ABSTRACT

This chapter explores some of the factors exerting pressure on South Africa's older population and ultimately its ill-equipped social welfare system will be identified. By investigating the available data resources, factors such as population ageing, AIDS, unemployment and poverty will be scrutinized. Emigration from South Africa by mainly skilled workers, mandatory retirement ages, the pressure to make workplaces demographically representative, the fact that the HIV/AIDS epidemic has hit the people of working age the hardest, all contribute to not only a loss of skills, but also a shrinking workforce. It is forecast that South Africa will lose 32.6 per cent of its workforce by 2020 as a result of this deadly disease. The high and escalating unemployment rate in South Africa is one of the most critical socio-political problems facing the government. The Social Assistance Act makes provision for the payment of grants. The old-age grant is currently the largest social security transfer in South Africa.