Beneficiary dependence on the South African Working for Water Programme: A multi-site case study of four projects in the Western Cape

South Africa's natural environment is internationally recognised for its biodiversity, and therefore deep concern exists regarding the significant impact of invasive alien species (IAS) on that biodiversity. To combat the spread of IAS in South Africa, the national Working for Water (WfW) Programme was established in 1995. In addition to the clearing of IAS, the programme has also been designed to provide employment and empowerment to the marginalised sectors of South African society. With regard to the latter, WfW forms part of South Africa's Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), and can be defined as a workfare programme, since it provides paid employment, rather than welfare payment. Following a contractor development approach, it also intends to create independent entrepreneurial contractors who, ideally, should 'exit' WfW, by being absorbed in the broader labour market. However, anecdotal evidence indicates that, since the establishment of WfW, many of its intended beneficiaries have become highly dependent on such employment, and therefore do not wish to "exit" the programme. Also, mounting concern regarding beneficiary dependence on Public Works Programmes in general, has spurred numerous academic debates on welfare dependence, as well as attempts to explain variability in dependence on government support. This thesis reports on a multi-site case study of beneficiary dependence on four WfW projects, which was undertaken in four CapeNature reserves in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Five broad research questions were formulated, which relate to the extent of beneficiaries' dependence on the projects concerned, as well the sociological factors that may contribute to such a phenomenon. The data collected for this study were analysed with reference to various theories of state dependence. The beneficiaries were found to have become highly dependent, mostly in a financial sense, on the WfW projects studied, but also in regard to expectations of remaining in the WfW Programme in future. Such dependence is largely due to WfW having become engrained in beneficiaries' social structure to such an extent, that it affects both their choices and their actions. Fearing a return to the conditions of farm labour, or the inability to escape the culture of poverty and/or marginalisation they experienced before joining WfW, seems to have resulted in the "unanticipated consequence" of workers being reluctant to exit from the programme, on which they have become dependent for their income and social standing. In the light of these findings, the thesis also briefly reflects upon South Africa's EPWPs, with the conclusion of the case study offering at least a partial solution to improving the WfW Programme as an EPWPThesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Sociology at Stellenbosch Universit