More than 30 years after the advent of democracy, the vast majority of South Africans are not experiencing social justice, nor are their basic human rights being respected.
South Africa has the highest income inequality in the world, with a Gini coefficient of 0.67, and the richest 20% of South Africans hold almost 70% of the income, while the poorest 40% hold 7% of national income. The country also has the highest unemployment rate in the world, at 33.5%.
In March, to commemorate Human Rights Month, Trialogue hosted a webinar on how business can play a more active role in this regard. Panellists included Dr Kirston Greenop (Head of Corporate Citizenship, Standard Bank), Sasha Stevenson (Executive Director, SECTION27) and Yoni Bass (Director of Resource Mobilisation, Social Justice Initiative).
Corporate support for social justice and advocacy
Research published in the Trialogue Business in Society Handbook 2024 indicates that social justice and advocacy received only 2% of CSI expenditure in 2024 – although 20% of companies committed funding in this area (up from 15% in 2023), which is encouraging.
Independent consultant Louise Jones has identified six reasons why companies shy away from overt social justice initiatives, including ignorance of social justice concepts, a fear of reputational risk, short-term profit orientation, a compliance mindset, disconnectedness from their operating environment, and recognition that a business’s view of its purpose will determine its level of societal engagement. Many of these issues were addressed in the webinar. A snap poll conducted at the outset indicated that attendees believe corporate leaders would be more willing to engage in social advocacy if there were clearer business benefits and return on investment (ROI) (29%) and stronger stakeholder demand (22%), among other factors.
Why support social justice and human rights?
The business case for supporting social justice is clear. “Corporates benefit from a more just, fair society and strong, healthy markets,” said Bass, adding that social justice involvement provides companies with an opportunity to “live their values”.
Greenop agreed, saying that CSI professionals should advocate internally for the importance of social justice work as it is inherently important to an organisation’s survival. It should be on the agenda of company leaders, not a “side-desk issue” – but it must be linked to a company’s purpose and strategic focus.
Standard Bank’s approach is to advocate for social justice in three focus areas – people, business, and society – and to measure human benefit across these areas. This is critical work as “you can’t create business value in a society that’s crumbling,” Greenop pointed out. The company supports nonprofit organisations that work towards social justice “in a way that’s fair and transparent” and does not attempt to influence or interfere with their work.
While Standard Bank and a handful of other companies are actively involved in social justice, others may shy away from it as they don’t understand what it entails – or they may already be involved but aren’t framing their work as in human rights terms. There is a need to translate what may be a “new language” for corporates, Greenop said.
Social justice organisations – such as SECTION27, a human rights law organisation – can help companies understand how their work intersects with human rights. Section27 focuses on individual human rights violations while also aiming to “change systems to prevent future violations”.
The nonprofit, together with partners, took legal action to have the National School Nutrition Programme reinstated for 9.6 million children after its suspension during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, and has also set out to ensure ongoing accountability. A new system of regular reporting will improve the programme for years to come, says Stevenson.
She pointed out that SECTION27 also tackles issues that directly cost companies money – for example, KPMG has calculated that gender-based violence costs the country between R28.4 billion and R42.4 billion a year, which is why SECTION27 has trained 4 000 learners to date about how to deal with sexual violence and is making sure that perpetrators don’t continue to work in schools.
Although there is a perception that many social justice organisations exist in an adversarial relationship with the government, this is far from the truth. “We want to work with government as much as possible – we only resort to litigation when other tools have failed,” said Stevenson, who says SECTION27’s work “gives South Africans hope in the power of the Constitution”.
How can companies get involved?
The recent “precipice moment” in the country – drastic cuts to foreign funding – requires the private sector to step up with local funding to try to tackle some of the root causes of South Africa’s social issues. Stevenson acknowledged that the private sector can’t “take over” the responsibilities of government – however, it can “support the pushback”.
Companies may feel it’s a risk to be the ‘face’ of the struggle for education, food, housing, environmental and other rights – but Stevenson said that organisations like Section27 are largely supported through philanthropic giving and aggregators like the SJI, meaning they don’t have to be in the public eye.
The Social Justice Initiative works as an intermediary between the private and social justice sectors, assisting corporates in several ways, from designing bespoke funds to ensure donors achieve their impact goals while managing real or perceived risks emerging from funding social justice, to helping them contribute to discretionary social change funds.
Bass recommended that companies wanting to get involved can start incorporating social justice into their CSI strategies with a “70/30 approach” – that is, set aside 30% of their CSI funds to focus on long-term systemic interventions in social justice. He argued that this helps to solve the problems that have caused the need for assistance in the first place. Additionally, once corporates see the results, they can scale for provincial or national impact. “Start safe, try it out, and see how positive feedback loops enhance philanthropic giving,” he said.
Stevenson reminded attendees that social justice is a long-term goal and “getting there is a winding road”. She said social justice organisations have become a lot better at measuring what they’ve done and what it’s led to, celebrating “the wins along the way to impact” – for example, when schoolchild Michael Komape drowned in a pit toilet at school, SECTION27 advocated for the eradication of pit toilets, and Limpopo’s Education MEC, Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya, has since undertaken to replace all pit toilets at schools in Limpopo.
Final recommendations
In closing, each panellist provided final words for advice for corporates and nonprofits.
Greenop said companies should be clear about where social justice fits into their existing programmes, and work with their client lists to maximise impact, collaborating where synergies exist. She recommended that nonprofits working in the same space connect with one another for support, networking, and knowledge sharing.
Stevenson said companies should partner with social justice organisations that align with their values, and such partnerships help them to meet their responsibilities to the society from which they reap benefits. They should also reconsider “band-aid approaches”, which ultimately do little to change the status quo.
Bass said companies can continue to support projects leading to specific impact, but should set aside a portion of philanthropic funds to create “a bigger impact they can safely be a part of”.
“This creates the kind of society that produces the kind of markets your business needs to succeed,” he concluded.
Watch the full webinar
Find out more
Explore the social justice and advocacy topic on the Trialogue Knowledge Hub.
Read the overview of CSI spend on social justice and advocacy in 2024 on the Trialogue Knowledge Hub.
Read about how companies can promote democracy and social justice on the Trialogue Knowledge Hub.
