9 September 2005

The number of South Africans receiving social grants rose to 10-million in August 2005 - 6.2-million of them children.

According to the Department of Social Development, the increase is a result of efforts to extend social security to poorer areas of the country - and comes despite the removal of a significant number of people from the social grant net during a recent anti-corruption campaign.

In 1999 and 2000, department research indicated that a significant gap existed between those entitled to social grants and the number of people actually receiving the benefits.

Coverage in poorer provinces made up of the former homelands was not good, with millions of people entitled to grants but not receiving them.

Concerted registration campaigns subsequently increased the number of beneficiaries in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.

The department said the number of beneficiaries doubled between 1999 and 2003 as the child-support grant was extended to include children between the ages of seven and 14 years.

"An analysis of the growth patterns and successes in improving the integrity of the social grants system seem to indicate that our targeting mechanisms are becoming more effective," said Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya.

"We have reached almost all the elderly people for old age grants, and the same can be said for disability grants," he said.

"The real growth for disability has only been around 1% since April 2004. The child support grant for children under seven years has stabilised, even declining since the anti-fraud initiatives. We are well on target to reach eligible children in the 11 to 14 year age group."

But there is concern that while growth remains high at 11% for the foster care grant, members of the Dioceses of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa have experienced difficulty in accessing the foster care grant.

Skweyiya said over 40 000 applications for foster care grants were not processed in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Source: BuaNews

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