The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) has submitted a bold and visionary policy roadmap to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights. This comprehensive submission champions a paradigm shift in South Africa’s fiscal and social protection policies, envisioning a rights-based economic model that goes beyond GDP-driven growth.
Central to the roadmap is the expansion of the country’s social protection floor through the implementation of a universal basic income grant (UBIG). The IEJ highlights that current exclusionary grant systems and regressive tax policies deepen inequality. Instead, it calls for progressive fiscal reforms such as rejecting proposed VAT increases, raising corporate income tax, and introducing wealth taxes—including a global billionaire tax—to sustainably fund public services and income support.
In particular, the IEJ advocates for:
- Universal income support for working-age adults without punitive conditionalities.
- A strengthened social safety net that complements public services and closes access gaps.
- Rejection of fiscal rules that constrain public investment.
- Democratic oversight of budget processes to ensure constitutional rights are upheld.
- Alternatives to austerity to better manage public debt and stimulate equitable growth.
This roadmap is not just a policy blueprint—it is a demand for structural transformation. It challenges international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank to support rights-aligned, inclusive strategies, and calls on global donors to fund poverty eradication efforts without growth-based preconditions.
The IEJ’s submission is a compelling contribution to the global discourse on how to build equitable economies that centre human dignity, social solidarity, and planetary sustainability. It insists that poverty eradication must not be a side effect of growth—it must be its objective.