Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable children in SA
Rural households have not been particularly targeted in the rollout of the subsidy scheme.
This is evidenced by the low take-up of the rural subsidies. This may be linked to low
levels of awareness of the subsidy and slow implementation by the provincial departments
and district municipalities. Furthermore, women are unlikely to benefit from the rural
subsidy because it only applies to land that has been traditionally allocated. Women
are not likely to be beneficiaries of traditional allocations of land and therefore will not
qualify.
This is a particularly problematic gap, given that most of the CSG recipients (in other words,
caregivers of children living in poverty) are women in rural areas (Delaney et al. 2008).
Unmarried parents younger than 21
Unmarried parents who are under 21 years are not eligible for the subsidy. This exclusion
is most likely to affect young mothers (Hall 2005). Both the national Department of
Housing and a provincial department have confirmed that access to the housing subsidy
by an unmarried minor would be illegal and contrary to housing policy. As Hall (2005)
observes, there is currently a policy gap which leaves young adults between the ages of
18 and 21 entirely unprotected as far as their right to housing and other basic services
is concerned. Young adults between the ages of 18 and 21 are neither entitled to the
parental care and basic rights to shelter under section 28 of the Constitution, nor do they
(or their children) have direct access to the ‘adequate housing’ provided for in section 26
of the Constitution.
Child-headed households and HIV/AIDS
It is of concern that HIV/AIDS and the prioritisation of the needs of children affected
by HIV/AIDS do not feature in the general policy. Despite the fact that the Department’s
Comprehensive Plan for Sustainable Human Settlements (2004) acknowledges the need for
holistic planning, HIV/AIDS does not seem to have been integrated into the government’s
general housing plans at all.
For example, there is no provision in the subsidy scheme for children who are not in the
care of adult caregivers. Children cannot on their own access housing assistance, since
they are not legally competent to contract. Access to the housing programmes is premised
on the child living with an adult caregiver in a traditional nuclear family-type household.
The need to protect the right to housing for children who are not living with an adult
caregiver is important, given that there is often deterioration in housing conditions
following the death of caregivers and since, in most instances, home maintenance is an
impossible task for children (Giese, Meintjies et al. 2003).
Waiting lists and corruption
The individual subsidy has been almost entirely discontinued because of corruption and
difficulties with waiting lists (Hall 2005).
Lack of access to supporting documents
The inability of poor and vulnerable children and their families to access enabling
documents, described in detail earlier in this report, impacts negatively on their ability to
apply for subsidies.
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