The Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini wishes to remind all South Africans that the beginning of 2011 coincided with the extension of the Child Support Grant (CSG) to eligible children under the ages of 18 years. In this regard, the Minister encourages parents and guardians to register all eligible children from poor households for the Child Support Grants.
“Our government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable of our people and to eradicating child poverty. I therefore appeal to all parents and primary caregivers of eligible children to register them for CSG”, Minister Dlamini said.
The age extension was approved by Cabinet in October 2009 following the realisation that more than 2 million children between the ages of 15 to 18 years of age continued to live under harsh conditions of poverty.
As at the end of December 2010, a total of 10.5 million eligible children were receiving CSG. This figure represents a 7.9% growth (up from 9.31 million) when compared to December 2009. In his 2010 State of the Nation Address, President Jacob Zuma indicated that the extension of CSG for children over the age of 14, about 2 million children will benefit from the grant. The department is well on target to reach this objective with 64% (or 1.27 million) of these beneficiaries already on the system.
Currently the grant covers between 70 and 80% of children living in poor households. This percentage is likely to rise in the next coming few years as a result of the extension of the grant to children under 18 years. Furthermore, the CSG covers about 54% of all children (0 -18 years) in South Africa. Given the current eligibility criteria, this percentage is also expected to rise and peak in the range of 60 – 65% in the next coming few years.
There is compelling research evidence that households accessing the Child Support Grant use it for health and the educational needs of children.
Applications can be made at local or regional offices of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) throughout the country.
For enquiries contact:
Thapelo Sakoana
Cell: 078 453 6750
