| April 2014 | CSD PERSPECTIVE 14-23 |

Social Workers Shaping Welfare Policy in South

Africa: The White Paper for Social Welfare and
Lessons for Policy Practice
By Leila Patel
Centre for Social Development in Africa
University of Johannesburg

Introduction White Paper Preamble

This perspective was created from Leila Patel’s keynote The White Paper preamble states the following:
address to the conference Social Innovation and South Africans are called upon to participate
Engagement: Social Challenges, Policy Practice, and in the development of an equitable, people-
Professional Training of Social Workers, which was centred, democratic and appropriate social
held at Washington University in St. Louis on April 6-8, welfare system. The goal is the creation of
2014. The Center for Social Development at the George a humane, peaceful, just, and caring society
Warren Brown School of Social Work invited Dr. Patel to which will uphold welfare rights, facilitate
tell her story of the White Paper for Social Welfare. the meeting of basic human needs, release
people’s creative energies, help them achieve
Birth of a New Nation their aspirations, build human capacity and
Adopted in 1997, the White Paper for Social Welfare self-reliance, and participate fully in all
was one of the early policy initiatives of the post- spheres of social, economic, and political life.
apartheid government led by South Africa’s former South Africans will be afforded the opportunity
president, Nelson Mandela. The Paper is significant to play an active role in promoting their own
because it broke with past inequitable, inappropriate, well-being and in contributing to the growth
and undemocratic welfare policies of the apartheid and development of our nation. (Department of
era.1 It also set the policy framework for social welfare Welfare and Population Development, 1997)
in a post-apartheid society. The inauguration of Nelson The preamble could be read in different ways. For
Mandela as President in 1994 heralded the birth of the some, it might suggest a residual or a neo-liberal
new nation. Mr. Mandela symbolized the opportunity approach, while others might see it as rather
to dismantle the old and create a new constitutional institutionalist in its formulation. It also has elements
democracy that would uphold social rights. This was of human agency and human capabilities and features
an important moment in South Africa’s history. This productivist thinking about the role of social policies
context provided a unifying force to develop a national in promoting economic and social development. The
consensus of social welfare despite different ideologies, notion of people’s participation in social welfare is
interests, social divisions, and social concerns in the captured in popular demands that were articulated by
society. It was a time of nation building, healing the grassroots organizations for “people’s education” and
wounds of the past, and public engagement in policy from progressive social workers for “people’s welfare”
making. This period also marked the formal end of 300 and “welfare for all” in the 1980s. All of these ideas
years of Dutch and British colonialism and apartheid. informed progressive social workers’ thinking about
developmental social welfare, which is the overarching
1
Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that approach to social policy in a post-apartheid society.
was the policy of the Nationalist Party Government between 1948 South Africa is one of the few countries in the world
and 1994. It classified the population into four race groups: Whites, that adopted an explicitly developmental approach
Africans, Coloureds, and Indians.
to social welfare in the mid-1990s. Its political, based on U.S. and British literature, which often did
economic, and social history as well as the country’s not neatly fit within South Africa’s context. Oscar
tradition of colonial- and apartheid-driven social Lewis’s “culture of poverty” theory did not make
policy informed these ideas. Patterns of racial sense to me in a framework of structural inequality
and class inequality were established early in and political and economic exclusion (1969). It
the country’s history. Ideological beliefs of racial did not explain the realities of poverty that I saw
superiority of the White settlers permeated all around me in my everyday life growing up in a small
aspects of social welfare. These patterns formed a rural town where poverty and racism were rife and
powerful justification for apartheid, including issues disturbing. A question that emerged for me later
of accessibility to services and benefits that were as a student social worker was whether social case
racially differentiated. work or a social-treatment approach to social work
was simply a “Band-Aid” and an attempt to appease
Constitution Making from Below: and co-opt the poor. When the limits of micro-level
approaches to bring about social change became
A Vision for a New South Africa evident to me, my interests shifted to social policy,
South Africans’ history of resistance was a powerful community action and development, and macro
early influence in policy development. International practice.
developments, such as the UN World Summit for These issues and concerns were debated among
Social Development held in Copenhagen in 1995, my peers in social work and the social sciences and
also influenced the thinking on social-welfare policy. among student activists in South Africa at the time.
James Midgley, a former South African based at the The uprisings at Soweto in 1976—in which thousands
London School of Economics, was actively engaged of Black African school children marched against
in research and publishing on social development Bantu education, reinforcing the marginal position
and social welfare in developing countries. The of Africans in the economy and society—politicized
“development under-development” thesis on how students nationally and drew many students into
the first world developed at the expense of the opposition politics on campuses. I became involved
developing world resonated with South Africans in providing support to students and their families
struggling to understand race and class inequality who were detained by the security police, and later
in their society (Midgley, 1995). Midgley’s work on in community struggles against apartheid in the
professional imperialism was particularly instructive 1980s.
in that regard (1981). Therefore, there was
The Soweto uprisings rekindled the spirit of
certainly some influential diffusion of global social-
resistance in the country. There was a resurgence
policy ideas about social welfare, particularly in
of the antiapartheid movements that were also
relation to the British social-policy tradition. Much
prompted by the growing economic and political
of this literature at the time was not accessible to
crises of the apartheid state and society in the
South Africans as it was well before the information
1980s. It became evident that the system was no
age, but also because apartheid repression
longer economically and politically viable. The
restricted access to research and scholarly work
situation was worsened by the global oil crisis;
elsewhere in the world.
international isolation of the state; and the growing
I had the opportunity to study in the United States legitimacy crisis of the state as grassroots groups
as a Fulbright scholar and completed my masters in community, student, youth, civic, and women’s
of social work at West Michigan University in 1979. organizations began to make demands on the state
While in Kalamazoo, I read anything that I could lay for improved living conditions, equal education, and
my hands on in an attempt to understand both my food security, among others. Mass labor action in
own experience as a “non-white” South African and the 1970s provided the impetus for the rebuilding of
also social welfare in the context of a developing a labor movement in the country.
country marked by conflict and division. I was
particularly interested in studying what opposition Community Struggles Shape the
movements to apartheid had to say about social
welfare in South Africa. Social Development Agenda
Thus, my journey began to make sense of welfare It was about this time that I became the editor of
options in South Africa with an elective paper on a community newspaper called Grassroots. Its goal
social welfare and resistance to apartheid. Much was to educate, inform, and raise communities’
of what I studied in social work in South Africa was critical consciousness of their local realities

