Zola Skweyiya says it is time to reflect on how South Africa is ensuring that its social services truly benefit children in need. Speaking at the launch of child protection week, Skweyiya, the Minister of Social Development, focused on the socio-economic conditions in which children continue to live.
This is not surprising in a country where, according to the minister, at least 18-million South African children live in poverty and 1,5-million are orphans born of the HIV/Aids pandemic.
Child mortality figures reflect that 45 children out of every 1 000 live births are likely to die before their first birthday.
A year ago the government released the long-awaited report of the Committee of Inquiry into a Comprehensive System of Social Security for South Africa.
Auspiciously, the public hearings on the report will be held in 10 days’ time.
Since its publication, the report has been in the public domain and the clamour for a more comprehensive security package for children has grown substantially, with calls for something more in line with both our constitutional and international obligations on children’s social security rights.
A number of organisations will be attending the hearings to make representations. Among them is the Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security (Acess). Organisational membership of the group, which is committed to ensuring a comprehensive system of social security for children, has grown more than threefold over the past year. Acess now has more than 400 member organisations.
Many of these are working at the coalface and are more than familiar with the extent of poverty in communities. They have come forward either to make submissions at the hearings or to attend them in support of Acess.
The wellbeing of children is recognised as a barometer of social progress. The commission of inquiry’s recommendations, particularly the introduction of a basic income grant and the extension of the child support grant to children of up to 18 years, were encouraging developments.
However, since the report’s publication there have been repeated obfuscations and delays by Cabinet regarding the acceptance and implementation of many of its recommendations.
In its efforts to make a comprehensive package of social security for children a reality, Acess backs the report’s package of recommendations, including cash grants, benefits and free and subsidised services.
Poor people should not have to choose between using their limited income, including what they receive from social security, for basic services that should be free or subsidised.
A 15-year-old boy from the Western Cape who contributed to Acess’s Child Participation project put it well: “My father is working but he earns very little. The problem is he has to buy food, pay people who lent him money, and pay our school fees.”
Skweyiya said in his launch speech that one of the practical steps the government was taking to alleviate conditions of hardship was the provision of free education to millions of schools. This may well be the objective of the current schooling policy, but the reality is completely different.
Exemption from school fees is obtainable, but not without duress. Many schools do not make illiterate parents aware of the exemption policy and in instances where they are aware, they often have to overcome the resistance of school principals and governing bodies before winning exemption.
Some of the children Acess spoke to told depressing stories of extreme discrimination because their parents could not pay school fees.
It should also be noted that despite a fairly high enrolment rate, the recent financial review of education reported that there are still about 300 000 children not in educational institutions; many are outside the system because of disabilities.
In next week’s hearings, the focus must fall on the tangle of red tape children must cut through to gain access to benefits.
Underpinning this argument are statistics which indicate that while the child grant has been accessible to children under six years, about 45% of children in this age group have managed to secure the grant.
Acquiring the necessary documentation, more specifically identity documents and birth certificates, from the Department of Home Affairs, is a considerable burden on poor families.
The financial outlay — transport for the several visits to a home affairs office and the cost of photographs — is often beyond the means of these families. This point should also be seen in the context of the 49% of children in South Africa without birth certificates.
A study undertaken in the impoverished Mount Frere area in the Eastern Cape found that of 54 children eligible for the grant, only 11 applications were made by caregivers, of which only four were successful — less than 7%. In most unsuccessful applications, caregivers were unable to obtain the correct documentation.
Prior to 2001, when the Social Assistance Act’s regulations were amended, it was possible to use alternative documentation to apply for grants. These are now prohibited.
As mentioned by Skweyiya in his speech, the government has made progress in the battle to eliminate the poverty in which the majority of our children live. Many of these are indeed victories for the government.
However, given the vastness of the problem, we still have a long way to go.
Laura Pollecutt is media liaison officer for Soul City and an active member of Acess