Government has to introduce stringent conditions to prevent the abuse of the social grant system by young people who drop out of school to access the R310 monthly payment.
When the government introduced the social grant system to assist the destitute (the majority Historically Disadvantaged Individuals) afford, at the very least, basic necessities close to two decades ago, little did it anticipate that it would face the current situation. Now, the systems’ beneficiaries are said to be close to 15 million (to 25% of the country’s population). And the fear is that the number could be higher by end 2015.
Annually, it is becoming clear that the system cannot be sustained for longer time, as government’s coffers are under pressure from other competing issues of equally national importance (HIV/AIDS, essential infrastructure to provide health services and . The social grant kitty is funded by South African Revenue Services’ (SARSA) deductions from dedicated tax payers who are only 5 million (10% of the country’s population).
Even developed countries on which South Africa modelled its system are d
So, in the face of this welfare state which it has inadvertently created, what should government do?
Brazil, a country which is ranked as the world’s most unequal, introduced school attendance and accessing health care as conditions for young people to qualify for social grant. The idea is to encourage young people to be independent. Perhaps South Africa could take a leaf from this approach.
