The Perceptions of Caregivers and other Stakeholders on the Usefulness of the Child Support Grant: The Case Study of Emalahleni, Nkangala District

Abstract

The South African government faces the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequalities. This article focuses on the challenge of poverty. One of the ways in which the government of South Africa seeks to address the challenge of poverty is through the Child Support Grant (CSG) programme that was first implemented in 1998. The Child Support Grant is intended to ensure that the basic needs of the children of a vulnerable group of society are met. The context is Emalahleni Local Municipality, and the main objective is to investigate the perceptions of caregivers on the utilisation of the Child Support Grant. The study adopted qualitative research which focuses on the issues to be understood by applying qualitative measures. In this regard, qualitative data collection and analysis methods and primary and secondary data were used. The primary data was collected through a survey that focused on the residents of Emalahleni Local Municipality. Key findings of the study are that the Child Support Grant improves households’ ability to meet basic needs such as food and clothing. In addition, the grants assists families make investments in education, which increases the chances of breaking the cycle of poverty. However, there was some evidence from community members (who are not caregivers) suggesting that there are cases of abuse of Child Support Grant money by some recipients in the community. As a result of this, the researchers suggest that SASSA must employ social workers directly to monitor whether caregivers use the grants for the intended purpose, which is to take care of the needs of beneficiaries. This, however, does not in any way suggest that the Child Support grant is not making a positive impact on recipient households. The article makes a contribution to the body of knowledge by providing empirically backed conclusions on this important social security intervention by the South African government.