The main purpose of this article is to conceptualise and contextualise both the establishment and role played by the South African social security system in relation to its efficacy in alleviating poverty in general and its administration in particular. Thus, the article attempts to provide a sound and critical commentary on the establishment of the South African Social Security Agency as a classic form of alternative service delivery in the South African context. It goes without saying that the current ongoing reforms taking place in the South African public sector environment, are to a lesser or greater extent influenced by international best practices in as far as the transformation and reform of the bureaucracy is concerned. The point of departure is that the creation of the South African Social Security Agency heralds a new dispensation in the domain of social security provisioning underpinned by service delivery values such as