Unpacking the Issue of Progressive Realisation of the Basic Income Grant: A South African Perspective

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Date: 01 December 2023
• Pages: 1-30
• Author: Mokgwati Justice Kgaphola,Itumeleng Clarence Tshoose
• Published date: 01 December 2023
• publishedBy: UNISA Press
• DOI: 10.25159/2522-6800/15384

Article

Southern African Public Law

https://doi.org/10.25159/2522-6800/15384

https://unisapressjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL

ISSN 2522-6800 (Online), 2219-6412 (Print)

Volume 38 | Number 2 | 2023 | #15384| 30pages

© Unisa Press 2023

Unpacking the Issue of Progressive Realisation of

the Basic Income Grant: A South African

Perspective

Mokgwati Justice Kgaphola

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7908-4128

University of Pretoria

justicemokgwati.kgaphola@gmail.com

Itumeleng Clarence Tshoose

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1663-0301

University of Limpopo

Itumeleng.tshoose@ul.ac.za

Abstract

This article examines the issue of progressive realisation of the Basic Income

Grant (‘BIG’) in South Africa. The article locates the BIG within the broader

framework of the specific provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of

South Africa (1996) that pertain to the protection of the socio-economic right to

access socialsecurity, including, appropriate social assistance. The article

investigates the competence, flaws, challenges and prospects of these provisions

related to the protection of and access to appropriate social assistance for all. It

recognises the polarity of the current social security system in general, and the

inequitable social assistance model. Furthermore, this article evaluates whether

South Africa is progressively realising the ideals encapsulated under the BIG.

Keywords: basic income grant; social security; social assistance; poverty; inequality;

COVID-19 social relief of distress grant

Kgapholaand Tshoose

2

Introduction

In recent years, the concept of a Basic Income Grant (‘BIG’) has attracted attention in

the global and South African social protection discourse.1This discourse gathered

significant momentum in the face of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Not only

did COVID-19 pose a health risk to human lives, but it also exposed the many gaps that

permeate South Africa’s social security system.2The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the

underlying socio-economic challenges faced by millions of South Africans.3 During

COVID-19, individuals in formal employment, as well as poor and unemployed

individuals, witnessed an unprecedented threat to their socialand economic rights,

including, the right to health care, sufficient food and water.4Importantly, the right to

have access to health care was more challenging than other rights entrenched in the

Constitution.

Equally, the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the right to access social

assistance.5Social assistance is provided subject to means-testing,6which targets those

who are most in need.6The concept of social assistance7is defined as state-provided

basic minimum protection to relieve poverty, subject to qualifying criteria of a non-

1 F Barchiesi, ‘South African Debates on the Basic Income Grant: Wage Labour and the Post-apartheid

Social Policy’ (2007)Journal of Southern African Studies564; G Standing, ‘India’s Experiment in

Basic Income Grants’ 2013 3(5) Global Dialogue24; U Gentilini and others, ‘Overview: Exploring

Universal Basic Income’ in U Gentilini and others (eds), Exploring Universal Basic Income- A Guide

to Navigating Concepts, Evidence and Practices(World Bank Publications 2020) 1.

2 L Patel, ‘Social Work and Social Development Challenges t o the COVID-19 Pandemic’ in NT Tan

and PK Shajahan, Remaking Social Work for the New Global Era (Springer Nature 2022) 18.

3 E Mbunge, ‘Effects of COVID-19 in South African Health System and Society: An Explanatory

Study’ (2020) 14 Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Reviews 1809–1814; S

Schotte and R Zizzamia, ‘The Livelihood Impacts of COVID-19 in Urban South Africa: A View

From Below’ (2023) 165 Social Indicators Research 2–27; Cf C Tshoose and L Ndlovu ‘COVID-19

and Employment Law in South Africa: Comparative Persp ectives on Selected Themes’ (2021) 33(1)

SA Merc LJ25–56; T Hart and others, ‘The COVID-19 Pandemic Reveals an Unprecedented Rise

in Hunger: The South African Government was Ill-prepared to Meet the Challenge’ (2022) 16

Scientific African 1–14.

4 The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (hereafter ‘the Constitution’) s 27(1)(a) and

(b).

5 L Vanleeuw and others, ‘Falling Through the Cracks: Increased Vulnerability and Limited Social

Assistance for TB Patients and Their Households During COVID-19 in Cape Town, South Africa’

(2022) 2(7) PLOS Glob Public Health 1–18.

6 Social Assistance Act 13 of 2004 (hereinaft er ‘the SAA’).

7 For further reading on the substantive meaning of the fundamental right of social assistance, see G

Vonk and M Olivier, ‘The Fundamental Right of Social Assistance: A Global, a Regional (Europe

and Africa) and a National Perspective (Germany, the Netherlands and South Africa)’ (2019)

European Journal of Social Security228–229.