This study traces the development of the welfare state in Mauritius and South Africa from
the early 1900s until the present, with specific reference made to the non-contributory oldage
pension scheme. It seeks to understand the intersections between big capital, the state
and broad-based social forces in heralding different welfare outcomes in the two countries.
Mauritius has retained its long-standing traditions as a social democratic welfare state
stretching back to the late 1950s. In contrast, the current welfare model of South Africa
continues to be the embodiment of the liberal welfare state, similar to that of the ancien
regime set up in 1928, even though it has maintained a generous social grants system since
the advent of democracy in 1994.
As a result it is important to unravel patterns of historical evolution that are
responsible for different welfare outcomes in seemingly identical socio-political contexts.
Similarly, it is important to scratch below the surface of these historical patterns of
evolution to account for these disparate welfare frameworks which, nonetheless, exhibit
identical outcomes in the social security sector in terms of their unfaltering commitment to
old-age pensions. To this end the dissertation employs the comparative historical analysis
approach in a bid to draw cross-national parallels between the social processes that
unfolded and consequently underpinned development paradigms over time.
This study suggests that accounting for the divergent policy outcomes is the
disproportionate powers being wielded by neoliberal market forces within the main arteries
of the South African economy, which hindered the state from defining the policy direction
of its welfare framework to dovetail with expansive social reforms. This restraint was
compounded by the left as a 'labour aristocracy', whose alliance with the political ruling
class compromised their ability to champion the pro-poor agenda with as much vigour as
they would have if they had pursued an independent course. This is a far cry from the
welfare trajectory of Mauritius, in which a mutual understanding between the state, crossclass
movements and capitalist market forces bridged contesting class interests by
reconciling market economics with social fundamentals.