Social grants and poverty alleviation in South Africa: Addressing dependency attitude and behaviour

Abstract

One of the myriad of social problems confronting South Africa is pervasive poverty. The national and provincial governments, through the Department of Social Welfare and Development, have tried to address this social problem through social grants scheme aimed at poverty alleviation. The issue however is that the case of poverty with support dependency appears to be worsening even in the face of mounting government spending on poverty alleviation. This paper, relying on content analysis as a method of inquiry, historicizes the origin of social grants scheme and also endeavors to ascertain whether the quality of life of families receiving social grants has improved after receiving these grants. The argument advanced in this paper is that social grants do not provide a sustainable way by which poverty can be tackled headlong. This paper thus proposes strategies such as empowering people through education, capacity building and popular participation in social and economic activities, as possible ways towards achieving sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction in South Africa.