South Africa’s social grants, which benefit a third of the country’s population, are widely celebrated. But these grants fall far short of addressing the country’s malnutrition challenge.
South Africa’s social compact is at breaking point and the country may need a dialogue similar to its 1994 political transition talks to get out of the crisis.
In his 2017/18 budget speech, South Africa’s finance minister Pravin Gordhan opted to focus on taxing high income earners to find desperately needed money.
In preparing the 2017 national budget South Africa needs to take heed of warnings that its historical austerity measures are hurting the poor and even costing lives.