The Independent Democrats believe that South Africa is a stronger economic position than it has been before and that this strength now needs to be even more firmly directed at tackling the poverty crisis in South Africa. We therefore believe that we must consider ways of extending the social security net even further, to take in those millions of people who are living in abject poverty without any hope of an income. ID would therefore like to see the introduction of a Basic Income Grant, that can provide every South African with the most minimum of social security. The first step in achieving this would be through firstly extending the Child Support Grant to children below the age of 18. This would be in keeping with the constitutional definition of children. ID also believes that we must move towards a more simplified version of the means test and that the cut-off be increased at least in line with inflation.

It would also help address one of the most intractable problems, namely childhood poverty where almost 80 percent of our children live below the poverty line. Related to this is the huge number of orphans that are arising out of the increasing death rate due to HIV/AIDS. It is clear to the ID that the foster care grant is a very unwieldly child protection mechanism and currently does not perform its role optimally. In Kwazulu Natal for instance, the backlog on Foster Care Grants stretches back to 2001 and social workers are stretched to their limit trying to process the court applications. By extending the Child Support Grant to all children and allowing children younger than 16 to access the Grant on behalf of their siblings will go a long way in addressing this problem.

ID is also very concerned that over the last five years the disability grant has not been increased in line with inflation. In rural areas the facilities available for people with disabilities are dismal and we need to do more to ensure their basic human rights are protected.
 
ID has first hand experience of witnessing the crisis affecting service delivery to children. A great deal of these services, including statutory services, are being provided by NGOs and CBOs. Despite this reality there does not seem to be any more money allocated through the equitable share to provinces to allocate to non-governmental agencies. It seems that we are relying on volunteers and people’s altruism to deliver much needed services. Services such as home based care and child support should be run through NGOs and CBOs and adequate provision must be made for people’s salaries. The ID believes that until the State adequately supports those that support children we will never be able to put the rights of children first.

I feel confident that as a nation we can and will do more to tackle poverty in this country. Only in this way will we be able to bridge the divides in our country and create a caring nation for all South Africans.