This paper adds to the growing resource of research reports about the financing of a BIG in South Africa that have proliferated since the start the of pandemicinduced recession in 2020.

The basic income grant (BIG) is a periodic cash transfer that is unconditional and permanent, and paid to all individuals in society. As a social security measure, the BIG is a necessary means to enhance income security for all through the redistribution of wealth generated by all. Thus, the BIG is not just a means for fighting poverty and reducing inequality, but it is also an economic stimulus that increases the purchasing power of a country’s population through direct unconditional cash transfers

As a social security measure, the BIG is a necessary means to enhance income security for all through the redistribution of wealth generated by all. Thus, the BIG is not just a means for fighting poverty and reducing inequality, but it is also an economic stimulus that increases the purchasing power of a country’s population through direct unconditional cash transfers.

This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the policy developments for social security before and after 1994. This analysis enables an assessment to be made on how far the constitutional obligation to progressively realise the right to social security and social assistance for those who can’t provide for themselves has been realised, and the extent to which this obligation has in fact driven the policy making process.