2
and struggles. Limited coverage was given to organizations engaged in welfare programs provided
issues of local concern in the mainstream media, alternative models of social welfare in their vision,
and Grassroots aimed to address them. The values, goals, and methods of practice, and that
newspaper was owned and operated by community this might be useful in informing future policies.
organizations in the Western Cape, and soon When I embarked on this research in 1988, there
other community newspapers emerged around the was a state of emergency in the country and
country. repression was widespread. Small pockets of
In 1983, the United Democratic Front (UDF) was researchers were quietly working on alternative
formed, made up of an alliance of 600 grassroots policy research in different sectors of society, such
organizations, trade unions, and religious as health and education. The research on welfare
organizations to oppose the government’s plans to alternatives was disseminated via CSW and other
grant pseudo-political rights to Indians, Coloureds,2 professional associations at conferences, workshops,
and urban Africans in a tricameral parliament. The and small group discussions inside South Africa. It
UDF opposed these developments and led a mass also reached activists outside the country.
resistance inside the country. The African National In 1990, to South Africans’ absolute disbelief, the
Congress (ANC) and liberation movements outside government announced the unbanning of political
the country were engaged in an armed struggle organizations, which paved the way to a negotiated
against the state. The UDF was not formally aligned settlement, the adoption of a Constitution and
with the liberation movements, although some of its a Bill of Rights, and a general election in 1994.
members were members of the ANC. Of significance The transition between 1990 and 1994 laid the
are the struggles—regarding issues such as washing foundation for the White Paper process. During
lines, electricity, affordable rent, decent wages, this period, many grassroots and professional
jobs, equal education, crèches, and health care—of organizations conducted research to set and
the UDF and its affiliates in the 1980s that spoke influence the policy agenda. This occurred in
to the needs of ordinary people for a better life. different fields. National forums were established
It was the combined power and strength of mass in different social sectors to lobby and advocate for
opposition movements in collaboration with the social policy reforms. I was mandated by a working
trade unions that propelled the social-development group to produce a concept note on national
agenda in the country. sectorial forums and the need for such a forum
In addition to being one of the founding members in the welfare field. This led to the first inclusive
of the UDF, I was also involved in a number of National Welfare Summit held in 1993, which later
women’s organizations as well as Concerned Social culminated in the establishment of the National
Workers (CSW). Concerned Social Workers was Welfare Forum. The Welfare Forum played a key
formed to oppose apartheid in the welfare field. role in the national-policy process that resulted in
In their chapter in a book about worldwide social- the White Paper.
justice advocacy, Terry Sacco and Jeanette Schmid, At about the same time, my colleagues and I
two members of CSW, wrote of the role social were involved in the National Children’s Rights
workers play in opposing apartheid. Social workers Committee (NCRC), which advocated for the
contributed by drawing attention to the plight of inclusion of children’s rights in the Bill of Rights.
both social workers who were detained and also The NCRC was an alliance between children’s
of children who were arrested for antiapartheid organizations, researchers from different fields,
activities and advocacy for social justice (Sacco & and UNICEF that compiled a research report on
Schmid, 2014). the Situation of Children and Women in South
One of CSW’s projects was to begin a dialogue in Africa in 1993. One of the members of the NCRC,
the profession about what a social-welfare system Brigitte Mabandla, also served on the constitutional
might look like in a non-racial and democratic South negotiations committee that was under way at the
Africa. This work was part of my doctoral research time. She later became the Minister of Justice.
on social-welfare policy options in a post-apartheid In addition to helping to write and compile the
society. The research involved analyses of social report along with a group of eminent experts, I
welfare, development programs of opposition also published my doctoral research on welfare
movements, and the implications for future policy options at this time. This work provided the
welfare policy options in a democratic society. conceptual foundation of the approach to social
My hypothesis was that progressive grassroots development that informed the White Paper and
2
The term Indians refers to people of Indian origin, and the term was later published as a book (Patel 1992).
Coloureds refers to people of mixed race.

