Description
The purpose of this assignment is to enable you to apply the relevant knowledge you have
acquired about the various sources of public policy, the challenges facing policy makers in the
formulation of public policy, the various role players in the policy process, and how they
influence and shape public policy. By analysing an actual policy document, you would be able to
reflect critically on how these various elements, related to public policy, come together in the
formulation of a policy document – in this particular case, the South African Government’s
Green Paper on Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement Reform (2021).
Assignment 02 instructions: Carefully read the chapters of the Green Paper on Comprehensive
Social Security and Retirement Reform (2021) identified in the “Sources” below and the relevant
study units in the study guide and answer the questions. If you are not familiar with the Green
Paper and the study material, then you will not be able to answer the questions. Please read the
questions carefully. No marks will be awarded for answers that are not relevant to the questions.
Background
In the “Executive Summary” of the Green Paper on Comprehensive Social Security and Retirement
Reform, it is stated that the social security system in South Africa faces significant challenges, despite
the fact that reform of the system has not been without success in certain respects. One of the recent
challenges has been the covid-19 pandemic, which has contributed towards amplifying “structural
gaps” and necessitated Government’s intervention to “review and take drastic measures to accelerate
the required comprehensive response” to reforming the social security system (Green Paper, 2021: 10).
In the Executive Summary, the Minister identifies 8 “key gaps and proposals” and in Chapter 2 “Social
Security Reform: An Overview”, the Minister sets out a “Social Security Reform Path” for addressing
the key gaps identified in the Executive Summary.
Taking the context provided in the Executive Summary of the Green Paper as your starting
point, you must read both Chapters 1 (Executive Summary) and 2 (Social Security Reform) and
then answer the following questions in your own words:
Identify and discuss five (5) “key gaps” in the social security system, highlighted by the
Department of Social Development, that require urgent attention by the Government; and
then,
Discuss and explain five (5) reforms that the Department of Social Security proposes
instituting to address these “key gaps” in the current South African Social Security system
that are aimed at addressing the ongoing structural inequalities in the social security system,
which are a legacy of the apartheid era.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.