DA welcomes potential increase of Child Support Grant

11 November 2022

The DA welcomes the decision by the Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, to consider our proposal to increase the Child Support Grant (CSG) to the lower bound poverty line.

As part of our proposal to President Cyril Ramaphosa to fight the cost of food crisis and assist starving South Africans, the DA called for the increase of the Child Support Grant to ensure households, especially children, have access to nutritious food.

Earlier this year, the Minister revealed in answer to a parliamentary question from the DA that more than 1 000 children under the age of five have died from moderate and severe acute malnutrition in 2021/22. Since this revelation, the media has continuously reported of the desperate situation South Africa’s poor and vulnerable face every day.

It is therefore, disconcerting that SASSA underspent its budget on child support grants to assist children below the age of two – the first 1000 days – at a time when food costs and unemployment are at an all-time high.

The DA calls on Minister Zulu to engage with President Ramaphosa regarding the DA’s other proposals to fight the poverty and hunger crisis:

Cut fuel taxes and levies to lower the cost of transport.

Reallocate the R50 million food aid for Cuba to feed hungry people at home.

Review the list of zero-rated food items.

Review import tariffs on some food items

Provide private title to all land reform beneficiaries on state land and landholders in communal areas.

The DA will continue to call for economic and social reforms that open the economy for jobs and growth. Millions of jobs will be created in South Africa if we make it a place that attracts investment and scarce skills, a place where small businesses can easily start and grow. Getting people back on their feet by getting them into jobs is the best way to build resilience against food and other price shocks.

Issued by Bridget Masango, DA Shadow Minister of Social Development, 11 November 2022