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The Portfolio Committee on Social Development Chairperson, Ms Bridget Masango, has applauded a call by the National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children (NSAAC) to increase the value of the child support grant to the country’s lower-bound poverty line.
 
Statistics South Africa reported that as of 2023, the monthly food poverty line in South Africa was R760.00 and the monthly lower-bound poverty line was R1,058.00. A lower bound poverty line is calculated by adding the food poverty line and the average expenditure on essential non-food items by households whose food expenditure is below but close to the food poverty line.
 
Prof Olive Shisana, a Social Policy Advisor to the President of South Africa, made the call when she presented on the positioning of child rights in the highest administrative office in the land at the Children’s Sector Consultation Conference, which is held from today to tomorrow in Johannesburg.
 
The vision of the National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children is for all children in South Africa to achieve optimal well-being and to grow to their full potential. The government has proposed interventions through the strategy that will impact children and teenagers. One of the ten interventions is to restore the Child Support Grant to the food poverty line. Prof Shisana reported that three-fifths of children in South Africa live in the poorest 40% of households, and a quarter are nutritionally stunted.
 
Several civil society organisations working with children also made similar calls. It is encouraging to see the highest office in the country championing calls for increasing the child support grant.

South Africa has made great strides in improving the quality of children’s lives through various programmes and social grants. However, there are still inequalities in access to services in the various urban and rural communities.
 
“The soul of this society, where children are concerned, is in dire need of restoration. People sitting in this room and the organisations they represent constitute the foundation of the soul of South Africa. I am beyond confident that the nation’s children are in wonderful, caring and compassionate hands”, said Ms Masango.
 
The committee will work with other relevant committees in Parliament to ensure the success of the important work of empowering the country’s children through the implementation of NSAAC.

Issued by the Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, Bridget Masango