3
Following the national elections and the installation national welfare budget was tied up in these types
of the Mandela government, new policies in keeping of services); (d) social workers were concerned
with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were about sharing their power with other social-service
developed in all spheres of society. In 1995, I was professions such as community development
invited by the Minister and Deputy Minister for workers and child and youth care workers as well
Social Welfare to lead and manage the process of as paraprofessionals (e.g., auxiliary social workers);
developing the White Paper for Social Welfare. In (e) various interest groups representing vulnerable
1996, I was appointed Director General of Social populations (e.g., people with disabilities, children
Welfare and served in that position until January in need of specialized services) were anxious
1998. The government recently appointed a that their needs would not be accommodated;
ministerial committee to review the White Paper, (f) some religious groups opposed proposals that
with work slated to be complete in late 2015. I am a outlawed corporal punishment in residential child-
member of the current review committee, which is care facilities on grounds that the discipline of
chaired by Professor Vivienne Taylor, a social worker children was a divine right; and (g) the trade union
and eminent antiapartheid activist. movement argued for proposals for universal social
security provisions.
White Paper Process Finally, the limits of the social-treatment approach
In view of the political contestation over the to social work were also debated. For instance, the
direction of social welfare in the Government of disability-rights movement was critical of the social
National Unity (including the former Afrikaner work profession’s medical approach and its failure
Nationalist Party) led by President Mandela, the to address social and structural barriers in meeting
national and provincial Ministers of social welfare the needs and rights of this population. The policy
reached an agreement regarding terms of reference proposed the integration of services and a better
for a participatory process of policy making. An balance between remedial, preventive, promotive,
overall structure made up of a national committee and developmental interventions. One of the
with eight technical committees was established controversial issues was the child-maintenance
with participation from the government—both system, which reached only a few thousand
national- and state-level representatives—including beneficiaries while denying access to child benefits
nonprofit and faith-based organizations, the for the majority of African children and families.
National Welfare Forum, academics, and policy The White Paper recommended that the policy be
researchers. With this structure in place, I was reformed.
then tasked with crafting all of its reports into a In January 1996, I commenced my term of office
comprehensive policy framework that contained as the first Director General (DG) of Social Welfare
a set of principles, guidelines, proposals, and and Population Development in the Government
recommendations. This was published as an official of National Unity. Initially there were delays
Discussion Document, which was debated at a in the adoption of the White Paper in view of
national consultative conference with members political differences between the ANC and the
from more than 400 organizations in the country in NP. Abe Williams, the Minister of the portfolio,
attendance. Thereafter, the government published was a Nationalist Party Minister, and he and his
a Green Paper for public comment. Revisions were party were reluctant to appoint a DG who was an
made based on the extensive input to the process, ANC supporter. However, once President Mandela
and substantive issues were debated in the national and Deputy Minister of Welfare Geraldene Fraser
committee and with political principals. A key party Moleketi made their preference clear, I was
in this debate was the National Treasury, which appointed by the Cabinet as DG, paving the way
was concerned about the cost implications of the for me to resume the process of getting the White
proposals. Paper adopted by parliament. As DG, I had the
The types of substantive issues that were debated positional authority to manage and negotiate the
included the following: (a) what the nature and adoption of the policy through the parliamentary
content of the developmental approach entailed; processes. My appointment also facilitated the
(b) how it might be applied in practice; (c) concerns process with which I was personally involved as
about how the past legacy of apartheid would be well as in the drafting of the policy. Because I
addressed (e.g., there were concerns about what was familiar with all aspects of the document
would happen to elderly White people living in including the various submissions from external
residential facilities for the elderly as 87% of the and governmental stakeholders, I could speak
directly to every clause in the document when

