Abstract

Apartheid in South Africa reaches deeply into the welfare system. A visit to South Africa is described, where a brief opportunity was experienced to see the contrast between the excellent service network for Whites (largely self-supported rather than subsidized) and the virtual non-existence of services for the Black aged. In particular, grossly inadequate residential facilities for Blacks not living with families were observed. Many formal bureaucratic and economic barriers stand in the way of Black initiative in this area. It is suggested that no comfort be taken in the thought that “minorities take care of their own aged,” whether in South Africa or the United States.

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