Webinar on social security in China and South Africa

On Monday 6 June, the Centre for Africa-China Studies (CACS) at the University of Johannesburg, in partnership with the UJ Library, hosted a webinar titled: ‘The dualist approach to social security in developing countries: Perspectives from China and South Africa’.

The webinar explored an article with the same title, written by Prof Letlhokwa Mpedi and Prof Barbara Darimont, which examines informal and formal social security arrangements in the People’s Republic of China and as well as South Africa, with a focus on social security for elderly people.

The article shed light on the need for both countries to improve their social security systems. One approach, they argued, could be to link traditional, informal social protection arrangements with formal social security systems stemming from the developed world, or to enable them to complement one another.

Prof Mpedi is Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic at the University of Johannesburg, and Prof Darimont is a professor at the East Asian Institute of the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society.

The webinar was moderated by Mmabatho Mongae, PhD candidate at the University of the Witwatersrand, and a Research Fellow at the CACS. Prof David Monyae, director of CACS, welcomed the participants and introduced the speakers. The vote of thanks was delivered by Dr Emmanuel Matambo, Research Director, CACS.