Other social assistance initiatives

ESS-33 129 Although the flow of official development assistance started increasing just after Independence, it has in practice not served as a major source of financing. Between 1993 and 2008 per capita ODA grew from US2 to US23, an increase from 0.21 per cent to 0.42 per cent of gross national income figure 70. Despite the steady rise in ODA funds, they clearly lagged behind the volume from which some neighbouring countries benefited during the same period. Figure 70. South Africa: ODA flows as a percentage of GNI and in per capita terms, 1993-2008 Source: World Bank, 2010. As to the social sector, South Africa still faces important challenges in terms of poverty and inequality. The country has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world, and more than four of every ten citizens still live under conditions of poverty. As to human development, South Africa ranked 129th in the Human Development Report 2009, far below its position in terms of GDP per capita, which is almost double that of Namibia. Yet Namibia ranks one position above South Africa in the Human Development Index. This is due largely to a low life expectancy index 0.442 for South Africa which is affected by the high prevalence of HIV UNDP, 2009. Roughly 5 million South Africans are living with HIV. In addition, special challenges face the country with regard to infant and maternal mortality table 14. 130 ESS-33 Table 14. South Africa: Socioeconomic indicators, various years Indicator Year Result Source Poverty percentage of the population living on less than US2 a day 2000-2007 42.9 UNDP, 2009. Gini coefficient 2007 57.8 UNDP, 2009. Human Development Index 2007 0.683 UNDP, 2009. Life expectancy at birth 2007 51.5 UNDP, 2009. Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births 2008 45 World Bank, 2010. Maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births 2010 300 World Bank, 2010. HIV and AIDS prevalence percentage of the population 16.9 2007 Shisana et al., 2009. Adult literacy rate percentage 1999-2007 88 UNDP, 2009. Children under-weight for age percentage 1998 15 World Bank, 2010.

9.2. Social protection: Programmes and investment

South Africas social protection system is what the Inter-Regional Inequality Facility 2006 calls “a system of targeted social grants” that provides cash transfers to specific groups such as the disabled, the elderly and children. Access to both social insurance and social assistance is considered a right under Section 271c of South Africas Constitution. Eligibility to all grants is determined by income-based means-testing and all the programmes are financed out of general taxation. Of the three categories of social protection programmes in South Africa social insurance, social assistance and universal benefits, social assistance is the most important in terms of coverage and financing. Since 2006 the management and payment of social assistance grants is in the hands of the South African Social Security Agency SASSA. Currently, SASSA administers the following social assistance grants: • Grants for people 60 years of age or more, in the form of a state old-age pension. • Disability grants, which provide support for adults with disabilities. • Child support grants, which provide a subsidy for families with children under 14 years of age. • Foster child grants, in the form of a cash transfer to families with under 18 year olds in foster care. • Care dependency grants, which provide monetary support for families with children with disabilities. The SASSA also administers the War Veterans Grant, the Grant-in-aid and the Social Relief of Distress programmes, but these are more limited in scope than the five grants mentioned above. All the programmes are financed through general taxation, and eligibility is dependent on an income-based means test. South Africa also has three social insurance programmes: Unemployment Insurance Fund, the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Fund and the Road Accident Fund. Contributory pensions also exist for public servants under the Government Employees Pension Fund. By 2008 a total of 13.1 million South Africans, or 27 per cent of the population, were receiving a grant of some kind. The total number of beneficiaries thus increased by a