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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The 1944 Pensions Law Amendment Bill: old age security policy in South Africa in historical perspective, ca. 1920-1960 | | Author(s) | A Sagner |
| Journal title | Southern African Journal of Gerontology, vol 7, no 1, April 1998 |
| Pages | pp 10-14 |
| Keywords | Pensions ; Social policy ; Black African ; South Africa. |
| Annotation | South Africa and Namibia are the only two sub-Saharan African countries with a comprehensive national pension programme. This article summarises the first results of ongoing research into the origins and social and economic consequences of the 1944 Pension Laws Amendment Bill, which broadened the South African pension system to include the African population for the first time. The Social Pensions legislation in the 1930s and 1940s adopted the poor relief notion of deservingness, and benefit levels demonstrated the anxiety of policy makers about the dangers of family help being adversely affected by the introduction of public schemes. Although state pensions for Africans were very low, they became essential for the survival of many households, and were mainly spent on food and clothing. In contrast to the state's view of welfare, older Africans felt entitled to a social pension. The author argues that the linking of the old-age pension to chronological age did not lead to the emergence of old age as a chronologically defined stage of life because pre-industrial life course models organised around the notion of "building the umzi" (homestead) were still alive in the 1940s and 1950s. (AKM). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980710403 A |
| Classmark | JJ: TM2: TKF: 7PM |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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