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The Private Affairs of Public Sector Pensions in South Africa: Debt, Development and Corporatization

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Reforming Pensions in Developing and Transition Countries

Part of the book series: Social Policy in a Development Context ((SPDC))

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Abstract

Towards the end of its rule, the apartheid government converted its contributory pension system for employees in the public sector from one that effectively functioned as a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) scheme to one that is fully funded (FF). This chapter seeks to explain the reasons behind this change and to understand its contemporary consequences. It does this within the context of the enormous development challenges facing South Africa and the inadequacy of the social policy responses of the democratic government. Conceptually, the chapter is located within a new trend in development thinking, one that asserts an intrinsic role for the social policies of the state in the development process. In so doing, this approach seeks to shake social policy loose from its moorings to the remedial action associated with the discipline of social work designed to deal with the failures of the market. Instead, it proposes that social policy should encompass a fully fledged developmental and redistribution agenda.

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Authors
  1. Fred Hendricks
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Geneva, Switzerland

    Katja Hujo (Research Coordinator) (Research Coordinator)

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© 2014 UNRISD

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Hendricks, F. (2014). The Private Affairs of Public Sector Pensions in South Africa: Debt, Development and Corporatization. In: Hujo, K. (eds) Reforming Pensions in Developing and Transition Countries. Social Policy in a Development Context. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137396112_8

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