UN chimes in on basic income grant for South Africa
A representative from the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation says that a basic income grant would go a long way to providing essential social protection to people in South Africa.
Christina Behrendt, the head of the Social Policy Unit in the Social Protection Department of the UN’s International Labour Organisation, said that guaranteeing at least a basic level of income security is a key function of a national social protection floor.
“Minimum income grants and other social assistance benefits play a key role in guaranteeing at least a basic level of income security,” she said.
She was speaking on a panel discussion, which included representatives from the BRICS nations and the Department of Employment and Labour. The panel was hosted under the BRICS umbrella for the theme: “Ensuring Decent Work, Dignity and Respect for All.”
The BRICS working group said it is time for South Africa to make a final determination on the R350 social relief grant (SRD) and possibly replace it with a Basic Income Grant (BIG).
Sipho Ndebele, a representative from the Department of Employment and Labour, said that government currently recognises the importance of social protection in promoting economic growth, reducing inequality and alleviating poverty.
Developing policies and programmes that enable informal workers to acquire skills and access opportunities for decent work is essential, said Ndebele.
“We must ensure that informal workers have access to social protection that includes health insurance, pensions and others.”
Ndebele added the informal economy provides employment for a significant proportion of the labour force in BRICS countries.
Joni Musabayana, the director for decent work at the ILO, added that the country has to be disaster ready at all times, and social protections need to be in place to limit the impact of these.
According to Musabayana, social protection in South Africa covers around 53% of the population, far higher than the rest of Africa, which has an average of 12%. This, in turn, poses a challenge for an influx of people crossing borders to access such social safety nets.
Musabayana noted, however, that the real issue is the unemployment challenge in South Africa.
In February this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa affirmed the government’s position on introducing a targeted basic income support package – separate from the SRD grant.
The SRD grant was initially meant to provide temporary relief to people below a certain income bracket during the pandemic but has subsequently been extended.
A new basic income grant will likely be aimed at assisting with the ever-increasing cost of living in South Africa, said Ramaphosa.
As it stands, 60% of the national budget goes to the country’s social wages, including free services for indigent households and in terms of social grants.
Analysts and researchers have raised concern over the possibility of the government implementing a politically popular policy at an unaffordable cost to the country.
The extension of the SRD grant has already faced major backlash for being nonsensical in terms of the financing power needed to support it – a new grant is likely to only added fuel to the fire.
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