Yes, Social Assistance legislation provides for primary care givers and relatives of children in receipt of the Child Support Grant (CSG) including CSG Top Up to receive the grant until the month in which the child turns 18 years of age. The same legislation provides for COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) for working age unemployed adults (18 -59). Although the provision is temporary, it caters for the same group of beneficiaries.
It is important to emphasise that children’s grants should be seen in the context of comprehensive social protection programmes rendered by government. To this effect, Government provides essential services for example, food nutrition programme to poor children through the Department of Basic Education and other free basic municipal services at reduced and controlled costs to impoverished households of which the majority of these children come from. In addition, the same children are exempted from paying school fees.
Government has ensured that basic food items such as brown bread, maize meal, vegetables, fruits, eggs, samp, mealie rice and milk are zero-rated, meaning the 14% VAT is not paid on these goods.
The Department did consider extending the CSG for beneficiaries over 18 and still at school up to the age of 21 years (similar to the FCG) in previous years, however, the proposal was not supported due to fiscal constraints.