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 EPWP南非自然环境以其生物多样性获得国际广泛认可，因此外来入侵物种（Invasive Alien Species, IAS）对该生物多样性造成的显著影响引发了高度关切。为遏制南非境内外来入侵物种的扩散，南非政府于1995年设立了全国性的为水工作计划（Working for Water, WfW）。该计划除开展外来入侵物种清理工作外，还旨在为南非社会边缘群体提供就业机会与赋权支持。就后者而言，为水工作计划隶属于南非扩大公共工程计划（Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP），可被归类为工作福利计划——因其提供有偿就业而非直接发放福利金。该计划采用承包商培育模式，旨在培育自主创业的承包商，理想状态下，这些承包商可通过融入更广泛的劳动力市场"退出"为水工作计划。然而，轶事证据显示，自该计划设立以来，诸多既定受益群体已高度依赖此类就业，因此不愿"退出"该计划。此外，社会各界对受益群体普遍依赖公共工程计划的担忧日益加剧，这引发了学界围绕福利依赖的诸多讨论，同时推动了相关研究以解释政府支持依赖程度的差异性。本论文报告了一项针对受益群体依赖为水工作计划项目的多地点案例研究，该研究在南非西开普省的四个开普自然保护区内开展，共涉及四个为水工作计划项目。研究共设定五大核心研究问题，涵盖受益群体对所涉项目的依赖程度，以及可能引发该依赖现象的社会学影响因素。本研究通过参考多种状态依赖理论对收集到的数据展开分析。研究发现，受益群体已高度依赖所调研的为水工作计划项目，这种依赖主要体现在经济层面，同时也体现在对未来继续留在该计划中的预期上。此类依赖在很大程度上源于为水工作计划已深度嵌入受益群体的社会结构，进而影响了他们的决策与行为。受益群体因担忧重返农场劳工的处境，或无法摆脱加入该计划前经历的贫困文化与/或边缘化状态，最终导致了"未预期后果"：工人们不愿退出该计划——该计划已成为他们收入与社会地位的重要依托。基于上述研究发现，本论文还简要反思了南非扩大公共工程计划，案例研究的结论至少可为优化作为扩大公共工程计划子项目的为水工作计划提供部分解决方案。