A learning state?: a case study of the post-1994 South African welfare regime
- Mungwashu, Sthembiso Handinawangu
- Authors: Mungwashu, Sthembiso Handinawangu
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: South African Social Security Agency , South Africa -- Social policy , Poor -- South Africa , Social service -- South Africa , Public welfare -- South Africa , Social service -- Government policy -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3325 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003113 , South African Social Security Agency , South Africa -- Social policy , Poor -- South Africa , Social service -- South Africa , Public welfare -- South Africa , Social service -- Government policy -- South Africa
- Description: This thesis examines the processes of policymaking in South Africa, as expressed through the shifts in income maintenance policy. The thesis focuses on the processes leading to the establishment of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), as its case study. SASSA is the institutional framework for the delivery of social grants. Our intention is to test the efficacy of what we have called ‘state learning’ in the South African context. Therefore, the overall aim of the study is to assess the capacity of the ‘state to learn’ in the process of policymaking as expressed through the shifts in social grant administration and the institutional framework of social welfare in South Africa. The subsidiary goals of the research includes mapping changes in the system of social grants administration since 1994 in order to assess the sources of the shifts in its institutional framework; to assess processes and responses within the state that result in policy shifts and the extent to which these can be considered dimensions of state learning; to assess the power of ideas in the policymaking process and to assess the influence of non-state agencies/actors in policy contestation and learning processes. This is essential, because social policy, especially welfare policy research in post-apartheid South Africa, has focused on the economic value of policies and not the political processes in policymaking. For the framework of analysis the study draws on theories of learning, especially at the organizational or institutional level. We start from the perspective that policymaking and implementation cannot be reduced to a neatly ordered schema (Lamb: 1987:6). Further, that policy change and policymaking are “iterative, haphazard, and highly political processes, in which the apparently logical sequences of decision-making, may turn out to be the reverse” (Lamb, 1987:6). This is mainly because state building is a complex affair and a contested terrain; policy learning and making are neither benign nor do they involve the state working in isolation (Sabatier, 1998). To understand processes of policymaking in South Africa, we rely on content analysis of primary and secondary materials or documents and in-depth interviews with key informants involved in the policy process. The documentary sources include records of parliamentary debates, green and white papers on social welfare, ANC party documents, presidential task force reports, newspapers, magazines and court judgments. The study reveals that the establishment of SASSA lends itself to the idea of ‘state learning’. Learning is indicated in South Africa by the capacity and ability of the state to stimulate ideas, debate ideas to establish ideational matrixes as well as paradigms that have informed the development of policy, take ideas and implement them to try and solve mismatches between the intention of the state and the outcomes and the ability of the state to produce policy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Mungwashu, Sthembiso Handinawangu
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: South African Social Security Agency , South Africa -- Social policy , Poor -- South Africa , Social service -- South Africa , Public welfare -- South Africa , Social service -- Government policy -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSocSc
- Identifier: vital:3325 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003113 , South African Social Security Agency , South Africa -- Social policy , Poor -- South Africa , Social service -- South Africa , Public welfare -- South Africa , Social service -- Government policy -- South Africa
- Description: This thesis examines the processes of policymaking in South Africa, as expressed through the shifts in income maintenance policy. The thesis focuses on the processes leading to the establishment of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), as its case study. SASSA is the institutional framework for the delivery of social grants. Our intention is to test the efficacy of what we have called ‘state learning’ in the South African context. Therefore, the overall aim of the study is to assess the capacity of the ‘state to learn’ in the process of policymaking as expressed through the shifts in social grant administration and the institutional framework of social welfare in South Africa. The subsidiary goals of the research includes mapping changes in the system of social grants administration since 1994 in order to assess the sources of the shifts in its institutional framework; to assess processes and responses within the state that result in policy shifts and the extent to which these can be considered dimensions of state learning; to assess the power of ideas in the policymaking process and to assess the influence of non-state agencies/actors in policy contestation and learning processes. This is essential, because social policy, especially welfare policy research in post-apartheid South Africa, has focused on the economic value of policies and not the political processes in policymaking. For the framework of analysis the study draws on theories of learning, especially at the organizational or institutional level. We start from the perspective that policymaking and implementation cannot be reduced to a neatly ordered schema (Lamb: 1987:6). Further, that policy change and policymaking are “iterative, haphazard, and highly political processes, in which the apparently logical sequences of decision-making, may turn out to be the reverse” (Lamb, 1987:6). This is mainly because state building is a complex affair and a contested terrain; policy learning and making are neither benign nor do they involve the state working in isolation (Sabatier, 1998). To understand processes of policymaking in South Africa, we rely on content analysis of primary and secondary materials or documents and in-depth interviews with key informants involved in the policy process. The documentary sources include records of parliamentary debates, green and white papers on social welfare, ANC party documents, presidential task force reports, newspapers, magazines and court judgments. The study reveals that the establishment of SASSA lends itself to the idea of ‘state learning’. Learning is indicated in South Africa by the capacity and ability of the state to stimulate ideas, debate ideas to establish ideational matrixes as well as paradigms that have informed the development of policy, take ideas and implement them to try and solve mismatches between the intention of the state and the outcomes and the ability of the state to produce policy.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Resilience in children experiencing voluntary parental absence
- Authors: Kana, Gudveig Kartveit
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Children of working parents -- South Africa , Latchkey children -- South Africa , Children -- Family relationships , Work and family , Public welfare -- South Africa , Social service -- Government policy -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9998 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1167 , Children of working parents -- South Africa , Latchkey children -- South Africa , Children -- Family relationships , Work and family , Public welfare -- South Africa , Social service -- Government policy -- South Africa
- Description: The South African White Paper for Social Welfare (1997:58) acknowledges the importance to children of living in a secure and nurturing family. Nevertheless, many families are unable to fulfil their parenting roles as a result of the increasing pressures in society. One of these pressures concerns the employment of parents. There is an increasing tendency for people to relocate to bigger cities where there are more job opportunities. This then results in many children being left in the care of grandparents or other relatives while the biological parents pursue job opportunities in other cities. The aim of this study was to enhance an understanding of children’s experiences of these voluntary parental absences and the factors that contribute to their resilience during this process. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual design was employed and seven primary school children (10-12 years) from Port Elizabeth participated in semi-structured interviews including drawings. Trustworthiness was ensured and data analysis was conducted by using Tesch’s model (in Creswell, 1998). Four themes were derived from the study: Children’s perception of a family, where the participants defined family according to characteristics of (amongst others) care and love; Children’s experiences of living with a substitute family, where there was a process of detachment from biological parents, attachment to the substitute family and present experiences in the new family; Resilience in children, where the participants revealed their ways of coping; and, lastly, Suggestions from the participants on how other children in the same situation could cope.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
- Authors: Kana, Gudveig Kartveit
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: Children of working parents -- South Africa , Latchkey children -- South Africa , Children -- Family relationships , Work and family , Public welfare -- South Africa , Social service -- Government policy -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MA
- Identifier: vital:9998 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1167 , Children of working parents -- South Africa , Latchkey children -- South Africa , Children -- Family relationships , Work and family , Public welfare -- South Africa , Social service -- Government policy -- South Africa
- Description: The South African White Paper for Social Welfare (1997:58) acknowledges the importance to children of living in a secure and nurturing family. Nevertheless, many families are unable to fulfil their parenting roles as a result of the increasing pressures in society. One of these pressures concerns the employment of parents. There is an increasing tendency for people to relocate to bigger cities where there are more job opportunities. This then results in many children being left in the care of grandparents or other relatives while the biological parents pursue job opportunities in other cities. The aim of this study was to enhance an understanding of children’s experiences of these voluntary parental absences and the factors that contribute to their resilience during this process. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual design was employed and seven primary school children (10-12 years) from Port Elizabeth participated in semi-structured interviews including drawings. Trustworthiness was ensured and data analysis was conducted by using Tesch’s model (in Creswell, 1998). Four themes were derived from the study: Children’s perception of a family, where the participants defined family according to characteristics of (amongst others) care and love; Children’s experiences of living with a substitute family, where there was a process of detachment from biological parents, attachment to the substitute family and present experiences in the new family; Resilience in children, where the participants revealed their ways of coping; and, lastly, Suggestions from the participants on how other children in the same situation could cope.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2009
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