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.
GCIS
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.
Photo by Luba Lesolle/Gallo Images via Getty Images
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.
Photo by Marco Longari / AFP via Getty images
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.
Photo courtesy UCT News
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.
EFE-EPA/Nic Bothma
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.
Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
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.
EFE-EPA/Kim Ludbrook
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.
Mujahid Safodien/AFP via Getty Images