Grants key in poverty fight

from Fin 24

Johannesburg - Social grants were one of the most effective means of alleviating poverty among children, researchers said in Johannesburg on Monday.

Speaking at a symposium on child poverty coinciding with the launch of Child Protection Week, Katherine Hall of the University of Cape Town said child support grants had proved to be effective in helping eradicating poverty.

The grants reached a large number of children including those in remote areas, she said.

"In reality it reaches an even greater proportion, because benefits are shared within households.

"In the absence of employment opportunities, child grants are often the only way to address the lack of income for children living in poverty."

Hall said that social grants had also helped children overcome financial barriers that prevented them from going to school.

At present, eight million children receive the social grants, while more than 400 000 receive the foster care grant.

The most important cause of poverty was the structural inequalities caused by apartheid, she said.

"Although children are being born in a time of democracy they are also born into inequality because they still lived in a society where equal rights do not translate into equal opportunities."

According to Statistics SA, over 63% of black African children live in households with a monthly income of less than R800, while only 4% of white children live in households that are this poor.

On the other hand, 64% of white children live in households with a monthly income of over R6 000.

Hall said these discrepancies show there was a need for goverment to increase social grants and to raise the age limit for children to receiving the grant above the present 14.

"The more children who access social grants, the more income to the household in which they live.

"Households with children under 14 years are currently better off than those with children over 14," Hall said.