The Effects of Colonialism on Social Protection in South Africa and Botswana

This chapter examines how two former British territories—South Africa and Botswana—followed quite different paths toward an apparently similar system of social protection, focused on social assistance programs. South Africa’s adoption of social assistance programs was shaped by ideas and models from Britain (as well as Australia and New Zealand), but adapted to local conditions (including especially the perceived need to uphold a racial hierarchy). These programs later expanded despite the ambivalence of political elites both under and after apartheid. In Botswana, social assistance programs originated in response to very different challenges (drought and AIDS) and different external ideas (from the World Food Programme). In these two cases, different external ideas and local challenges led to broadly similar policy outcomes.