DA’s proposal to increase the child support grant rejected by the ANC

11 May 2018

Today, during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, we proposed an increase to the Child Support Grant to a level which is in line with the “food poverty line” in South Africa.

The proposal involved 170 amendments to the Appropriations Bill [B3-2018], to provide for an adjustment in the amount of R5.36 billion, to increase the Child Support Grant to R441 per month, in order to bring it in line with the “food poverty line”.

The amendments we proposed were “budget neutral” and would have been funded by reprioritizing expenditure within the existing budget, and would have has no effect on the fiscal deficit.

However, the proposal to increase the Child Support Grant was rejected by governing party members, not because it did not have merit, but because it would be too much work, to amend the Appropriations Bill [B3-2018].

The most bizarre objection to the proposal, which came from a member of the governing party, was that the increase in the Child Support Grant would “undermine humanity”.

In the end it is staggering that the governing party, which claims to care about the poor, would reject a proposal that would increase the Child Support Grant and provide relief to poor families in South Africa.

Issued by David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 11 May 2018