SOCIAL WELFARE SERVICES IN SOUTH AFRICA
3.4 Theoretical Framework for Developmental Social Welfare in South Africa
The function and practice of social work is "substantially dependent on existing structures and are to a great extent affected by the various processes of change within them" (Triegaardt: 2002). According to Drower (2002:9), "recognising the ambiguous location of social work within society and the inter-dependence with its social surroundings allows an avenue to both understanding of its past and future development".
Drower (2002: 10), aptly commented that "today the challenge for South
African social workers is to discern the location of their profession in the light of the rapidly changing nature of their country's social structures and to rectify a heavy reliance on their interpretations of the nature of social work, which has not emerged from Africa, but from values and ideologies of the Western society".
One of the fundamental challenges in South Africa according to Woolard &
Barbeton, cited in Drower (2002: 10) is to reduce poverty and inequality.
Although Drower (2002:10) agrees that poverty is the main issue which confronts South African social work practitioners in their service delivery, five other interrelated concerns were identified by Potgieter cited in Drower (2002:10) namely:
• In 2000, the Department of Social Development identified unemployment rate approximately at 33% of the total possible labour force (cited in Drower, 2002:10).
• There is an unacceptable high incidence of malnutrition, infant mortality and teenage pregnancy (cited in Drower, 2002: 10).
• There is concern over backlogs in the provision of housing, safe water, adequate sanitation and non-polluting energy supplies in both rural and urban areas of the country (cited in Drower, 2002:10).
• Estimates suggest that 10-15 million adults in South Africa are functionally illiterate (cited in Drower, 2002:10).
• It has been found that the incidence of reported violent crimes in and outside of the home, abuse and neglect of minor children, and children living on the streets has increased markedly since the beginning of the 1990s (cited in Drower, 2002: 10).
Chapter Four of the study elaborates further on the social problems, such as poverty, crime, violence with which the social worker is confronted and
explores the impact of these social problems on the social functioning of individuals, families, groups and communities.
According to Drower (2002:11), the 1994 elections resulted in two important events within the broader South African context. This has had wide-ranging implications for social work theory and practice. The first event was the signing into law of the new Constitution of South Africa in December 1996 and, the second was the shift from the people-driven Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to the neo-liberal Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) macro-economic policy (Drower, 2002: 11).
Many new policy initiatives have emerged in post-apartheid South Africa.
Social policy is the instrument for social change designed to correct past imbalances. According to Triegaardt (2002: 326), social welfare policy was to be informed by the Constitution of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996); the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) (African National Congress, 1994); the White Paper for Social Welfare (Department of Welfare, 1997); and the Financing Policy for Developmental Social Welfare Services (Department of Welfare, 1999).
In South Africa, there were raised expectations that with liberation, people would have a right to services. The new Constitution marked a high point in the country's development as a young democracy. The Constitution is unique in its anti-poverty focus. Through its Bill of Rights, it gives all South Africans basic socio-economic rights.
Welfarism was enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996):
a) Everyone has the right to have access to:
(i) health care services;
(ii) sufficient food and water; and
(iii) social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependents, appropriate social assistance.
b) The State must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights (The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996:13).
The Constitution (1996) makes provision for welfare as a concurrent function. The policy implications of this are that welfare (social security and welfare services) is a concurrent responsibility of both the national and provincial spheres of government. The national government develops policies, norms and standards, and provincial spheres of government have an administrative function; that is, the delivery of services.
To meet the needs of the people, the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was adopted by the government as a policy framework for socio-economic development and was envisaged as a response to addressing the inequalities caused by apartheid. According to Blake, cited in Drower (2002:11) addressing poverty was the "first priority" of the government. Its aim was to transform all existing welfare services so as to ensure that all South Africans especially the 'historically disadvantaged' would enjoy basic welfare rights (African National Congress, 1994:52).
These rights were linked to basic needs for shelter, food, health care,
work and income security and to all those aspects that promote the physical, social and emotional well-being of all people in our society (African National Congress, 1994:52).
The RDP was based on six interlinking principles which made up its underlying political and economic philosophy and was wholly in accord with social work values: an integrated and sustainable programme, a people-driven process, peace and security for all, nation-building, the linkage of reconstruction and development, and the democratisation of South Africa (African National Congress, 1994: 4-7).
The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) provided the Department of Welfare with a paradigm shift which moved from viewing welfare from a personal-deficiency perspective to a social development perspective.
However, this icon for the new South Africa was short-lived for three reasons: it ignored South Africa's position in relation to the global economy; it was "user unfriendly"; and the administrative failures of the RDP Ministry led to overall failure of delivery (Munslow & Fitzgerald, 1997:
47). Accordingly, the RDP could not be translated into practice and was replaced as the strategic development centrepiece by the plan for Growth Employment and Re-distribution (thereafter referred to as GEAR) in mid- 1996 (Munslow and Fitzgerald, 1997: 42).
Growth Employment and Re-distribution (GEAR)
When the ANC came into power in April 1994, it inherited an economic system that favoured the white minority. The wealth and resources were, and continue to be, controlled by a few big monopolies. The ANC-Ied government had to strike a balance between the rich and poor. Some of the problems in the economy needed to be faced were: development and
growth, debt and deficit, the size of the civil service, the currency, job creation, research and development, productivity, and lack of skills.
Towards the end of 1995, it became apparent that if the economy continued to grow at around 3% per annum government would not be able to deliver what it had promised in the RDP (Mayibuye, 1997).
In 1996, within the context of the RDP failure and the latter economic concern, the Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, presented a macro- economic framework, "Growth Employment and Redistribution"(GEAR).
According to Triegaardt (1996) the strategy seeks to shift the South African economy onto a new path, one that will ensure:
• a competitive and fast-growing economy which creates enough jobs for all work seekers;
• a redistribution of income and opportunities in favour of the poor;
• a society in which sound health, education and other service are available to all; and
• an environment in which homes are secure and places of work are productive.
Woolard and Barbeton, cited in Drower (2002: 13), describe the purpose of GEAR as that of outlining a "macro-economic policy framework that makes all other policy objectives subordinate to creating macro-economic conditions that will persuade foreign and domestic investors to invest in the South African economy". In essence, GEAR is a strategy to earn more and spend less, so that some immediate gains are sacrificed to longer- term sustainable development. Compared to the RDP, GEAR curtails distribution in order to encourage greater investment and competitiveness (McKendrick, 1998: 100).
Nevertheless, the government continues to reiterate its commitment to the principles of the RDP, and these principles have remained highly influential in the formation of policy within the welfare sector.