Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable - Unicef

Government-funded programmes and services for vulnerable children in SA
of one are not accessing the CSG. A national study commissioned by the DoSD in 2008
found widespread evidence of caregivers, especially in rural areas, not accessing the CSG
for their children until the fourth quarter of their first year (CASE 2008). In KwaZulu-
Natal, where the rural take-up rate is lower than the provincial average, the take-up rate
for children in these rural areas drops even further for young children. For example,
in 2005 in the 0–1 age group, it dropped to below 20 per cent in many rural districts
(Noble et al. 2005: 34). In 2009, at a national level, only 38 per cent of children under the
age of one were accessing the CSG, although about 60 per cent of children in this age
group qualified for the grant (Scorecard 2009). Given the importance of proper nutrition,
healthcare and other critical developmental essentials in the first two years of a child’s life,
the lack of access to the CSG in the early years is of particular concern for ensuring the
well-being and development of children living in extreme poverty in rural areas.
Reasons for the low levels of access to the grant in rural communities and for young
children include lack of early access to enabling documents required by the social
security laws, such as birth certificates, identity documents and death certificates (CASE
2008; Peters & Williams 2009).
The Peters and Williams (2009) research in rural areas was conducted after the
promulgation of the revised Regulations (No. 31356) to the Social Assistance Act of
2004 which introduced a legal innovation to address the barrier posed by identification
documents to accessing grants. In mid-2008, the DoSD implemented a new Regulation
which permits caregivers who do not have enabling documents (their identity documents
or the bar-coded birth certificates of their children) to apply for the CSG. The Regulation
goes as far as to permit applications for the CSG (and all other grants such as the FCG,
CDG, OAP, etc.) even before the applicant has applied to the DoHA for their enabling
documents. If the application for the CSG succeeds on all other grounds, the applicant
will receive the grant for at least three months, but during that time the applicant must
apply to Home Affairs for their enabling documents. The logic is that once they are
receiving the grant, they will receive money to overcome the cost barrier.
The research in question reveals that the Regulation has not been applied properly in
the targeted rural, vulnerable areas and as a result has not provided the intended relief.
The reasons for the new Regulation not being applied properly are the same reasons
that prevent access to enabling documents and the CSG in the first place. These include
lack of knowledge and awareness of the new Regulation and the rights it bestows;
lack of knowledge (by beneficiaries and social security administrators/Home Affairs
administrators) on how to navigate the procedures involved; lack of consistency in
interpreting and applying the Regulation and procedures by administrators (especially
with regards to the alternative forms of proof of identity that may be accepted in support
of the application); and a widespread misinterpretation of the Regulation, resulting
in administrators not allowing grant applications until such time as beneficiaries have
actually applied to Home Affairs for their enabling documents (Peters & Williams 2009).
A lack of accessible sites of service delivery in rural areas and the cost of transport to
travel to obtain documents and to apply for the grant are further reasons for the low
levels of access to the grant.
As noted earlier in this report, Thusong centres (previously known as Multi-Purpose
Community Centres) were established in terms of the Thusong Service Centre Programme
in 1999. The objective of the centres is to extend government services, in an integrated
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