Administrativ

e Framework
of SS
Chapter 4
Introduction
• The administration of social assistance in South Africa is
the responsibility of the Department of Social
Development, which is a state department under the
leadership of the Minister of Social Development.
• In terms of national legislation, the Minister may
delegate the administration of social assistance, and
has done so.
• The delegation of responsibility to the South African
Social Security Agency (SASSA) was done in terms of
the South African Social Security Agency Act in 2004.
• The legal provisions pertaining to the institutional and
administrative framework of social assistance are set
out in the South African Social Security Agency Act 9 of
2004
• The South African Social Security Agency Act has been
enacted to -
• “provide for the establishment of the South African
Social Security Agency as an agent for the
administration and payment of social assistance” in
South Africa.
• The express purpose of SASSA is to act as the sole
agency involved in the management, administration and
payment of social assistance in South Africa.
• Since SASSA is subject to the provisions of the Public
Finance Management Act which regulates the
management of finances in national and provincial
government and is a juristic person, this satisfies the
requirement relating to administration by a public
authority.
Organisation of system and institutions
• Institutions are statutory bodies or departments of government.
• Features of statutory bodies:
-directors
-created by statute
-control by government
-legal personality (what does this mean?)
Features of government departments
• A responsible ministry supervises it.
• Civil servants form the staff.
• Administration supervised on tripartite principles (what are
tripartite principles?)
• Advisory councils advise the minister.
• Funds are allocated to and invested by the National Treasury
Characteristics of social security
administration

• Registration
• Collecting and recording of contributions
• Awarding of and payment of benefits
• Monitoring and enforcing compliance
The Promotion of Administrative Justice
Act
• Exercise
• Write an essay of no more than one page in which you discuss the following:
-the aims and provisions of PAJA.
-the impact of section 33 of the constitution and PAJA on social security regulation
and delivery in SA.
• Bushula and others v Permanent Secretary, Department of Welfare,Eastern Cape and another
2000 (2) SA 849 (E) (van Rensburg J); Rangani v Superintendent-General, Department of
Health and Welfare, Northern Province 1999 (4) SA 385 (T) (Kirk-Cohen J); Bacela v MEC
for Welfare (Eastern Cape Provincial Government) 1998 1 All SA525 (E);
(PDF) Regulating access to the disability grant in South Africa, 1990-2013. Available from:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260981842_Regulating_access_to_the_disabilit
y_grant_in_South_Africa_1990-2013
[accessed Aug 18 2023].
Problems with service delivery
• Social Assistance schemes:
- Unilateral withdrawal of social grants - due to lack of ID and
other documents etc
- Poor levels of service – standing at the bank for a long time
still exist
- Corruption and fraud – Mashonisas etc
- Means-testing.- ineffective targeting mechanisms
• - Financial shortfalls - the scope of coverage of the scheme is
limited.
• Persons who are not too young, too old or too disabled to work but
who are nonetheless indigent are excluded and marginalised.
-
• The means-test has also been labelled as an ineffective targeting
mechanisms. The point is that often the prospective beneficiaries cannot
afford the travel costs associated with the commute to the offices
responsible
• for the administering of the means-test. It must be recalled that some of
the most indigent persons in South Africa live in the so-called deep rural
areas.
• This problem is made worse by the fact that the SASSA offices are largely
situated in urban areas, the rural
• poor are largely illiterate and requisite documents such as identity
documents and birth certificates are often difficult to acquire for those
who live in remote areas.
Problems with service delivery: social
insurance
• Some funds on the brink of insolvency due to poor
administration, corruption and fraud.
• Lack of databases and links between schemes.
• Double-dipping
• High administrative costs.
STATUTORY AMENDMENTS AND NEW
LEGISLATION

• In groups, discuss and explain the innovations brought about in

our social security landscape by the new Social Security Agency
Act 9 of 2004 .