This chapter critically examines South Africa’s social protection system as a valuable case for bidirectional policy learning between the North and the South. Despite persistent socioeconomic inequality, South Africa’s welfare state coverage has grown significantly from under 10% to over 40% in recent years. This represents a significant reimagining of welfare’s role in negotiating political transitions and addressing historical racial injustices. The chapter highlights how the design of social transfers has generated self-reinforcing mechanisms, thereby cultivating beneficiary constituencies while addressing historical inequities. Post-apartheid South Africa also demonstrates how to significantly expand social protection while ensuring some degree of fiscal sustainability. By transcending reductionist considerations of economic rationality or constitutional imperatives, this chapter illustrates how contextual economic realities mediate policy efficacy and how policy design choices reflect broader normative commitments to social inclusion and rights. Consequently, it serves as a compelling case for learning for societies in the Global North grappling with historical injustices.