The following speech was delivered in Parliament today by DA Member of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, Karen Jooste MP, during the Budget Vote on Social Development.
Chairperson
Cash transfers today is considered a powerful developmental tool.
Its benefits include reducing immediate poverty, increasing the health and educational outcomes of children, stimulating the local economy, empowering women and reducing inequality.
Currently 95% of the Social Development budget is allocated to social grants. This translates to R176 billion being allocated to 18 million grant beneficiaries by 2020.
The financial value of grants have been increased by 8.2 % over the medium term.
Maar, wat beteken dit werklik vir mense wat afhanklik is van maatskaplike toelaes? Alhoewel die geld meer is, kan mense ongelukkig minder daarmee koop.
Die rede hiervoor is die swak ekonomie, die hoë werkloosheidsyfer en inflasie op kos.
The PACSA food basket costs R2 053 a month. It increased, in the last year, by R130.
This is a typical basket of food that a poor household will try to buy each month. It will keep family members alive, but it is not nutritionally complete.
The PACSA Minimum Nutritional Basket for the same family, costs R4 452. In other words, poor families are underspending on food by 54%!
So verbeel jouself ‘n bord kos en dan elke keer as jy wil eet, haal eers helfte daarvan af.
Dit is wat met arm gesinne op die oomblik gebeur. Wat meer is, die kos wat oorbly, is hoofsaaklik stysel.
Dit is nie omdat ma’s nie weet wat gesonde kos is nie, dit is doodeenvoudig omdat daar nie genoeg geld in die huis is om gesonde kos te koop nie.
This has a devastating humanitarian impact.
Earlier this month it was revealed in a parliamentary question that 46 294 children below the age of 5 have been admitted to hospital in the last three years due to severe acute malnutrition.
4 902 of these children died.
In other words, 136 children died every month in the last three years. Why? Because we expect mothers to feed their children with R380 a month.
Toe ek verlede jaar die Minister gevra het hoekom die kindertoelaag net R380 is, het sy geantwoord dit is omdat dit al geld is wat beskikbaar is.
Honourable Chairperson, that is a lie.
How can it be that there is not enough money to increase the child grant, but there is enough money for the Minister to fly overseas, to stay at the Oyster box hotel and drive a luxury car?
It is estimated that 30% of South African children are effected by malnutrition and a shocking 20% are stunted.
Ons weet ook dat as kinders in die eerste twee jaar van hulle lewe blootgestel word aan wanvoeding, die ontwikkelingsskade permanent is.
Hierdie kinders sal waarskynlik meer gereeld siek wees, sukkel op skool en uiteindelik, as volwassesnes, baie minder verdien.
The Democratic Alliance has identified savings in the budget and will propose an increase in the child grant, with a specific focus on the 0 – 2 year age group, this year because in a South Africa where the DA governs nationally, every mother will have more money to feed her child properly.
This budget, with a child grant of R380 is not a developmental tool, it limits the future benefits of cash transfers and does not protect our children against vulnerability.
South Africans should not be fooled when the Minister promises the universalisation of the child grant, the old age grant and a higher child support grant to orphans.
These promises are just political rhetoric, it is not included in the budget.
And every time there is a deduction from their grant, people should remember that that is a direct result of this Minister’s inability to read a contract.
When the DA comes into power in 2019, our children will be fed, not just our fat-cat Ministers.