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IOL News
6 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Straining to support: South Africa's social grants are vital but can the state keep up?
Economic challenges and the future of social grants in South Africa Image: Tracy Adams Social relief of distress, or social grants, is a key part of South Africa's welfare system; however, recent data indicates that its role is increasingly strained, raising concerns about sustainability, economic growth, and social cohesion. According to the latest General Household Survey released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), an unprecedented 40.1% of the population - approximately 25.4 million individuals-now rely on social grants. This marks a significant increase from previous years and reflects a steady rise in dependence, particularly amid persistent unemployment and economic challenges. Risenga Maluleke, Statistician-General of South Africa, noted that the country's official unemployment rate hit 32.9% in the first quarter of 2025. Such figures highlight the stark depth of economic hardship many face, with social grants serving as a vital safety net without sufficient employment opportunities. Paul Maritz, Director at Free SA, a foundation advocating for rights, equality, and systemic reform, highlighted the gravity of this dependence. 'The growing reliance on social grants - now affecting over 25 million people — highlights deep socio-economic challenges and the urgent need for structural change,' he explained. 'Our proposed Power to the People Amendment aims to address these issues by reducing waste, devolving policing, and breaking monopolies that hinder economic opportunity.' Maritz warned that 'sustained dependence on grants without parallel investment in job creation risks entrenching a welfare economy that stifles individual potential and hampers long-term growth.' He warned that if current trends persist, South Africa's economy could face stagnation, shrinking tax bases, and rising inequality-all threatening social stability. The fiscal burden of social grants is significant. In 2011, the South African government allocated around 3.5% of GDP to social assistance, which has grown over the years. The Centre for Global Development estimated that expenditure on social grants, particularly the Child Support Grant (CSG), reached nearly ZAR31 billion (approximately US$4.2 billion) in 2010-11. Instead, they argued that they serve as a necessary-but insufficient-measure to support those unable to provide for themselves. "While grants have helped improve food security, children's well-being, and school attendance,' Maritz warned that they are not a long-term solution to poverty. 'Overdependence can distort labor markets. When social assistance becomes a substitute for employment, it can disincentivize active job-seeking and skills development. 'Countries with more developed economies often implement prerequisites or conditions tied to grants, encouraging recipients to pursue upskilling or community participation.' He added that the current approach risks creating a stagnating workforce and reducing overall productivity in South Africa, thereby hindering economic growth and perpetuating inequality. 'Ironically, the system designed to reduce inequality may inadvertently reinforce it if not paired with empowerment strategies. 'Without access to meaningful employment, quality education, and secure communities, social mobility remains elusive for many beneficiaries.' Furthermore, dependence on grants without addressing the root causes-unemployment, corruption, and inefficient public services-could erode trust in institutions. Maritz warned that 'a society where millions feel trapped and unheard is inherently unstable,' stressing the need for comprehensive reforms.
Daily Maverick
6 days ago
- Health
- Daily Maverick
Ten unacceptable facts about hunger in South Africa on World Hunger Day
World Hunger Day is more appropriate than World Food Day for South Africa to commemorate. Lack of food is not a problem in our country; hunger is the problem. Many South Africans have heard of World Food Day (16 October), but probably way fewer have heard of World Hunger Day (28 May). In 2011, The Hunger Project launched World Hunger Day to call attention to the global food crisis. The vision for World Hunger Day 2030 is a world where no person lacks access to adequate nutritious food. Importantly, World Hunger Day does not see donating meals to hungry people as a sustainable solution. Instead, the solution lies in empowering hungry people, and addressing the underlying social and economic inequities that cause hunger. Ending hunger requires systemic change. By empowering communities facing hunger, we can transform the systems of inequity that keep hunger in place. We argue that World Hunger Day is more appropriate than World Food Day for South Africa to commemorate. Lack of food is not a problem in our country; hunger is the problem. This apparent paradox is easy to explain. There is more than enough food in South Africa, but millions of South Africans do not have access to sufficient food, because of poverty, unemployment, food waste, and inadequate government interventions such as social grants. Here are 10 reasons why South Africans should take World Hunger Day seriously. Ten unacceptable facts about hunger in South Africa A total of 1,000 children die from severe acute malnutrition every year. Malnutrition is the underlying cause of a further 10,000 child deaths every year, accounting for one-third of all child deaths in South Africa. More than 5 million children under five (29%) are stunted, or too short for