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If SA wants to plug the huge gaps in social inequality, the poor must be empowered and not treated as charities.
This is according to former public protector and law professor Thuli Madonsela, who said that all South Africans, even in government, must ensure that the underprivileged have the power to fend for themselves and lift themselves out of poverty.
Madonsela, who is the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University, has also rated the Covid-19 Social Distress Relief Special Grant of R350 per month as ‘palliative care’ as it does not address the root cause of inequality. .
President Cyril Ramaphosa introduced the grant, which will remain in effect until the end of January, during the coronavirus lockdown in South Africa. It is open to anyone who is not a beneficiary of any other form of social security subsidy or FIU payment and who is unemployed.
While his department was one of the groups that supported the extension of the government grant, he said: “We know that is palliative care.”
Madonsela added: “That is really giving people Panado. Sustainable development is about making sure we find out why people are poor and how we can help them out of poverty, not just out of poverty. “
Madonsela said that to create a nation where all thrive, you need to create programs that address pertinent questions, such as who would benefit from them and whether the program would actually reduce poverty or exacerbate disparity.
Addressing the second annual Social Justice Summit he organized on Wednesday, Madonsela, who also launched a crowdfunding initiative aimed at promoting equality and eliminating poverty, said that many South Africans were already doing something to end poverty and poverty. inequality, such as helping family members with food, transportation, and medical services.
Too often, he said, this has been a “just us approach,” when people only cared about themselves and who they were like. She said that this approach not only resulted in injustice, but also in huge inequalities, as seen with the apartheid system that did not bring any sustainable peace and development due to the exclusion of the majority of South Africans.
Speaking of the crowdfunding initiative, called Plan Musa for Social Justice (Plan M) and based on the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe after World War II, Madonsela said that the idea was not to give charity, “but we took it hand in hand and we are with you so that you get up and can stand on your own ”.
“Why are we doing that? We do it because the African notion of coexistence has always been about ‘stronger together’. It’s more like elephants … Elephants will help an elephant that is in trouble, they will cry when an elephant is in danger, even if it is not from their tribe. Because they know that when they work together they can achieve much more, against everything else, “he said.
Madonsela added: “But the other important thing about this social justice plan M is that it is not about us helping people altruistically… It is about helping people to recognize that they have the ability. It is an approach from scratch. We use the science that we have to help communities understand sustainable development goals so they can be elevated and then connect them with resources and government, resources and businesses, but also with the Social Justice Fund. “
Madonsela said the new M fund, where all South Africans can donate as little as R5, will be an impact investment fund “where we don’t invest at random, but rather invest in a dream.”
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