DA criticises ANC’s failure to appropriately increase child support grant
The DA maintains the child support grant is still below the ‘food poverty line’, but the Finance Minister counters that the social wage has increased steadily
The social wage in SA has steadily increased over the past few years and social grants were not the only form of social security assistance to the poor, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said in the National Assembly on Friday. He was responding to criticism by DA finance spokesperson David Maynier about the failure of the ANC MPs’ appropriations committee to approve an increase in the child support grant, which would have required adjustments to other budget votes. Nene was concluding the debate on the first reading of the appropriations bill, which allocates funds to the different departments. He noted that the social wage had increased from R643bn in 2014-15 and to R707bn in 2015-16, which represented 57% of total government spending. In 2016-17 the figure rose to 58% and to 58.6% in 2017-18. This year the social wage represented 59% of total spending. The minister said the social wage included basic education, free higher education, health, social grants, welfare services, support ...
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