their age. This has increased from 27% in 2016. The global target is to halve stunting by 2030. Only one in five infants (22%) under six months old are exclusively breastfed. The global target is 50% by 2025. A total of 10 million tons of food goes to waste every year, equivalent to one-third of 31 million tons This wasted food could generate 30 billion meals, enough to feed all hungry people in South Africa for more than a year. The Child Support Grant, at R560/month, is 30% below the food poverty line, and 42% less than the cost of a nutritious diet for a child. Farm workers suffer severe seasonal hunger, rising from less than 50% in summer (farming season) to over 85% in winter (when they have no work). A worker earning the national minimum wage (R28.79/hour), after electricity and transport costs, can buy less than half (41%) of a nutritious diet for a family of four. A total of 14 million South Africans, or 25% of the population, survive below the food poverty line, which is set at R796 per person per month. One in five households (21%) have inadequate access to food. Female-headed households are more affected (24%) than male-headed households (18%). Twenty-four percent of black and 19% of coloured South Africans, but only 3% of Indians and whites, have inadequate access to food. The Union Against Hunger The Union Against Hunger (UAH), a social justice movement with founding members that include civil society organisations like the Healthy Living Alliance (Heala) coalition, Grow Great and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, see World Hunger Day as an opportunity to spotlight food injustice and advocate for upholding the constitutional right to food. On World Hunger Day 2025, the Union Against Hunger and partners are organising public meetings in three cities: Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. The UAH has also launched a petition (sign it here) calling on Shoprite CEO Pieter Engelbrecht to bring food prices down urgently. Reducing food prices is one of 10 demands that the UAH is making. Others include: halve child stunting by 2030; raise the Child Support Grant to the food poverty line and introduce a Maternal Support Grant; extend early childhood development and school nutrition to all children; address seasonal hunger, especially of farm workers; and pass legislation to reduce food wastage. A recent Daily Maverick article revealed that 155 children have died of malnutrition in public health facilities since January, according to official statistics provided by the minister of health. An unknown number — probably much higher — have died of hunger outside hospitals and clinics. This is not ' normal '. It is unnecessary and unacceptable, as World Hunger Day reminds us. The government, the private sector, civil society and the general public should all unite to fight the scourge of hunger and malnutrition in South Africa, until no one goes to bed hungry, let alone dies of entirely avoidable malnutrition. DM
Daily Maverick
20-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Maverick
SA's malnutrition ‘tragedy' — death of 155 children this year alone sparks calls for urgent state action
Experts, however, say this number is not the full picture and they too are calling for a shift in strategy to avoid the tragedy of stunting and moderate and severe acute malnutrition. Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has revealed that since January 2025, 155 children under the age of five have died in South African public health facilities, with moderate or severe acute malnutrition as an underlying condition. This emerged in an answer to a written parliamentary question by the DA. DA MPs Michele Clarke and Bridget Masango issued a statement on Sunday calling for multidisciplinary action. 'The DA is devastated to learn that 155 children across our country under age five have died in public health facilities with moderate or severe acute malnutrition as an underlying condition since January 2025. The majority of children affected were in Limpopo (32), Gauteng (30) and KwaZulu-Natal (29),' they said. 'The DA believes that the solution is a cross-cutting intervention, because both the departments of Health and Social Development must work together to address this.' The DG Murray Trust, which has done extensive work to advocate for and help create food security for children, told Daily Maverick that South Africa has to increase national accountability for child nutrition. 'Countries that have successfully reduced stunting have one thing in common: they track child growth rigorously. South Africa needs to shift from crisis response to prevention. That means measuring, reporting and acting on early signs of child growth falling behind the curve at community level,' the nonprofit's chief executive, David Harrison, said. Severe acute malnutrition in children younger than five has risen by 26% over the past five years, despite a number of programmes in the Health and Social Development departments. Explaining why so many South African children are still dying from moderate to severe acute malnutrition, Harrison said: 'In the main, children who get moderate or severe malnutrition have no access to social safety nets.' Safety nets such as the Child Support Grant did not reach children owing to administrative failures or problems with documentation. 