Child support grant increased

2003-02-26 19:31

Cape Town - With the focus in this year's Budget on poverty alleviation and targeting the vulnerable, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has announced a 14% increase in the child support grant, to R160 a month from April 1.

He also announced a R60 rise, to R700 a month, for old age pensions and disability grants from that date.

In his Budget speech on Wednesday, Manuel said social assistance grants were critical for vulnerable groups, including the elderly, young children and people with disabilities.

"This is our largest and most effective redistribution programme."

Echoing President Thabo Mbeki's state of the nation address, Manuel said the means-tested child support grant would be extended over the next three years to children in need up to the age of 14.

This would raise the total number of beneficiaries to more than eight million by 2005.

The Budget would set aside R1.1bn, R3.4bn and R6.4bn over the next three years to phase in the extension of these grants.

Seven and eight-year-olds would qualify for grants in April this year, nine and 10-year-olds in April 2004 and 11 to 13-year-olds the following year.

This funding would be directed to provinces through conditional grants, while the national department of social development would get more resources to improve the capacity of the grants payments system, Manuel said.

Integrated nutrition programme

Children would also receive further attention in the expansion of the integrated nutrition programme.

The grant-funded programme would increase from R592m this year to R809m in 2003/04 and R1 042m in 2005/06, more than offsetting the impact of food inflation, he said.

This programme would be extended to Grade R pupils and to a larger number of schools.

Social Development Minister said the above inflation increases could only help accelerate the improvement of the lives of millions of the country's poor.

"These initiatives constituted a bold move and commitment on the part of government to make a difference in the lives of the most needy and vulnerable sectors of our society, especially children, older persons and those with disabilities.

"We urge families, community leaders, faith-based organisations, NGOs, business, labour and all sectors of society to join hands with us in making sure that all the eligible beneficiaries are informed and registered accordingly," Skweyiya said.

The department of social development provides social grants to over 5.5 million beneficiaries monthly.

- SAPA