The discussion on the social grants programme needs to go much farther than the current debate about who should pay them and who did wrong in contracting for those payments, says former cabinet minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi. She was deputy minister of welfare and population development (1995–96), minister of welfare and population development (1996–99) and minister of public service and administration (1999–2008). "In 1995, our intention was to have a multisectoral intervention that would involve several ministries — including health, education, social development and public works — to work together to maximise the social grants programme," she says. "This way, the social grant programme is linked to other programmes where, for example, any child coming through this system automatically has the opportunity to receive a proper education and their schooling progress, together with their healthcare and nutrition, are monitored all the way through. "The matriculants who qualify for...

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