'There are about 2.2 million children who are eligible for the grant but don't get it.' Regarding the children of foreign citizens who are not entitled to the grant, 'we know from hospital studies that they present sicker and die more from severe acute malnutrition than South African children'. There were also cases of extreme neglect, often when the caregiver had a drug or alcohol dependency problem, but extreme poverty and exclusion from social support were the primary reasons children presented with moderate or severe malnutrition. The DA emphasises that this is a serious and growing tragedy across South Africa, correlating with a legacy of increasing unemployment and rising cost of living. The party demands that the Department of Social Development ensure that mothers, fathers and carers receiving the Child Care Grant are thoroughly informed about the best and most nutritious foods the grant should buy every month. 'This is not a passive obligation, but one that the Social Development Department and [the South African Social Security Agency] must do actively for all mothers, fathers and carers who struggle to nourish their children in trying economic circumstances,' it says. 'The Department of Health must address childhood malnutrition deaths with vastly enhanced public information campaigns on the signs of malnutrition and clear direction on seeking treatment, before it is too late. This must be stopped with greatly improved public information campaigns that reach millions of mothers and carers.' Drop in numbers Lori Lake, an education and communications specialist at the Children's Institute, said data dating to 2013 shows that child deaths from malnutrition have decreased in South Africa – 'from the high of 2000 in 2014 to 574 in 2024'. 'And you would think on the surface of things that that is a good-news story. Yet more than 50% of all child deaths occur outside healthcare facilities and the chances are that those children who died without being able to access healthcare are as likely, if not more likely, to have been experiencing severe acute malnutrition than those dying in facilities. So what we are seeing in the data is really just the tip of the iceberg,' she added. The prevalence of wasting in South Africa is estimated at 5%, which means about one in every 20 children are wasted. 'Wasting is an acute form of malnutrition that indicates either recent or severe weight loss and is often caused by inadequate food intake or frequent and or prolonged illness,' Lake said. Stunting not only compromised physical growth, but also brain development, in ways that had a lifelong impact on children's health and educational outcomes. Lake stressed that severe acute nutrition is just one of many nutritional challenges affecting South African children. 'The third area of concern that I'm particularly worried about is the very rapid increase that we have seen in overweight and obesity in children under five, which increased from 13% in 2016 to 23% in 2022 – almost doubling in less than 10 years – and that's a very frightening trend for anybody who is concerned not just about child health but the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases in South Africa.' Statistics showed that 40% of children were living in households below the food poverty line which cannot afford to meet the basic nutritional needs of the children in their care, while 38% of poor infants (under one year) were not receiving the Child Support Grant. Solutions To boost the fight against severe acute malnutrition, Harrison suggested that the first strategy must be to make a basket of basic, protein-rich staples a lot more affordable. 'Most children are getting pap or rice, but what's lacking from their diets are proteins and micronutrients, which are essential for growth. This strategy is most important because of the 2.5 million children who are at risk but have no social safety net.' Then, close the gap between the buying power of the Child Support Grant (R560) and the food poverty line (R796 in 2024). The grant only covered 70% of the basic food requirement, and very poor families had no other way to plug the gap. 'Improve maternal nutrition. Babies born with low birthweight are three times more likely to be stunted later. Providing food or cash to pregnant women who are underweight, especially through antenatal services, could break the cycle of malnutrition before it begins. Global studies show that balanced protein-energy supplements during pregnancy significantly reduce low birthweight and improve breastfeeding outcomes,' Harrison said. Echoing this, Lake said this is why civil society organisations and academic research units such as the Children's Institute have been calling on the government to restore the value of the Child Support Grant to the food poverty line, 'so that we provide young children and families with resources they need to not only survive but thrive and reach their full potential'. In addition, Harrison said, for just R40-million, South Africa's 60,000 community health workers could be given a basic mechanical scale and training to identify children who are starting to fall behind their growth curves. 'This is one of the most cost-effective ways to catch and treat malnutrition early.' Another solution would be to encourage local food production and supply and increase national accountability for child nutrition. 'There are now many examples of local schools, clinics and community organisations growing food and selling to or sharing it with children in home-visiting programmes and ECD centres. We need to keep growing these initiatives.' The DA is also calling for a shift in strategy in the relevant departments. 'With more than a quarter (28.8%) of South Africa's children under five being stunted and the number of children still succumbing because of limited access to nutritious food, it is clear that the departments of Health and Social Development must review and strengthen the effectiveness of interventions,' the party said.
