Shaping the Future: Civil Society, Party Politics and Child Social Protection in South Africa, 1994-2024

Isaac Chinyoka

Isaac Chinyoka Professor, Department of Sociology, Criminology, Women Studies and Anthropology, Colorado State University Pueblo; Global Scholar, Africa Center, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver; Research Associate, Center for Social Development in Africa, University of Johannesburg https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9722-6855

Keywords: social policy, child poverty, social grants, child support grant, cash transfers

Abstract

South Africa’s social grants for poor families with children provide a model child social protection system in the developing world. This article identifies the distinguishing characteristics, traces the evolution and explains the child welfare regime in South Africa. The paper applies a political economy approach and concludes that domestic civil society and party politics were central in shaping a regime that is expansive, relatively generous and poverty targeted. This work is important because it shows the significance of a comprehensive child grants system in reducing child poverty and the centrality of legislating children’s social security rights as a pre-requisite for social policy reforms.

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