SADC countries mull bringing social security systems into line

MEMBER states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) plan to harmonise social security schemes in the region.

Researchers and experts last week gathered in Windhoek for the fifth SADC Social Security Specialists’ Conference to prepare recommendations for the annual SADC summit next month. The principles of providing a social security safety network like old-age pensions, maternity leave, allowances and grants to the disabled were laid down already in 1992, when the SADC Treaty was signed by all heads of states in Windhoek, said Professor Marius Olivier, who heads the Centre for International and Comparative Labour and Social Security Law at the University of Johannesburg, formerly RAU.”Guidelines are the SADC Social Charter, the UN and concepts of the International Labour Organisation (ILO),” Olivier said at the meeting, which ended on Friday.”A high degree of migration, increased poverty levels and the scourge of HIV-AIDS necessitate regional harmonisation of social benefit systems in the 14 member states,” Olivier added.The expert core group developed over the past five years after researchers realised that social security assistance in most southern African countries was weakly developed, too narrowly focused on individual risks and neglecting factors like floods and droughts, which occur frequently and have a negative impact on human welfare.”Only about 30 per cent of the population in the SADC region live in urban areas, the remaining majority of 70 per cent dwell in rural areas and cannot participate in contributory social security,” said Professor Evance Kalula of the University of Cape Town.A draft code for social security protection in SADC was adopted which will be presented to the SADC Secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana, later this month.Deputy Labour Minister Petrus Ilonga, who opened the conference, said his ministry was hard at work on introducing paternity leave for men in Namibia.”Men should also have the right to obtain leave to look after their babies,” Ilonga said.The conference recommended that SADC countries should explore strategies to extend social protection to self-employed persons, domestic workers and those in the informal economic sector, among others.It was the fifth meeting of the round of experts and academic researchers and it was organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).The group further agreed to form a regional association.”Our research and findings influence policy makers of the 14 SADC member states.As a structured organisation we can co-operate even better with them,” Olivier said.The principles of providing a social security safety network like old-age pensions, maternity leave, allowances and grants to the disabled were laid down already in 1992, when the SADC Treaty was signed by all heads of states in Windhoek, said Professor Marius Olivier, who heads the Centre for International and Comparative Labour and Social Security Law at the University of Johannesburg, formerly RAU.”Guidelines are the SADC Social Charter, the UN and concepts of the International Labour Organisation (ILO),” Olivier said at the meeting, which ended on Friday.”A high degree of migration, increased poverty levels and the scourge of HIV-AIDS necessitate regional harmonisation of social benefit systems in the 14 member states,” Olivier added.The expert core group developed over the past five years after researchers realised that social security assistance in most southern African countries was weakly developed, too narrowly focused on individual risks and neglecting factors like floods and droughts, which occur frequently and have a negative impact on human welfare. “Only about 30 per cent of the population in the SADC region live in urban areas, the remaining majority of 70 per cent dwell in rural areas and cannot participate in contributory social security,” said Professor Evance Kalula of the University of Cape Town.A draft code for social security protection in SADC was adopted which will be presented to the SADC Secretariat in Gaborone, Botswana, later this month.Deputy Labour Minister Petrus Ilonga, who opened the conference, said his ministry was hard at work on introducing paternity leave for men in Namibia.”Men should also have the right to obtain leave to look after their babies,” Ilonga said.The conference recommended that SADC countries should explore strategies to extend social protection to self-employed persons, domestic workers and those in the informal economic sector, among others.It was the fifth meeting of the round of experts and academic researchers and it was organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).The group further agreed to form a regional association.”Our research and findings influence policy makers of the 14 SADC member states.As a structured organisation we can co-operate even better with them,” Olivier said.