Eyewitness News
19-05-2025
- Health
- Eyewitness News
Grant to prevent malnutrition is in limbo
More than a decade since it was first proposed, the Maternal Support Grant (MSG) policy remains in limbo. 'Children of mothers who are malnourished in pregnancy have higher odds of poor birth outcomes, including low birthweight, undernutrition, poor neurodevelopment, and increased risk of chronic diseases in later life,' says Dr Wanga Zembe, senior specialist scientist at the South African Medical Research Council. In South Africa, 29% of children under five are stunted, and 2.5-million live in nutritionally insecure households. This comes as civil society groups have renewed calls for the government to fast-track the process to get monetary support to pregnant women. The current proposal suggests that the maternal grant be an extension of the existing Child Support Grant. But this may not happen anytime soon. This week, the Department of Social Development (DSD) confirmed that the draft MSG policy, in the making since 2012, has not yet reached Cabinet. In November 2024, the draft policy was submitted to the Social Protection, Community and Human Development (SPCHD) Cabinet Committee, but was 'sent back for further work,' said department spokesperson Bathembu Futshane. He said the committee 'did not obtain general support' for the draft and raised several issues, including the need for a joint government approach to poverty, unemployment and inequality. The current proposal suggests that the maternal grant be an extension of the existing Child Support Grant (CSG). Other recommendations included factoring in fiscal constraints, avoiding 'creating a dependency syndrome,' considering conditions for the grant, and aligning with food security and economic transformation goals, he said. But civil society groups believe this delay is 'deeply disappointing'. The MSG Advocacy Coalition, made up of organisations and researchers, said: 'It has been more than a decade since the DSD commissioned research on the benefits of a pregnancy support grant. That body of evidence has only grown stronger.' The coalition said the South African Law Reform Commission had already identified the absence of income support for pregnant women as a gap in the country's social security framework and recommended a pregnancy grant. 'It is unclear what the binding constraint is, considering the coherent legal arguments in favour of the MSG and the urgent need to improve maternal and infant nutrition.' The group urged the DSD to talk openly with other departments and prepare the policy for resubmission. 'While DSD has demonstrated support for the MSG, buy-in from across government is needed, starting with the Presidency.' According to the group, the MSG would require between R1.89-billion and R3.26-billion annually. But potential savings to the public health system could exceed R13-billion by preventing low birth weight complications, the group said. 'Social protections are not acts of charity, they are critical investments.' WHY SHOULD PREGNANT MOTHERS GET STATE SUPPORT? According to Dr Wanga Zembe: 'It is essential for pregnant women to have access to nutritious food, as a baby's survival — both as a foetus in-utero and as a child once born — literally depends on it.' Zembe said maternal nutrition is key to foetal development, immune systems and cognitive ability. She warned that poor maternal nutrition has 'far-reaching consequences' for a child's life, productivity and long-term health. 'Stunting has devastating impacts on child development, especially cognitive development, leading to delays, poor school performance and reduced productivity.' Zembe referred to UNICEF's 2021 global guidance on maternal nutrition study, which highlighted the importance of improving women's diets before and during pregnancy as well as while breastfeeding. A 2024 Global Health Action review found that conditional cash transfers for women in Sub-Saharan Africa were associated with improved child survival rates, reduced foetal and infant mortality, and enhanced functional health outcomes, such as decreased illness episodes. Unconditional cash transfers were linked to improved maternal well-being, including fewer symptoms of depression. (Conditional cash transfers require recipients to meet specific criteria, like attending health checkups, while unconditional grants would be given without any requirements.) Nicola Eley, deputy director at the Grow Great campaign, said, '25% of all pregnant women in SA have reported going to bed hungry. That's not just a statistic. It represents thousands of mothers and their unborn babies and futures being shaped.' She said the first 1,000 days, from conception to a child's second birthday, are critical. 'Stunting impairs both physical and brain development. It compromises learning, weakens immune systems and increases lifelong health risks.' Eley said people can only apply for the child support grant once the child is born, with 52% of eligible children accessing it only after their first birthday. 'By then, the critical window for brain and body development has passed. It's like trying to build a house after the foundation has started crumbling.' Meanwhile, the MSG Advocacy Coalition has refuted claims that the MSG will 'incentivise pregnancy and create dependency'. This article first appeared on GroundUp. Read the original article here.
The Citizen
29-04-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Sassa grant: Payment reminder for May
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has released its payment schedule for May 2025, with payments set to begin on 6 May. The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) grants for May 2025 will be paid next week. This payout comes amid the security agency's new implementation of security checks for grant recipients. Sassa grant payment dates: Older Persons Grant – Tuesday, 6 May 2025 Disability Grant – Wednesday, 7 May 2025 Children's Grants – Thursday, 8 May 2025 Sassa grant increases: In April 2025, social grants were slightly increased following Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's announcement of higher grant allocations for the year. Older Persons (60-74 years) and Disability Grants increased by R130 to R2 315; Older Persons (75+ years) Grant increased by R135 to R2 335; War Veterans Grant increased by R130 to R2 315; Care Dependency Grant increased by R130 to R2 315; Child Support Grant increased by R30 to R560; Foster Care Grant increased by R70 to R1 250; Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD) remains R370 ALSO READ: Sassa confirms Old Age Grant will not be cancelled New ID verification process for Sassa grants Sassa spokesperson Paseka Letsatsi recently stated that the agency, which uses various forms of identification documents for grants collections, will now be required to undergo biometric enrolment. The process of biometric enrolment involves the collection of tangible personal information, including fingerprints and facial scans. However, the new verification process will only be applicable to grant recipients who do not use their ID numbers to collect their payments. 'Beginning on 5 May, all new clients who use alternative forms of identification other than the standard 13-digit South African ID number, as well as existing clients undergoing reviews or changes to their personal information, will be required to undergo compulsory biometric enrolment,' said Letsatsi. Existing grant recipients using their standard 13-digit South African ID number will not be affected until they are required to change their details. 'This initiative aims to enhance the security and accuracy of client identification within the agency's systems,' confirmed Letsatsi. Additional reporting by Jarryd Westerdale. NOW READ: New ID verification process for Sassa grants: Here's who's affected
