Johannesburg, South Africa – With a third of the population unemployed, poverty has dramatically increased in South Africa in the past five years, and millions depend on grants. As South Africans head to the polls on 29 May, both the ruling party and its challengers are promising to introduce a universal basic income – something activists have long called for, but are sceptical a new government can deliver.
For Elisabeth Raiters, an unemployed black woman living on the outskirts of Soweto, life is a daily struggle.
Her latest adversary is the public body responsible for distributing monthly cash grants first introduced as a Covid emergency measure. Scores of people in her community trying to secure the payments rely on her to take on complicated paperwork and possible corruption.
"I give people advice," she told RFI from her home in Eldorado Park, a suburb of the township on the edges of Johannesburg.
"I work on the ground with beneficiaries, so I've picked up on a lot of cases where people only have maybe 200 rand [about 10 euros] in their bank account, and actually get declined by the government because of these 200 rand. Like it's too much... Yet the threshold is 624 rand."
That amount, the equivalent of just over 30 euros, is the threshold below which someone has to earn per month to qualify for the government's Covid relief grant.
It corresponds to South Africa's food poverty line – the amount of money a person needs to afford enough food to get their minimum recommended daily energy intake.
Those whose monthly income falls below the cut-off are eligible for a stipend of 350 rand – around 18 euros.
Introduced in May 2020, the scheme has since been extended multiple times. The government now promises it will remain in place until at least early 2025.
But on the ground, says Raiters, a lot of people get left out.
"There's so much red tape now around the grant," she said, adding that she was working with progressive think tank the Institute for Economic Justice to take the government to court over the roadblocks.
"Beneficiaries are really not accessing this grant."
Millions living in poverty
South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.
Out of a population of 61 million, 32.9 percent are unemployed – far more than when the ruling African National Congress (ANC) came to power 30 years ago and faced the task of dismantling an apartheid system that concentrated wealth and power in the hands of a white minority.
Since then the country's economy has struggled to grow, remaining practically stagnant for the past decade.
As a result, millions of people in the continent's most industrialised economy live in poverty. An estimated 28 million rely on welfare grants, which include child support, disability and old age allowances as well as the Covid stipend.
Raiters now says she has lost faith in the ANC to deliver meaningful solutions.
She is supporting the ActionSA party in the upcoming election, while her sister plans to vote for the Democratic Alliance. Both are part of an opposition coalition called the Multi-Party Charter, which promise to reform the current system of social aid.
Universal income
Raiters says she and her community have learned how to navigate the complex grant system, and want to focus on how to improve or replace it.
"I think we definitely need job creation; there's no jobs, so we need job creation," she told RFI. "But I think a universal basic income grant should be introduced."
Several parties have promised to bring in some form of basic income if they win enough support at this month's election, including the ANC and ActionSA.
The Social Policy Initiative, a Johannesburg-based think tank that specialises in inequality and social security, is among the civil society groups advocating for an unconditional grant.
"Poverty, particularly in South Africa, but across the world, is a construct that is generated – it's not due to an individual's pathological laziness or some sense of moral weakness within them," argues Isobel Frye, the institute's executive director, who notes that some 55 percent of South Africans live below the national poverty line.
"That's where the idea of basic income comes in. It meets people's needs, it gives people sufficient access to be able to support livelihoods."
In addition, Frye says, studies suggest that households receiving a basic income "are more likely to be able to go out and look for jobs" – with the extra cash helping to pay for basics such as transport to interviews or an internet connection to search for ads.
Campaign promises
Raiters believes a basic income grant would be easier to distribute than means-tested stipends.
"It will also make sure that I have the proper nutrition and earn more money," she told RFI.
The idea of a basic income has long been mooted in South Africa, though economists typically dismiss it as unaffordable given the country's stretched public finances.
The ANC pledged this week that its scheme would be funded by extra tax measures, committing to finalising the policy within two years.
The Universal Basic Income Coalition, an alliance of civil society groups pushing for unconditional grants, welcomed the ruling party's announcement – but also urged the government to reconsider some of its other policies, including austerity measures and post office closures, that stand in the way of people claiming existing stipends.
As the election looms, disillusioned voters like Raiters worry that the latest promises will once again prove empty.
