Financial Mail - March 21 2008
There are a few interesting articles in the latest FM. There are two articles in the FM relating to welfare.
- An update on SA's welfare system.
The first one offers the latest statistics regarding South Africa and welfare.
i) 12.4 million South Africans receive income grants (quarter of the population)
ii) Government will spend ZAR105billion on welfare this year (4.5% of GDP)
iii) There were fewer than 6 million South Africans on welfare in 2003
iv) Welfare payments make up 20% of the budget.
The growth in welfare payments is concerning, especially the rate at which the beneficiaries are increasing. This concern is based on the fact that human nature is such that if you provide handouts then people tend to rely on those handouts as opposed to seeking employment. You can read the rest of the article.
- The pragmatic Mr Skweyiya (who apparently is liked by the new Zuma camp, and should not be culled in the next cabinet)
A feature on Zola Skweyiya, minister of social development, describes him as pragmatic: to him security and nutrition for children must come first, followed by other measures to bring the unemployed into the labour market.
This sentiment is in keeping with the requirements for socio-economic development; viz.
3.2.1 Socio-Economic Development Contributions consist of monetary or non-monetary contributions actually initiated and implemented in favour of beneficiaries with the specific objective of facilitating sustainable access to the economy for those beneficiaries.
BUT - before you start fretting about your SED contributions. Skweyiya states that rural children are the worst off of all groups
"They should be the focus of the state's attention. There is a lack of food and water, and the schools are in a terrible state. Our clinics leave much to be desired. I would love that all children had a roof over their heads and were able to have two meals a day, and, most of all, that they were secure. We are trying to see to that but it is a tough task to fulfil."
Skweyiya's vision is to establish an early childhood development centre, or creche, in every village and poor neighbourhood throughout the country. The centre would be a place where children received pre school education, which most poor children miss out on, as well as two meals a day, in an environment that was safe and secure.
These centres/creches have a softer angle to them. They are not patent initiatives that facilitate access to the economy but they lay the groundwork that will see these people standing a better chance of entering the economy. This is what Mel Lewis is doing with the South African Breastmilk Reserve.
Similarly Philimpilo Community Care is a cause that looks at reducing the absentee of HIV positive people. Their mission is simply
To reduce absenteeism by keeping the breadwinner in the workplace, productive and focused, by ensuring his / her family is educated and receiving holistic care with regards to HIV/Aids
This is a method of facilitating sustainable access to the economy. And by increasing the number of days each person works it improves the productivity of the country and reduces the load on the state's welfare system. The person running the project is Julie Peters.
Going back to Skweyiya's creches. Surely these are a potential public private partnership. I'm sure that if a company like Discovery got involved it would achieve many of its own FSC and other goals. Marisa - let's look into this.
Oh and finally
You may have heard that the BEE Advisory Council was finally going to be constituted. The FM writes that there are doubts that it will be constituted within the next five months. The problem lies in the ANC transition next year. The council would probably be reconstituted once the next power regime enters.
It can't be easy being an ex-influential-person-in-the-ANC, except of course if you are Ngcuka (I include this last link because I was quoted again in the Business Times two weeks ago, I'm starting to enjoy this fame)
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