TEDDY GOMBA | Value of child support grant diminishes with rising inflation

On a recent visit to Kwesine Hostel in Katlehong on the East Rand, we found a middle-aged lady in her room, seated with a toddler on the floor next to a fire with a pot of boiling water with nothing inside.

She told us she had nothing to eat and was hoping one of her neighbours would come to her rescue and give them something to prepare for the night as they often do. She is unemployed and survives on a state social security grant to buy food for her house. Sadly, the grant money does not go far because of food inflation.

A study by the UCT Children’s Institute found that the value of the child support grant had diminished with rising inflation. The report said we have had massive food inflation, so you see that line suddenly widening. Therefore, this becomes an urgent issue. It also means that even asking to increase the child support grant to the poverty line is not asking for something more.

According to the Household Affordability Index, the cost of the average family’s grocery basket grew by R349.91 between September 2022 and September 2023. Among other staple items, statistics from the report show that the price of rice increased by 8%. In the pre-Covid era, more than half the population fell below the upper-bound poverty line, and a quarter of our people lived below a crude starvation measure of the Food Poverty Line.

According to the 2019 General Household Survey, 7-million households survived on less than R2,500 per month, while 3.1-million households consumed more than R10,000 per month. In this same survey, only 55% of households cited salaries or wages as their primary source of income. Jobs provide income for just over half of households, and yet our social security income replacement policies are still built on the notion of full adult employment.

The Kwesine Hostel lady’s problem reflects the number of people who do not have food to eat. This is backed up by recent reports by the department of health which shows that more than 15,000 people have been hospitalised due to malnutrition. In a bid to deal with increased malnutrition and the unemployment rate, the Gauteng department of social development is providing thousands of people with nutritious meals per day through community nutrition and development centres (CNDCs).

The department has built 28 centres and has three mobile kitchens that are used to provide daily meals. Over and above provision of meals, the programme reaches out to vulnerable communities living below the poverty line and provides skills development to women and unemployed youth to help them form social enterprises. The programme seeks to empower beneficiaries with access to skills and economic opportunities.

There are 81 accredited courses offered and they are NQF 4 qualifications. Food choices are considered very carefully to provide a menu that is sensitive to everyone’s needs and reflects the cultural differences that exist within our communities. These centres feed between 170 to 300 beneficiaries daily.

The general aim of the centres is to provide cooked, nutritious meals to individuals and households that cannot afford to feed themselves due to poverty. But what makes the CNDCs different from soup kitchens is that they are designed to link the community to a wide range of development initiatives and other economic opportunities.

It is also the department’s aim that CNDCs go some way towards achieving one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), halving poverty and hunger. As countries, including SA, marked World Food Day on October 16, it is estimated that more than 13 million people are considered food insecure in SA. There is a need for a social compact to address the problems of starvation and unemployment.

• Gomba is a communications official at the Gauteng department of social development