Page 7 - Service Delivery Review

News in Brief

President Ramaphosa reaffirmed government’s com- “This is why our economic policy is guided by the
mitment to addressing inequality through means that need on the one hand to implement structural re-
show real benefits. forms to stimulate growth and enhance our economic
competitiveness, while on the other hand expanding
“The SRD alone represents a significant step in our social protection and public employment and sup-
commitment to provide a minimum level of support porting the social wage,” President Ramaphosa said.
below which no South African should fall. [We] are
working on options to provide basic income support
for the unemployed, within our fiscal constraints, be- Beyond the benefits and upsides of the social pro-
yond the expiry of the SRD Grant in April next year. tection system, President Ramaphosa reminded the
[We] are working on options to provide basic income nation that social security is also a right protected by
support for the unemployed, within our fiscal con- the highest law in the country – the Constitution.
straints, beyond the expiry of the SRD Grant in April
next year. “The right to social security is explicit in the Bill of
Rights. This is an approach that recognises that so-
A helping hand cial security is essential to other rights, including the
“If the focus of our struggle for liberation was to end
apartheid and achieve political freedom, the focus right to dignity. It is this right that has underpinned the
of our efforts now must be to address inequality and progressive expansion of South Africa’s social pro-
ensure that every South African enjoys the fruits of tection system over the past three decades.
democracy,” the President said.
“In 1999 just over 2.5 million people were receiving
Honing in further on inequality, President Ramaphosa social grants. Today that number has increased to
highlighted that government is making steady prog- over 18 million people. In addition, more than two mil-
ress in addressing the challenge while also imple- lion indigent households also receive free basic wa-
menting reform.
ter, basic electricity and solid waste removal services
as part of this government’s commitment to free ba-
“It is now well recognised that inequality constrains
growth, and that growth which takes place in unequal sic services for the poor,” President Ramaphosa said.
societies tends to reproduce those patterns of in-
equality. – SAnews.gov.za

SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 15. No. 3 of 2023 7