A new study by BlackSash found that households dependent on the Child Support Grant faced a constant threat of food running out before the end of the month.
The Child Support Grant should be increased so that children have enough to eat, according to a recent research report commissioned by Black Sash. The report on children, social assistance and food security found that at current levels the grant is not enough.
“So, we can think that R327 is not going to afford food that is of good dietary quality. Amongst all the households, hunger was the norm,” she said. One of the participants, an unemployed mother from Langa, had no other source of income except the grant she received for her four-year-old child. Zembe said that the mother was facing a lot of anxiety about how her child would transition to primary school.