What happens to policy when policy champions move on? The case of welfare in South Africa

Abstract

In this brief, Aalia Cassim refers to the role of policy champions in driving the 1997 reform of South Africa’s welfare policy, which established a grant system that today covers about 16 million recipients. She goes on to discuss the effect of their departure: although the reform that they pushed through conceptualised a ‘developmental’ welfare approach which favoured empowerment of poor South Africans, their departure meant that key advocates for the implementation of this approach were lost. When champions move on, they take with them their expertise, networking abilities, and persistence. They leave behind a vacuum of voices and ears, meaning that fewer people talk and fewer people listen.