State-Building and the Making of the Racially “Exclusive” Welfare State in South Africa

This chapter recounts the development of the welfare state in South Africa since the turn of the twentieth century. It reveals the circumstances surrounding the creation of the first-ever state-funded social safety net with ties to the political revulsions of the early 1920s in the mines. The poor white problem provided fertile ground for social security to enter the political fray and consequently cement their existence as integral to the relationship between the state and the white population. Old-age pensions emerged out of these contestations between the working class and mining industry albeit taking a means-tested form. Blacks would not feature as immediate beneficiaries until 1940s with an expenditure budget lower than that for whites. This remained unchanged until 1993 when equalisation came into effect.