ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered severe social and economic effects in South Africa, resulting in many people losing their jobs. This had a negative bearing on household income. Accompanied by long-existing social-economic disparities in South Africa, COVID-19 has adversely affected impoverished South African households that rely on government social protection programs to sustain their livelihoods. In response to the unanticipated effects of COVID-19, the government of South Africa quickly implemented social protection measures, including COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant, Social Support Grants, the National Disaster Benefit, and the COVID-19 Temporary Relief Scheme, compensation fund, and the unemployment insurance fund (UIF). These measures were aimed at lessening the burden of the pandemic on poor households in both urban and rural communities. Utilizing a constructivist paradigm that adopts a qualitative approach, the chapter uses document analysis to explore the implementation of social protection measures during COVID-19 in South Africa. The chapter further assesses the challenges faced by the government of South Africa in rendering relief aid as a response to the effects of COVID 19. The findings of 4the chapter revealed that the distribution of COVID-19 aid was characterized by corruption. Lack of capacity among local municipalities was also noted; these struggled to deal with homeless people. Alleviating household poverty was also a challenge experienced by the government, as the money and food hampers were not enough to support the many hungry families. We conclude that apart from government support, stakeholder intervention was required to assist struggling families and unemployed people, as COVID-19 has uprooted the livelihoods of many citizens. We recommend that the government of South Africa should increase its role as a welfare provider as well as collaborate with stakeholders towards easing the brunt of COVID-19 in communities.
