News on access to social grants

"We have a duty as South Africans to work together to relieve children and vulnerable people from hunger and poverty." These were the words of Dr Zola Skweyiya, Minister of Social Development, to more than 200 faith leaders at a gathering in KwaZulu-Natal in October 2003. This was one among many imbizos held by the Minister to address community members and civil society organisations across the country during the past year.

Dr Skweyiya asked for ongoing collaboration between social partners to ensure that the poorest of the poor are able to receive support through social grants, and thanked FBOs for having helped to improve access to the grants by finding and registering children and the elderly with the Department of Home Affairs for Child Support (160 per month) and Old Age (R700 per month) grants.

He acknowledged the valuable role played by community radio stations in sending out information about the Department's Integrated Community Registration Campaign. This Campaign ensures that the registration and application process no longer requires travelling long distances to cities and standing in queues in local government offices. Many thousands of people are now able to gather at rural centres where mobile registration units, staffed by government officials from Home Affairs and Social Development, are set up to serve remote communities.

The Minister outlined how religious and traditional leaders could help to solve the problem of incorrect ages being reflected in the ID books of pensioners in their communities. These leaders could sign a written statement (called an Affidavit) at a Magistrate?s Court to prove the person?s correct age and then submit this to the Department of Home Affairs for the issue of a new ID book.

Dr Skweyiya was deeply concerned about the plight of orphans and the elderly in distant rural areas, and said he was very disturbed by the suffering and destabilisation that the HIV/AIDS epidemic, poverty and hunger have brought to communities and traditional support structures. "If a person entitled to a social grant is not able to get it, this strips a whole family of its dignity and humanity. We cannot allow this to happen." He stressed the critical need for business, civil society and government to work as partners, so that political tensions in both rural and urban areas do not restrict the distribution of food parcels in needy communities.

He also reported on the spending of no less than R1,5 billion in government funds allocated across the provinces to poverty relief programmes, nationwide food emergency schemes, support for community and home-based care and assistance for children through the Comprehensive Social Security system.

For more information, direct your queries to the Department of Social Development, via:
Kgati Sathekge
Tel: (012) 312 7775
Fax: (012) 312-7943
Cell: 082 808 9486
Email: [email protected] / or [email protected]

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