The South African Social Security System (SASSS) has two major aims. The first aim is to alleviate poverty, and implement measures to help people who cannot maintain a minimum standard of living and who cannot be part of the employment group, which would include children, the elderly and people with disabilities. The second aim of the SASSS is to accumulate an investment in public health, education, and nutrition in order to also increase
19 the economy of the country. Another objective of this programme is to prevent poverty in situations of unplanned or natural disasters (Woolard, Harttgen, & Klasen, 2010:2-7). Under the SASSS there is the Disability Grant, also known as the Disability Cash Transfer (DCT).
The DCT is categorised into two: The Temporal Disability Cash Transfer, which last for at least six months and accommodates individuals who cannot work for such a period as a result of an illness or a temporary injury, and the Permanent Disability Cash Transfer, which is for individuals who are unable to work because of poor health and major disabilities preventing them to be in the labour market. According to Goldblatt (2009:370), as cited by Sibanda (2012:17), the Disability Cash Transfer is directed at and only available to young adults between the ages 18 and 59, who are found to be medically, unfit to obtain employment or participate in the labour market, in order to support themselves. Sibanda (2012:17) stated that in order to be granted the Disability Cash Transfer, one must be deemed unfit to work or obtain employment by a medical practitioner. Further, in the case of South Africa, one must be a South African citizen, and be living in South Africa, and pass the means test to obtain the grant or rather qualify for the DCT.
According to Woolard et al. (2010:10), the means test of DCT criteria requires that a person be disabled to the point that they cannot work or support themselves. Gooding and Marriot (2009:692) explained that the means test can be a selection problem since it focuses on income rather than on expenses, thus, it does not consider other extra costs associated with a person`s type of disability. Mitra (2010:1692) supported Gooding and Marriot’s (2009) claim that people with disabilities have many costs of living, such as medical bills, transportation and care costs.
‘There is a specific process flow, from the point of first contact to the last point in the value chain, where a grant application is approved or disapproved. In terms of SASSA’s procedural manual, a four step process is outlined for the grant application process. The process includes screening, attesting, quality control and verification.” (Mokgala, 2015: 81-82)
The process may take longer in several areas as a result of various delays, which may end up frustrating applicants.
In South Africa, the Disability Cash Transfer should be renewed every five years if it is to be permanent (Hatla, 2010:23). According to Lang, Groce, Kett, Trani, and Bailey (2009:2), from a global viewpoint, it is estimated that there are about 650 million people with
20 disabilities, where 80% of the people live in countries that are developing. Furthermore, Lang et al. (2009:2) pointed out that there is strong subjective evidence that people with disabilities are one of the mostly discriminated and publicly excluded groups within communities.
The South African Statistics Report (2014: v) reported that 7.5% of the South African population is regarded as having some form of disability. The highest proportion of people with disabilities was found in the Free State Province at 11.1%, followed by the Northern Cape Province with 11%, the North West Province at 10%, the Eastern Cape Province with 9.6%, KwaZulu-Natal at 8.4%, Mpumalanga Province with 7%, Limpopo Province with 6%, the Western Cape at 4.5%, and lastly Gauteng Province, with 5.3%. Therefore, based on the above statistics report, KwaZulu-Natal, where the study will be based, has 8.4% of the population as recorded as having a disability.
The Disability Grant is one of the broad social assistant programmes in South Africa (Goldblatt, 2009:370). The Disability Cash Transfer, Child Support Grant and the Old Age Grant are the largest programmes in the social expenditure (Mitra, 2010:1693). According to the National Treasury Republic of South Africa Budget Review (2014: x), the government will spend about R410 billion on social grants for the next three years. Gordhan (2016:22) emphasised the increase of social assistance expenditure to R165 billion in 2018/19, from R129 billion allocated for the year 2016. The Disability Cash Transfer is non-contributory in nature, and the appropriateness measure, means-testing, and how big the grant is, are detailed in the welfare regulations (NO. R.373 of 1996), which is under the Social Assistance Act, Act No. 59 of 1992 (Lienbenberg and Tilley, 1998:7). The purpose of a disability grant is to reimburse individuals for loss of income (Potts, 2011:82). The Disability Cash Transfer is one of the largest of the social assistance programmes (Goldblatt, 2009:370; Triegaardt and Patel, 2005:130).
According to Goldblatt, (2009:370) and Triegaardt and Patel (2005:130), the rise of the Disability Cash Transfer beneficiaries is a result of the rising number of people with HIV, who are now able to apply and qualify for the Disability Cash Transfer. Standing (2008: 21- 22) also mentioned the growth of the Disability Cash Transfer disbursement as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Standing (2008: 21-22) mentioned that there is a rule based on obtaining the Disability Cash Transfer if a person has HIV/AIDS. The rule is that,
“Those with a CD4 count - a measurement of the body’s immunity - below a value of zero are entitled to a temporary disability grant, if they pass those means
21 tests; however, they are supposed to de-register if their CD4 count improves to above 200 due to anti-retroviral.”
The Disability Cash Transfer is the only grant that accommodates the working age population. It can be either temporal or permanent depending on an individual`s condition. A temporal Disability Cash Transfer is given to a person with a disability and this could last for at least six months and more, but not over a year; the permanent Disability Cash Transfer caters for individuals in cases where there is no change in the individual’s functional abilities as expected. Both these types of disability transfers are the same amount which is R1510.00 as of the year 2016 (Mitra, 2010:2).