opposed
Marion Edmunds
THE Welfare Ministry faces mounting=20 opposition to its recommendation that state=20 maintenance payments – which under=20 apartheid were available only to white and=20 coloured mothers – be limited now to the=20 poorest of the poor. =20
The recommendations, which came out of last=20 year’s report by the Lund Commission, were=20 well received at the time by advocates of=20 fiscal discipline. But it has come under=20 increasing criticism by a number of=20 organisations and non-government=20 organisations who say that the Welfare=20 Department and the Cabinet should=20 reconsider their priorities before=20 eliminating a programme upon which whole=20 communities have become dependent.
Under the current system, poor mothers of=20 two or more children receive as much as=20 R700 a month. Because of past practices=20 most of the recipients are coloured or=20 white; only a fraction of the black women=20 eligible for the grants are receiving them.=20
Welfare Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi=20 has said that though the poorest children=20 live in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and=20 the Northern Province, most of the grant=20 money has been funneled to the Western=20 Cape.
In an attempt to keep within a reasonable=20 budget – R1,65-billion for the 1996/97=20 financial year – the Lund Report=20 recommended that the state adopt a system=20 that would grant less money to more people.=20 Every eligible child under nine years would=20 receive R125 a month, costing an annual R2- billion.
Cabinet has yet to decide on when to adopt=20 the proposals, but it is expected the=20 process will start from mid-year, phased in=20 over the next decade.=20
Organisations such as the Black Sash, the=20 Gender Project at the University of the=20 Witwatersrand, the Centre for Socio-Legal=20 Research at the University of Cape Town and=20 the Women on Farms Project have called for=20 public hearings to express their concern,=20 not only about the report, but also about=20 the Cabinet’s priorities.=20
They have called for the Cabinet to keep=20 promises made in the Redevelopment and=20 Construction Programme, in the White Paper=20 for Social Welfare, and the Bill of Rights=20 in the Constitution.=20
Among those opposed to the recommendations=20 of the Lund Report is Sandy Liebenberg, a=20 senior researcher at the Women and Human=20 Rights Project at the University of the=20 Western Cape.
“We are deeply concerned that the extension=20 of these grants to all beneficiaries should=20 entail that the substance of the benefits=20 be drastically cut,” she wrote in a letter=20 to Fraser-Moleketi.
“The implication of these proposals is that=20 vulnerable and disadvantaged women and=20 children in South Africa will bear the=20 costs of remedying past injustices. Social=20 assistance should be one of the priority=20 areas of government spending.”
Claudia and Dirk Haarmann, of the Institute=20 for Social Development at the University of=20 the Western Cape, did research for the Lund=20 Commission. They have expressed concern=20 that many of the mothers they interviewed=20 in rural coloured areas would be among=20 those deprived of government help.
They described women farm workers in Ceres=20 “who work seven days a week, earning R10 to=20 R35 a day. They are fighting on one side=20 with the farmer and on the other to get the=20 money from the welfare office.
“They say they spend the welfare money on=20 school fees, uniforms and food for the=20 children. They say they beg for bread in=20 the last week of the month, because even=20 with the grants there is not enough for the=20 family.”
Black Sash has also sounded the alarm by=20 distributing 4000 pamphlets to=20 organisations around the country about the=20 current system and the implications of the=20 Lund recommendations.=20
There have been reports that some=20 politicians, sensitive to criticism that=20 the government has sold out on the RDP, and=20 with the next elections in sight, are=20 hesitant to implement the Lund Report=20 recommendations. But even in the face of=20 vocal opposition, reports from the African=20 National Congress’s recent lekgotla=20 indicate the Cabinet, intent upon=20 maintaining a trim budget, is unlikely to=20 pump more money into welfare.=20
Meanwhile, the government has yet to=20 implement a proposed moratorium on new=20 mothers signing up for the current=20 maintenance grant system. Most of the new=20 applicants are black, and it would be=20 unconstitutional to exclude them at this=20 point.=20
The politician facing the worst political=20 fall-out from the Lund proposals is the MEC=20 for health and welfare in the Western Cape,=20 Ebrahim Rasool. But Rasool says he supports=20 the Lund Report because its primary=20 objective is to break away from patterns of=20 racially discriminatory welfare payments.