The number of people eligible for grants in South Africa is due to reach 16.5 million by 2016/17.
This was announced by the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan when he was delivering his National Budget in Parliament on Wednesday.
The Minister says social assistance is government’s means of combating poverty.
Spending on the social grant is projected to rise from R118 billion in 2013/14 to R145 billion by 2016/17. About 15.8 million benefit from some form of social assistance currently.
Grant recipients will receive the following increases this year:
• The old age and disability grant will increase in April from R1270 a month to R1350.
• The foster care grant will increase from R800 to R830
• The child support grant will increase from R300 to R310 a month in April and to R320 in October.
Meanwhile, education receives 20 % of the consolidated expenditure at R254 billion, significantly higher than any other category.
Access to free education has increased since government introduced no fee schools in 2007.
Sixty percent of schools do not charge fee with 5 million learners having access to free education, and this year the number has risen to 8.8 million.
A partnership between government, business, labour and civil society was launched in 2013 to improve the quality of education. The National Education Collaboration started by profiling 4 000 schools, serving about 2 million learners in eight education districts across five provinces.
– By Thuthuka Maseko
