Institute for Economic Justice & Social Policy Initiative
An emergency Covid-19 cash transfer has opened a window of opportunity for the expansion of comprehensive social assistance to the working age population in South Africa. The transfer has become a key site of contestation between two camps: One group of actors, made up predominantly of the National Treasury and conservative economists with the backing of the International Financial Institutions, wish to reduce coverage through more narrow targeting, conditionality, and automation – in the name of fiscal consolidation. The other group, made up of civil society and labour organisations, progressive political parties, and the Department of Social Development, are campaigning to build the transfer into a rights-based universal adult income-support system. This contestation goes beyond the case of a single cash transfer – to the heart of the battle between austerity and constitutional rights in South Africa.
