A R10 increase on the Child Support Grant does not allow mothers to feed their children properly said the Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA).
National Treasury in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement announced a R10 increase on the child support grant (CSG) to keep pace with inflation.
The additional R10 brings the total increase from April 2016 to R30 or 9.4 percent, with the total value of the grant now at R360.
According to the Food Price Barometer, the increase is below food price inflation as measured through Statistics South Africa’s Consumer Price Index, which in September 2016 stood at 11.3 percent year-on-year.
The CSG, valued at R360 is also below Statistics South Africa’s food poverty line of R498 per month (April 2016).
The increase on the CSG and its total value is even further below PACSA‘s Minimum Nutritional Food Basket which shows that year-on-year it cost R69.06 (14.7 percent ) more to feed a small girl/boy child (aged 3-9 years) a basic but nutritionally complete diet per month (total cost R537.46).
It means that if a mother used the full R360 to feed her small child then she would underspend on her child’s plate by a third (33 percent).
The Pietermaritzburg Agency for Community Social Action (PACSA) is a social justice and development NGO that has been in operation since 1979.
PACSA’s work focuses on socio-economic rights, gender justice, youth development, livelihoods and HIV & Aids. Our work and our practice seek to enhance human dignity.
