Honourable Speaker, Honourable Minister, guests in the gallery.
I think everyone in South Africa is relieved to have a new Minister in the Social Development portfolio who seems collaborative and willing to address problems in this Department. However, my genuine concern is that the Minister will be kept so busy with sorting out administrative problems that core policy issues will remain unaddressed and this is where the real problem lies.
The entire model of the Department is outdated.
It dates from the industrial age which assumes that the majority of people will be in permanent wage employment while only a small number of people will be on welfare for a short period of time.
A reality which does not exist in South Africa.
As a result entire families have to survive on an old age grant, a disability grant and most concerning a child grant.
I emphasise the latter because it constitutes almost 70% of all grants being distributed.
Peter Drucker once said: “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said”.
When it comes to this budget and the announcement that grants will be increased what wasn’t said was that the purchasing power of grant beneficiaries will in all likelihood be less because of the impact of inflation, the vat increase, the fuel levy and on top of that an additional bank charge of R10 to some grant beneficiaries due to the CPS contract debacle. Meaning, mothers will actually have even less money in their pockets, not more.
This is the key difference between the child grant now and in 1998 when it was introduced. In 1998, the financial value of a child grant was derived from the Household Subsistence Level for food and clothing for children. In other words it was link to an objective measure of what it costs to look after a child.
In a Parliamentary question last year, the Department admitted they no longer follow this approach.
As a result of this policy deviation and this budget, one of the most profound and direct consequences will be an increase in the number of children losing their lives every day due to sever acute malnutrition and stunted growth.
Unseen, will be the increased levels of stress and trauma experienced by families who are forced to make impossible choices. In some certain instances, mothers have to sacrifice their own bodies and fathers often feel they have no worth because they can’t provide.
This, Honourable Speaker, is the toxic mix which keeps our highly unequal society firmly intact.
The DA understands that malnutrition is among some of the most serious social and economic issues South Africa faces. The reason for this is that it causes children to struggle in and leave school; leads to illness; an inability to work and often fuels violence.
What is needed is total change on a policy level. The DA believes the first step in building such a new system is to align the child grant to an objective measure of what it costs to actually feed a child and closing the gaps in the social assistance scheme. This must be combined with robust economic growth and the creation of jobs.
A child grant, set below the food poverty line in a context of long term mass unemployment is simply unacceptable.
The DA will continue to fight to fight to see an increase in the child grant, as it is clear that the ANC government has no idea how the poor truly live in South Africa.