4
queries were raised. This involved interactions with The partnership model of service delivery between
the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee of Social government and nonprofit organizations (NPOs)
Welfare, which is a multi-party structure. Public remains contested as NPOs are underfunded. The
hearings and side meetings were held with different courts have also ruled against the government and
political parties to discuss their concerns about the have cautioned against the abrogation of state
policy. After much debate and more revisions, the responsibility for welfare services, which is a
policy was adopted in 1997, two years after the constitutional obligation (Patel, 2012).
process was formally started. The shift from a social-treatment approach to
The final White Paper that was adopted by social development did not occur. A number of
parliament in 1997 was a negotiated document factors have been identified, such as different
with many compromises. For instance, terms such interpretations, about what the approach entailed
as self-reliance crept into the document and have conceptually. A lack of institutional capacity
been interpreted in different ways. Policy proposals to implement the policy remains a key issue,
with significant fiscal implications were removed along with resistance to change and a lack of
and replaced with recommendations for further clear direction about how to implement the
policy proposals and research. The language of developmental approach (Patel & Hochfeld, 2013).
fiscal restraint also emerged in the document
as the treasury began to take a more cautious Lessons Learned throughout This Process
approach because the financial implications of
A range of factors pertaining to policy
previous White Papers had not been considered
implementation have had a negative impact
before being adopted. The welfare policy lagged
on welfare-service delivery and the scaling-up
behind other policies that were adopted early
effects of the developmental approach to social
on in the transition. South Africa also had a huge
welfare and social work. This resulted in uneven
debt at the time and was emerging from negative
implementation of the various components of the
economic growth rates over two decades. In 1998,
policy (Patel 2005).
the government adopted a voluntary structural
adjustment program that was severely criticized • There is the growing realization in the welfare
as a retreat from its earlier social goals. However, field and among citizens in general that we can
policy proposals to develop and implement develop the most visionary policies, but if insuf-
child-support grants were accepted in 1997 and ficient attention is paid to policy implementa-
implemented in 1998. In January 1998, I left tion, the policy will never become more than a
the government three years before my contract good idea.
expired. The building blocks had been laid, and • Institutions, institutional arrangements, and
others needed to take the process forward. people with the right knowledge and skills are
crucial.
Implementation of the White • Inadequate financial and fiscal policies to sup-
Paper for Welfare port welfare-service delivery by both the gov-
ernment and NPOs are major obstacles in imple-
The White Paper for Welfare accomplished a mentation.
number of social welfare goals (Patel 2005). These • Governmental social-development departments
include the expansion of social protection (i.e., in South Africa are staffed largely by social-work
cash transfers) between 1994 and 2014. Cash practitioners who find it difficult to bridge the
transfers to older persons, people with disabilities, micro–macro divide.
and children now reach close to 40% of the poor.
It is now acknowledged to be one of the country’s • Crossing disciplinary boundaries for social work-
most effective poverty-reduction programs and has ers in the real world of policy making and prac-
significant effects on reducing inequality. Social tice does not come easily.
protection is fully publicly funded and remains • Bringing about change on the scale required to
one of South Africa’s greatest achievements in the give effect to the White Paper required large-
implementation of developmental welfare. scale change and management interventions
However, progress in implementing welfare services across the government, NPOs, professional orga-
was less impressive. Underfunding of welfare nizations, and training institutions. This was not
services continued, and there was the crowding implemented and much resistance to the new
out of welfare services to expand social assistance. direction in social welfare was encountered (Pa-
tel, Schmid, & Hochfeld, 2012).

