Pretoria. . Transformation and Social Security in South Africa Elsabé Klinck(B.Iur, LL.B, BA(Hons) cum laude), Lecturer, Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, Vista University Distance Education Campus, Pretoria 1 Introduction Rather than dealing w ith the issue of transformation in an existing social security system,as is the case in many developed countries, the challenge faced by South Africa is different.It is about the transformation of a system and society so as to become responsive to the social security needs of the South African population. In this social security becomes intrinsically linked w ith a number of very familiar issues, such as poverty and unemployment. The challenge for the successful implementation of any such transformation lies intranslating these issues in social security terms, i.e. establishing w hat their impact w ill be on (endeavours to establish) various social security models and-programmes. Most South Africans do not know the meaning of social security and subsequently not w hy a comprehensive, coherent and transformed social security system is needed. Thus arevision of the conceptual framework for social security has been identified as one of the objectives the Committee of Inquiry into a Comprehensive Social Security System. This contribution deals w ith transformation as a concept and experience in countries that have transformed their social security systems. It also deals w ith more practical considerations in relation to social security transformation, such as solidarity and poverty. 2 The m eaning of social security There is no single and definite universally-accepted definition of social security. Most definitions incorporate the social risks that social security aims to address, as these risks results in the loss or reduction of income. Berghman(2001) defines social security as 2