Coalition calls on Cabinet to reconsider relief grants allocation

A coalition of experts and civil society leaders has submitted a request to the South African government to revise its COVID-19 social relief package. They argue that the current allocation of the child support grant (CSG) increase—applied to the caregiver rather than per child—will leave an estimated 2 million more people below the food poverty line. The coalition demands that the CSG increase be attached to each grant and that unemployed caregivers be eligible for the R350 Covid-19 grant, particularly as 10 million children lost daily meals due to school closures.

• The coalition argues that the social relief package announced by the President is not as pro-poor as initially presented and is punitive toward women and children.
• A critical issue identified is that the R500 increase for the child support grant (CSG) from June to October is applied as a single increase for the caregiver instead of for each child beneficiary.
• Modelled estimates suggest that applying the R500 CSG increase to the caregiver rather than each grant will result in 2 million more people falling below the food poverty line.
• The relief package fails to adequately address the fact that approximately 10 million children lost their primary daily meals following the closure of school and Early Childhood Development (ECD) feeding schemes in March.
• The coalition requests that the government attach the CSG increase to every grant paid and ensure that unemployed caregivers are not excluded from the R350 Covid-19 grant.

APA

Mathews, S., Skelton, A., Ozah, K., Madubedube, N., Leibbrandt, M., Ally, N., King, M. S., Rugege, U., Hall, R., Moeti, K., Woolard, I., Isaacs, G., Maart, L., Nomdo, C., & Rensburg, R. (2020). Coalition calls on Cabinet to reconsider relief grants allocation. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/coalition-calls-on-cabinet-to-reconsider-relief-grants-allocation/

Chicago

Mathews, Shanaaz, Ann Skelton, Karabo Ozah, Noncedo Madubedube, Murray Leibbrandt, Nurina Ally, Maylene Shung King, et al. Coalition calls on Cabinet to reconsider relief grants allocation. Institute for Economic Justice, 2020. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/coalition-calls-on-cabinet-to-reconsider-relief-grants-allocation/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Mathews |first1=Shanaaz |last2=Skelton |first2=Ann |last3=Ozah |first3=Karabo |last4=Madubedube |first4=Noncedo |last5=Leibbrandt |first5=Murray |last6=Ally |first6=Nurina |last7=King |first7=Maylene Shung |last8=Rugege |first8=Umunyana |last9=Hall |first9=Ruth |display-authors=etal |title=Coalition calls on Cabinet to reconsider relief grants allocation |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=30 April 2020 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/coalition-calls-on-cabinet-to-reconsider-relief-grants-allocation/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{mathews2020coalition, author = {Mathews, Shanaaz and Skelton, Ann and Ozah, Karabo and Madubedube, Noncedo and Leibbrandt, Murray and Ally, Nurina and King, Maylene Shung and Rugege, Umunyana and Hall, Ruth and Moeti, Koketso and Woolard, Ingrid and Isaacs, Gilad and Maart, Lynette and Nomdo, Christina and Rensburg, Russel}, title = {{Coalition calls on Cabinet to reconsider relief grants allocation}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2020}, month = apr, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/coalition-calls-on-cabinet-to-reconsider-relief-grants-allocation/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }