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A South African panel recommended the country gradually implement a basic income grant, beginning with the institutionalisation of a monthly welfare payment introduced last year to offset damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
“There is no alternative to a system of income support for income-compromised adults from the ages of 18-59 as a permanent part of the social protection framework,” Alex van den Heever, the chair of social security systems administration and management studies at the University of Witwatersrand and a member of the panel, said Monday.<\/p>\n
The panel was appointed by the Department of Social Development, the International Labor Organization and the United Nations-backed Joint Sustainable Development Goals Fund.<\/p>\n
The monthly welfare payment of R350 ($21.82), which was reintroduced after civil unrest in July, is set to end in March.<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana last month resisted calls by civil-society groups for increased welfare spending and for the introduction of a basic income grant – a policy business organizations say is unaffordable. The National Treasury has said it will only set aside additional funds for social relief if state finances improve by February.<\/p>\n
While about 18 million South Africans, or a third of the population, receive welfare payments, most of those come in the form of old-age pensions and child support payments.<\/p>\n
South Africa is the world\u2019s most unequal nation, according to the Thomas Piketty-backed World Inequality Lab.<\/p>\n