Speaking at the ANC’s 111th birthday celebrations, President Cyril Ramaphosa received warm applause when he announced that effectively nearly half of South Africans were receiving some form of social welfare assistance.
According to Ramaphosa, about 18-million people receive old age, child support and disability grants. In addition to this, 11-million more people receive the R350 grants that were instituted as a measure of providing assistance for those who could not eke out a living because of Covid-19 restrictions.
Those who are able to, including cabinet ministers, would rather pay high medical aid premiums than take their chances with the country’s health system. Where a theft is reported to the police, it is often so that the insurance company processes can be complied with rather than an expectation that law enforcement can find culprits and return stolen goods.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. It is actually a good thing. A state that has a preferential option for the poor and the marginalised is to be applauded.As helpful as the state’s intervention is, the average person finds dignity in being able to provide for themselves and not depend on handouts. Even babies who have not yet mastered their hand-to-mouth co-ordination insist on feeding themselves.
How many of us would be happy to be spotted in those queues waiting for the state to dole out some cash our way? Surely there must be other less invasive ways of the state helping the poor. Other recipients of social grants such as those who get old-age pensions and child grants have alternatives.
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