Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, has published a Green Paper on comprehensive social security and retirement reform for public comment.

It includes a mandatory pension and insurance system among the proposals.

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The department said that the absence of a statutory arrangement providing pensions and insurance is the most obvious gap in South Africa’s social security system.

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“Such an arrangement must be mandatory, should provide adequate but affordable benefits, and should pool risk across the workforce. It should be designed to interact with non-contributory social assistance as well as contributory arrangements, both statutory and voluntary,” it said.

The department said that the design of a new social security system must consider the varying needs and risks of different groups during the life cycle, including death, loss of income/ support due to old age, disability and long-term unemployment.

“Consideration should be given to the changing world of work and experiences of informally employed and informal sector workers – and those in an atypical work environment such as gig economy and platform workers.”

The Green Paper notes that those who live long beyond their salary-earning years need an adequate income in retirement, but those who die young require assurance that their dependents will be provided for.

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