MAPPING SOUTH AFRICA’S CARE REGIME: PATHWAYS TO A CARE-FOCUSED SOCIAL POLICY

The document analyzes South Africa's care regime, tracing the impact of the apartheid-era migrant labour system and post-apartheid neoliberal policies like GEAR on the distribution of care. It highlights the systemic undervaluation of both paid and unpaid care work, which predominantly falls on Black women and older persons. The paper critiques the 'familialist' approach of the White Paper on Social Welfare and the underfunding of social welfare services, leading to a bifurcated system where quality care is a private privilege. It concludes by advocating for a national care policy based on the '4R' framework (recognition, reduction, redistribution, and revaluation) to socialise care and dismantle intersectional inequalities.

• The apartheid-era migrant labour system fundamentally altered Black African households by forcibly removing men to urban centres, shifting the burden of care and social reproduction to women, children, and the elderly in rural 'homelands'.
• Post-apartheid macroeconomic shifts, specifically the transition from the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to the Growth, Employment, and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy, moved the state from a direct provider to a facilitator, promoting neoliberal austerity and private sector-led growth.
• The 1997 White Paper on Social Welfare (WPSW) adopted a 'familialist' approach that relegates care to the private sphere of households, failing to address the gendered division of labour and the disproportionate burden on women.
• While social grants like the Child Support Grant (CSG) and Old Age Pension (OAP) reduce poverty, they often reinforce traditional gender roles by relying on women to mediate and deliver these benefits through their own unpaid labour.
• Social welfare services are chronically underfunded compared to social security; in 2012, approximately 90% of the social development budget went to social security, leaving only 10% for welfare services.
• The Early Childhood Development (ECD) sector exemplifies a bifurcated care system where the state relies on a small subsidy (approximately R17 per child per day), leaving low-income families to face high private fees or inadequate informal care.
• Paid care work in South Africa is characterized by a 'care penalty,' where professionals like nurses earn significantly less than non-care professionals (such as engineers) despite similar education and skill levels.
• Domestic work is highly racialized and gendered, with Black African women overrepresented in the sector and earning average monthly salaries between R2,700 and R3,700, which is below the national minimum wage.
• Older persons, particularly Black African women, provide critical intergenerational care, often in 'skip generation' households resulting from the HIV/AIDS epidemic, while simultaneously relying on the Old Age Pension for household survival.
• The author advocates for a national care policy based on the 4R framework: recognition of unpaid work, reduction of the care burden through infrastructure, redistribution of responsibilities, and revaluation of care work beyond capitalist profit motives.

APA

Kasan, J. (2024). MAPPING SOUTH AFRICA’S CARE REGIME: PATHWAYS TO A CARE-FOCUSED SOCIAL POLICY. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IEJ-CareEconomy2.pdf

Chicago

Kasan, Juhi. MAPPING SOUTH AFRICA’S CARE REGIME: PATHWAYS TO A CARE-FOCUSED SOCIAL POLICY. Institute for Economic Justice, 2024. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IEJ-CareEconomy2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kasan |first1=Juhi |title=MAPPING SOUTH AFRICA’S CARE REGIME: PATHWAYS TO A CARE-FOCUSED SOCIAL POLICY |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=September 2024 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IEJ-CareEconomy2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kasan2024mapping, author = {Kasan, Juhi}, title = {{MAPPING SOUTH AFRICA’S CARE REGIME: PATHWAYS TO A CARE-FOCUSED SOCIAL POLICY}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IEJ-CareEconomy2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }