MORE than 9-million children in SA already receive the child support grant, costing the state about R28bn a year. Now the government has decided to extend that grant to about 2-million more children, raising the maximum age of eligibility from 15 to 18.
It was something the government was ultimately going to have to do: the constitution and the new children’s legislation define a child as anyone up to the age of 18, so constitutionally, the government had to commit to extending the grant as and when it could afford to do so. It was really only a matter of time — and money.
And despite the cash- strapped situation in which the government finds itself, the Cabinet announced last week that the grant will be extended over the next three years.
It is a move that will make some uncomfortable, adding to fears that the child support grant encourages teenage girls to get pregnant . There are concerns too that with more than a quarter of the population already accessing social grants of one sort or another, yet more grants will create even more of a culture of dependency.
It’s a particular concern in relation to this age group because these children are, in theory, already eligible to join the workforce. All other grants target people too young or too old or too disabled to work: they target vulnerable people, not the able bodied. This seems to go against that principle.
But all the evidence is that the R240-a-month child support grant is one of the government’s more important and effective tools for poverty relief. It’s not generally a recipe for “baby farming” by teenage girls. Nor is there much evidence that the grant is abused by the mothers or caregivers who claim it for the children in their care.
On the contrary. Modest as it is, the grant tends to have a significant effect on the lives of poor households and particularly on improving the lives of poor women, many of whom are unemployed and alone but have to support children nonetheless.
As importantly, studies by activist groups indicate too that extending the child support grant to 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds will help to ensure that those children stay in school. Earlier this year the Black Sash, Children’s Institute (at UCT) and Acess (Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security) collected testimonies from hundreds of poor parents on how the loss of the grant at age 15 had affected their families. The testimonies showed the grant helped to reduce child hunger and child labour — and increased school attendance. It may not be much, but R240 a month does pay for transport or school lunch or books or stationary. Ending the grant early may make it more likely that youngsters will loiter on the streets instead of going to class, so that their chances of ultimately getting jobs will be even worse than they would otherwise have been.
The extension of the grant will be phased in, starting with 16-year-olds from January 1, and the Cabinet estimate is that the total cost over the next three years will be about R7,4bn. This is somewhat lower than the nearly R11bn at which the ANC estimated the cost in January. Perhaps the take-up of the grant isn’t expected to be that high.
Even so, this is fairly big money at a time when the government will be looking to curb expenditure growth .
But money on grants is well spent. Social grants have been far and away the most effective measure government has put in place to fight poverty over the past decade. They have done much to improve the lives of the very poorest. In a recession they become even more important to cushion the most vulnerable households.
So the government’s decision to extend the grant is welcome. We should never forget, though , that the grants system is, in a way, an admission of defeat — of the failure to build an economy that can create enough jobs and income-earning opportunities for all. In an ideal world, fewer people would be needing those grants each year. And that’s something the government should be striving for.
Studies and historical experience say the cost of extending the child support grant to older age groups will be money well spent