The new Social Security Agency, which the government hopes will improve delivery of social grants, will cost R300-million to set up.
Briefing the media in Cape Town on Thursday, Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya said although his department has improved access to grants, there are still weaknesses in administration and delivery.
The new agency will pay out more than R50-million in social grants to 7,7-million beneficiaries each year.
A social development official told journalists at the briefing that the R300-million needed to set up the agency has already been set aside in the medium-term budget policy.
Skweyiya said the agency will manage a national database of all beneficiaries of social grants.
The number of beneficiaries is set to increase as the government embarks on a campaign to register all children under the age of 11 eligible for grants this year. Next year, it will start registering children under the age of 14.
On his department’s priorities for the next five years, Skweyiya said he hoped that the Older Persons Bill will be passed by the new Parliament by September at the latest.
The department will also focus on increasing access to poverty relief. he said. — Sapa