ERIN TORKELSON

  • About Me
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Public Scholarship
    • Covid-19 & Grants
    • Debt & Grants
    • Net1's Payment System
    • Land & Housing
  • Events
  • Contact
  • About Me
  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Public Scholarship
    • Covid-19 & Grants
    • Debt & Grants
    • Net1's Payment System
    • Land & Housing
  • Events
  • Contact

Previous Project

net1 and social grants

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The Black Sash and Erin Torkelson

TRANSFORMED GRANT PAYMENT FROM PRIVATE TO PUBLIC CONTROL UNDER THE POST OFFICE
With the Black Sash, I worked to open the "black box" of Net1's digital grant payment system. We found that Net1's technologies segregated South African grantees in an alternative banking system outside public oversight. Then, within this segregated system, Net1 aggressively marketed loans and other financial products to grantees. Because of our findings, we successfully advocated for changes to the way grants are paid, bringing them from private to public control under the South African Post Office.

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Dissertation

My dissertation, Taken for Granted: Geographies of Debt and Welfare in South Africa formed the basis of public scholarship
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news articles

Check out my GroundUp news articles which highlighted the exploitation in the grant payment system
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policy

Research fed into lawsuits and meetings with the Constitutional Court-appointed Panel of Experts to redesign the grant payment system

Public engagement

News articles


Ground up     ​erin torkelson & ground up staff, "has serge belamant answered his critics?" 9 may 2017.
GROUND UP     ERIN TORKELSON, "the world bank's role in SA's Grant payment system." 23 march 2017.
GROUND UP     ERIN TORKELSON, "sophia's choice: farmworker must decide which child to feed."  15 march 2017.
GROUND UP     ERIN TORKELSON, "deductions from grants: how it all works." 7 march 2017.

news & Interviews


Ground up     Malcolm Rees, "the human cost of unsecured lending." 13 february 2020. 
world bank blog     ugo gentilini, "best social protection papers of the year." 19 december 2019.  
africa is a country     chris webb, "The roots of the current South African crisis." 14 february 2019. 
daily maverick podcast     kingsley kipury, "deductions from social grants: how it works." 7 march 2017.
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Presentations


UCT economics     Erin Torkelson, "collateral damages: Cash transfer as debt transfer." 20 November 2019.
uwc geography     ERIN TORKELSON, "Cash transfer as a new structural adjustment?" 19 september 2019. 
wits economics     ERIN TORKELSON, "Debt and dispossession through social welfare." 6 september 2019. 
concourt panel of experts   black sash & Erin Torkelson, "effective recourse for grantees." 16 march 2018.
banking association of SA   
BLACK SASH & ERIN TORKELSON, "Net1's payment system." 28 february 2018.
national treasury    BLACK SASH & ERIN TORKELSON, "NET1'S PAYMENT SYSTEM." 15 september 2017.
SA social security agency    BLACK SASH & ERIN TORKELSON, "NET1'S PAYMENT SYSTEM." 14 SEPTEMBER 2017.
UWC PLAAS    ERIN TORKELSON, "Living the lottery: social grants and development discourse." 16 june 2017.
UCT Sociology    ERIN TORKELSON, "sophia's choice: how do grants work for?" 10 april 2017.

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