DA shows that R410 child grant is not enough to give poor children proper nutrition
27 February 2018
Today, the DA went shopping in Tembisa to determine whether the R410 child grant is truly enough to provide poor children with the basic nutritional foods they need for a month.
This follows the announcement last week by the former Finance Minister, Malusi Gigaba, that VAT will increase from 14% to 15%. It was also announced that the child support grant would increase from R380 to R400 on 1 April, and to R410 on 1 October.
The DA has opposed this VAT increase because it is anti-poor. Minister Gigaba’s absurd argument that the vulnerable would be protected through “zero-rating basic food items and above average increases in grants” proves that he has no idea how poor people in our country struggle each and every day just to put food on the table.
According to the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PASCA) basket, poor mothers tend to buy 38 items of food which include more Vatable goods than zero-rated foods. This essentially means that the above-inflation grants increases to supposedly ‘combat’ the VAT increase, is just not enough.
The DA showed that the R410 child grant is not sustainable, as we were only able to buy some items, including, 1kg chicken, 5kg maize meal, 250g tea, 2 packets of soup, 2.5kg sugar, 2.5kg cake flour, 2l cooking oil, 2kg rice, 2 cans pilchards, 2 of mixed vegetables, 2.5kg samp and 1kg brown beans. This is not even enough to fill young tummies for a month, let alone fill a trolley, and it excluded some basic essentials children need.
The reality is that in many cases, the child support grant is not only needed to fill a child’s basic dietary needs alone but is also used to fund transport fees, school expenses, clothing and other household essentials.
South Africa’s child malnutrition level currently stands at an alarming 27% and every day 4 children die due to severe acute malnutrition-related causes.
Our social services require urgent intervention and that would require decisive leadership from the new Minister of Social Development, Susan Shabangu. Currently, there is still a lot of chaos and confusion regarding the distribution of social grants.
Shabangu’s first order of business must be to call an urgent meeting between all the role-players involved in the social grants crisis to find a solution to this crisis. The Minister must now step up to fix the mess left by her predecessor, Bathabile “Dodging” Dlamini.
Instead of politicking with the livelihoods of the 17 million poor South Africans who depend on social grants every month, the DA urges the Minister to make the vulnerable the first priority of government.
Issued by Bridget Masango, DA Shadow Minister of Social Development, 27 February 2018