5
• Transformational leaders are needed across are larger than individuals and that the policy
governments, and NPOs are crucial to drive a implementation process needed to find its own
change agenda. path.
• Limited knowledge and skills exist in evidence- After I left the government, I spent four years as
based policy making, monitoring, and evaluating Deputy Vice Chancellor and Vice Principal of the
of social development policies and programs. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg,
• Social-policy training of social workers needs to which was a good cooling-off period for me.
take greater account of these issues. Since 2002, I have been at the University of
Johannesburg as a social-work educator and a
Despite these challenges, much has been achieved researcher. Now, I am involved in studying the
in setting a new path for social welfare in line with implementation of the White Paper among other
the country’s constitutional vision in the policy and contemporary social-development issues in a
legislative domain. Much has also been done to set changing global and regional context. Last year, I
the standards for the delivery of developmental accepted a position on a Ministerial Committee,
welfare programs and social-work education. chaired by Professor Vivienne Taylor, to review the
A major challenge for the future is to grow and White Paper for welfare. Only time will tell how
strengthen the developmental approach to social this will unfold.
welfare conceptually and to continue growing I believe the South African story of developing
innovation- and evidence-based social development and implementing a welfare policy remains an
practice. These good practice lessons will not only inspiring one. Now I worry about new issues such
be valuable in the South African context, but also as corruption in government, institutions not
may provide guidance for social work and social working for poor people, and how to promote
development in both developing- and developed- youth employability, among others. When in doubt
country contexts. about how to proceed, I return to an early lesson
that I learned in my doctoral research: Learning
Concluding Remarks and from below, from what people are actually doing
Acknowledgments in practice, can provide powerful insights for how
to find solutions to complex social issues.
I have told the story of the White Paper in various
published works before, but I have not inserted
myself into it until now. This is a new experience
for me. In telling the story, I have shared what
role I believe I played in this process. This is not to
diminish the large and incredible role that many
other people played in the struggle for justice,
in the transition period, and in shaping welfare
policy. I wish to acknowledge them all: CSW, a
formidable force in this process; fellow activists in
the UDF and the women’s movement in the 1980s;
my colleagues in the Department of Social Welfare
in the government who supported the White Paper
process, including members of the technical and
management committees; and the many individuals
and organizations who shared their ideas with us.
Like many South Africans, I was a witness to what
happened. The reality of apartheid affected me
from birth. I was a participant in the events that I
have described.
It was with a heavy heart that I left the government
in early 1998. I wondered whether I could have
handled the conflicting roles between politicians
and administrators differently, as my departure
had a significant impact on what followed. But
over the years, I also learned that these processes

6
References Author
Department of Welfare and Population Leila Patel, PhD
Development. (1997). The White Paper for Social Professor, University of Johannesburg
Welfare. General Notice 1108 of 1997. Pretoria: Director, Centre for Social Development in Africa
Government Printers. Retrieved from www.socdev.
gov.za Contact Us
Midgley, J. (1981). Professional imperialism: Social Center for Social Development
work in the third world. London: Heinemann. George Warren Brown School of Social Work
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developmental perspective in social welfare. Campus Box 1196
London: Sage Publications. One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130
Lewis, O. (1969). Culture of poverty. In D. csd.wustl.edu
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Patel, L. (2012). Poverty, gender and social
protection: Child support grants in Soweto, South
Africa. Journal of Policy Practice, 11(1–2), 106–120.
Patel, L. (2005). Social welfare and social
development in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford
University Press.
Patel, L. (1992). Restructuring social welfare: The
options for South Africa. Johannesburg: Ravan
Press.
Sacco, T., & Schmid, J. (2014). Politicizing welfare
and humanizing politics: Social workers opposing
apartheid South Africa’s policies. In N. Yu & D.
Mandell (Eds.), Subversive action: Extralegal
practices for social justice. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid
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Schimd, J., & Sacco, T. (2012). A story of resistance:
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Suggested Citation
Patel, L. (2014). Social workers shaping welfare
policy in South Africa: The white paper for social
welfare and lessons for policy practice (CSD
Perspective 14-23). St. Louis, MO: Washington
University, Center for Social Development.