South Africa’s social protection system was designed to support the most vulnerable, but as this episode of Voices of Change makes clear, the distance between policy and lived reality remains stark. In conversation with host Heidi Giokos, Black Sash’s Kgothatso Sibanda offers a grounded view of the barriers communities face when trying to access rights that should be straightforward and reliable.
Drawing from real cases documented by Black Sash and its community partners, Kgothatso describes how inequality shapes every step of the process. For many people, simply reaching a government office requires taxi fare they do not have. Others wait in long queues only to be turned away because one document is missing, even when the system itself failed to process or retain information correctly. In rural areas, the nearest access point can be impossibly far; in urban centres, offices are overwhelmed and under-resourced. These are not administrative “hiccups”; they are structural failures that push vulnerable households deeper into crisis.
Heidi guides the discussion to illuminate the human cost behind these barriers. A suspended grant is not a technical issue; it is food that cannot be bought, chronic medication that cannot be collected, school transport that cannot be paid. And because women carry the primary responsibility for children, sick family members, and household survival, the burden of navigating these systems falls overwhelmingly on them. Kgothatso highlights the gendered nature of social protection failures: when grants are delayed or denied, it is women who must stretch impossible budgets or absorb the emotional fallout.
The episode also addresses another critical barrier: documentation. Without birth certificates or identity documents, people are effectively locked out of the state. This
includes migrants, undocumented South Africans, and children whose caregivers lack the knowledge or resources to navigate Home Affairs. For these groups, the denial of social protection is not a temporary setback but a generational risk.
Black Sash’s work, as Kgothatso explains, sits at the intersection of support and accountability. Community advice offices assist individuals with applications, appeals and case tracking, while monitoring systemic trends to push for national-level reform. Through this dual approach, they expose patterns of exclusion that might otherwise remain hidden; technical glitches that mass-suspend grants, biometric failures that prevent older persons from accessing income, or procedural inconsistencies that vary between offices and provinces.
Heidi and Kgothatso place particular emphasis on the gap between policy intention and practical implementation. South Africa’s legal framework is robust; the Constitution and social assistance legislation establish clear rights. But rights without access are hollow. The episode makes the case that administrative justice is not an abstract principle; it is the mechanism through which dignity is either upheld or denied.
Ultimately, the conversation is a reminder that social protection is not charity. It is a matter of justice, equity and the state’s responsibility to its people. Kgothatso’s insights reveal both the fragility and necessity of the system, and the work required to ensure that it supports (rather than fails) the communities who rely on it most.
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