The South African old age pension: exploring the role on poverty alleviation in households affected by HIV/AIDS

The paper examines the policy of the South African government to provide the elderly with a means-tested non-contributory old age pension, intended to be a poverty relief programme for the aged. However, the paper demonstrates that it has turned into a poverty alleviation programme within the households, targeting older people but also benefiting the younger generation.

The paper argues that the migration and death caused by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the middle generation has decreased the family income, giving the old age pension a much more prominent role. The social old age pension makes elderly persons economically independent, allowing them to become valuable members of the family, so it is therefore providing vital support for older people and their adult children and grandchildren.

Nevertheless, the paper claims that the scheme has not proved to be enough to alleviate poverty in households affected by HIV/AIDS and reasons that a better solution should be explored. It demonstrates that new measures should not be taken at the expense of the Old Age Grant, as this social programme is at present the most effective means of targeting and reaching economically vulnerable groups.