludes that Africa will miss goal 1 of the Sustainable Development Goals on the elimination of extreme poverty by 2030 by a substantial margin. The chapter uses three income measures of extreme poverty for low, lower-middle and upper-middle countries to frame the current situation in Africa and then discusses and forecasts the impact of social grants on poverty alleviation. A final section presents the results of a scenario, Social Grants for Africa, and compares the results with the poverty forecast in the Current Path.

Ramaphosa’s government faces social relief dilemmas

Significance The pandemic has sharpened questions about the role of South Africa's extensive social grants system in wider economic policy. In particular, emergency provisions have focused attention on those ordinarily excluded from the welfare state, notably young, healthy jobseekers. Impacts The government will struggle to justify continued spending on ailing parastatals over pro-poor programmes. Rising deprivation throws public sector workers’ wage demands and recent strike action into sharp relief. Increased taxation to fund welfare expansion, as advocated by some within the ANC and its Alliance partners, could affect growth prospects.

What Drives Households’ Payment for Waste Disposal and Recycling Behaviours? Empirical Evidence from South Africa’s General Household Survey

Safeguarding the environment and its citizens’ health remains one of the key policy priorities of the governments of many developing and emerging countries. Using the 2017 General Household Survey (GHS) dataset, this study examines the driving factors affecting households’ recycling behaviour and payment for waste disposal in South Africa. The methods of data analysis were based on descriptive statistics and a Bivariate Probit regression model. The descriptive statistics results indicate that there are 56.29% male-headed and 43.71% female headed households, with an average age of 49 years. In addition, the study shows that 89.97% of household heads had formal education with a mean monthly income of 11,099.07 ZAR/650.504 USD. The study also revealed that 22% of the households sampled had access to social grants. The results from the Bivariate Probit regression model show that household’s income, access to social grants, formal educational attainment and the age of the household were significant (p < 0.01) driving factors affecting households’ recycling behaviour and payment for waste disposal. The study concludes that the households’ socio-economic factors affect their recycling behaviour and willingness to pay for waste management in South Africa. Actions targeted at poverty alleviation and environmental sensitization programmes are key for facilitating environmental conservation behaviours of households in South Africa in order to achieve the environmental sustainability Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of the United Nations.