The CSG was introduced in 1998 to help alleviate the poverty experienced by many children in South Africa. Leatt (2006) defines the CSG as a cash grant for children who are cared for by adults living in poverty. During the period of transition from the apartheid government to the democratic government there were intense policy-oriented activities. One of those changes was targeted towards government social welfare, because the way in which grants were previously issued did not cater for people living in poverty especially in rural areas.
The Welfare Ministry in 1995 (today known as the Department of Social Development [DSD]) established the Lund Committee for children and family support. The committee was given a mandate whereby it had to: undertake a critical analysis of the existing system of social security to children and families in all departments; explore alternative policy options in relation to social security for children and families as well as other anti-poverty, economic empowerment and capacity-building strategies; and present a report giving findings and recommendations. A number of policy alternatives were derived which included, among others: to increase financial support for mainstream social welfare services;
support nutrition programmes for young children; support early childhood development programmes; and develop a new cash transfer system. Developing a new cash transfer
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system was one of the alternatives that was decided upon because the State Maintenance Grant was deemed unsustainable and inappropriate (Lund, 2008).
When the CSG was developed and implemented in 1998, it was decided that the initial amount that would be paid to the child would be R100, from ages 0 to 7, and the applicant had to first pass the means test. The CSG is currently a cash grant to the value of R310 per month. Considering the inflation rates and the real value of the South African Rand, the grant amount has gradually increased. The grant now covers children aged 0 to18 years.
(SASSA, 2014).
During the roll-out stage of the CSG the following were required for the means test: the identity document of the applicant; a photo of the applicant; a form in which the consent of the natural parent was given to state who the caregiver will be; a birth certificate for all children under the age of seven in the household; and an immunisation card or a Road to Health Card of the child. A year after the introduction of this grant, changes were made to the requirements. The caregiver had to produce birth certificates or identity documents for everyone in the household under the age of 18 years, and the caregiver was required to prove that she or he had registered with or participated in a community development project (Lund, 2008). Most of these requirements, which were largely administrative, were unnecessary and placed the people living in rural areas at a disadvantage. A further complication experienced was that some children grew up not knowing who their parents were because some parents leave their children at a young age, which made it impossible to fulfil the requirement of obtaining consent from a natural parent. Thus even if these children were fortunate enough to have their relatives take them in, some ended up on the streets because their families were unable to access the CSG.
The CSG was mainly designed to shift racially biased welfare spending towards all children in very poor households by 30% of children and was means-tested, for example, the child had to be residing in a household with an income below a specified threshold. The threshold for household income was set at R800 for children living in urban areas and at R1100 for those living in rural areas or in informal settlements (Agüero, Carter & Woolard, 2009: 5).
There were also various conditions that were put in place. In 2004 the draft regulations to the Social Assistance Act stated that a child must receive immunisation and, if of school- going age, must attend school regularly. However both these conditions were done away with as they were seen as unnecessary and impossible to implement. Five years later in 2009
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amendments were made to the policy. Behavioural conditions were introduced whereby proof of the child’s enrolment and attendance at school was to be produced by the caregiver every six months. Failure to do so would lead to the suspension of the CSG. Because of the implications which included limited access of the CSG by the poor, the conditions they were softened (Hall, 2011). Along with these amendments a new formula was introduced for calculating income threshold which was set at 10 times the amount of the grant. In 2009 income threshold was R2 400 per month for a single caregiver and R4 800 per month for the joint income of the caregiver and married spouse. The administration of the grant was transferred from the DSD to an agency that was created by government known as the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) which will be discussed later in this chapter.
All of these changes were necessary but have created uncertainties within the policy, its administration process and whether an agency is fit to deal with matters of the public and as a result fulfil the mandate of the social security. Triegaardt (2005) states that the CSG has four objectives which are to: ensure greater access for poor children to a combined and sustainable security system in the country; provide impartial child grants to all children in need irrespective of family arrangement or race; prevent children from unreasonably entering or remaining in statutory substitute care; and keep children off the streets and out of juvenile custody centres. Children are considered as poor because of the household background they come from that is faced with poverty. This is because children are not required to work or earn income and are therefore dependent on the income earned in the family. It is the primary caregiver that must provide for the daily needs of the child, but this is not always apparent in people living in rural areas who may be faced with unemployment.
Therefore the CSG aims to close this gap by providing social assistance to children that are living in poverty. Social security in South Africa is a commitment that government made to its citizens not only to address the imbalances of the past, but also to improve the living standard of most citizens living in extreme poverty. Government made social security one of the priorities to be addressed in the country, along with education, healthcare and housing, by making it a right for everyone to have access to social security. Thus social security such as the CSG is largely grounded by South African legislations, which therefore makes it imperative that the legislations impacting on the CSG are discussed.
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