ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the nature and implications of the South African approach in two policy sectors: income maintenance and health care. It explores the extent to which South African social policy diverges from other developing country approaches in terms of the instruments, strategies and actors utilized and, most significantly, in terms of the normative underpinnings, goals and objectives of policy choices. Access to health care for all South Africans remains a key challenge for the country's policymakers. Debates concerning the optimal reform path have increased in urgency in recent years and led to the proposed introduction of an ambitious reform a system of National Health Insurance (NHI). Although Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs are increasingly accepted by the international donor community as being functional for broader development objectives, the initiative is contentious and has generated widespread debate within South Africa. The extension of the social security net has been hailed as one of the greatest policy successes of South Africa.
