Note: Report commissioned by the moderate Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA), via the Sociology of Work Unit (SWOP). It must be stressed that this report takes an essentially social-democratic position, given the client. I subsequently wrote a substantially revised, rather more radical version (I should publish it one day). The report was written five years into South Africa’s parliamentary-democratic transition, and outlined the history of social welfare in South Africa (including its racist features), and the way in which the post-apartheid state (in its early years), deracialised welfare but applied harsh austerity measures (that gutted the reforms). In later years, spending on welfare has increased, but remains completely unable to remove the deep inequality within the country.
Get the PDF here.
SUGGESTED CITATION: Lucien van der Walt, 1999, “From Apartheid to Neo-liberalism? Social Security and Security and the Condition of the Working Class in South Africa”, research report for Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA), presented at “Enhancing the Trade Union Role in Social Security Systems in English-speaking African Countries”, ICFTU – African Regional Organisation (ARO), Nairobi, Kenya, 15-17 September.
Lucien van der Walt 