The South African Council of Churches (SACC) called on the Portfolio Committee on Social Development to avoid hasty action on the Social Assistance Bill so that government has time to develop a proper policy framework to inform a coherent legislative agenda for social security reform.

The Council emphasised the importance of the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive social protection programme that can effectively eradicate extreme poverty, diminish economic inequality and lay the foundations for broad-based development. It expressed grave concerns about the capacity of the Social Assistance Bill to further these objectives.

In its submission to the Portfolio Committee, the SACC acknowledged the Department of Social Development's laudable desire to improve the efficiency of South Africa's system of social grants. The social security system is currently regulated by the 1992 Social Assistance Act. This legislation has been assigned to the provinces, making it difficult for the Department to impose uniform standards and practices for the delivery of grants. The new Social Assistance Act is designed, in part, to terminate that assignment and return control to the national Department.

However, the Bill would also make a number of other changes to the system of grants. The Council pointed out that some of these revisions were not consistent with the priorities outlined in the 1997 White Paper on Social Welfare. In the absence of an official response to the 2002 Taylor Committee Report, the White Paper remains the prevailing policy framework for social security reform.

Significant policy departures highlighted by the SACC included:

• The continued exclusion of permanent residents, refugees and asylum seekers and their dependants and undocumented children from access to social assistance, despite the Constitutional guarantee that "everyone has the right of access to ... social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance";
• The lack of provision for social relief of distress, a category of assistance which is intended to plug some of the largest holes in the social safety net;
• Sweeping new powers for social assistance administrators to suspend or redirect grants that they believe recipients are "misusing";
• The creation of a new semi-private Social Security Agency to administer grants;
• The establishment of a Social Security Inspectorate with broad powers of search and seizure; and
• The limiting of civil society partnerships to "welfare" and nonprofit organisations, which could obstruct partnership opportunities for some faith-based organisations.

Departmental officials have discussed several of these issues with a range of stakeholders during the past year. Earlier drafts of the Social Assistance Bill incorporated a number of changes recommended by civil society organisations, but a new version of the Bill, tabled a few weeks ago, omitted most of these revisions.

The Council affirmed the White Paper's commitment to "universal access to an integrated and sustainable social security system" capable of providing "a minimum income, sufficient to meet basic subsistence needs", to all South Africans. In order to achieve this, the White Paper promised: "...[L]egislation will be the end-product of, and not the initial impetus for, policy formulation."

The Council recognised that the long-term need for policy transformation should not preclude making critical reforms in the short term. However, it indicated that short-term changes should be consistent with the long range vision articulated in the White Paper and should reflect that document's action priorities.

For more information, contact Fr. Joe Mdhlela, 083 641 1281.