Social grants increase ‘below inflation levels’
THE non-governmental organisation sector has responded with mixed reaction to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s Budget speech.
There are growing concerns about the Treasury’s decision to increase social grants at below inflation levels. Concerns have also been raised about spending on education.
Mboweni gave his annual Budget speech this week.
The minister announced a between R10 and R30 increase for social grants – which included child and elderly care grants.
Treasury’s Budget outline shows that social grants spending will be decreased by 2.2% over the medium-term expenditure framework. This is while the number of beneficiaries is expected to increase by 300000.
On spending on education, Mboweni announced an increase in spending from R387.2 billion in the 2020/21 financial year to R416bn in 2023/24.
Equal Education (EE) said Wednesday’s Budget represented a continued underfunding in education by the government. The organisation noted the slight increase in spending allocated for education but noted that this would signify a decrease in the coming years when inflation was taken into account.
“It is learners, teachers and parents/ guardians who will feel the consequences of these decisions in schools when already stretched classrooms fill up. There are too few teachers, and learners go without meals because of underfunding.
“Yesterday’s budget represents a continuation of concerning trends of underspending on basic education. Since 2016/17, funding for education as a percentage of the total budget has decreased from almost 19% to around 15%,” EE said in a statement.
Aidc, an NGO collective umbrella group representing over 10 NGOs, said Treasury had implemented an austerity budget despite denials by Mboweni.
The organisation said spending did not account for inflation and as such will do very little to uplift the marginalised who depend on social grants.
The #PaySocialGrants movement, a civil society movement, said the below-inflation increase in social grants will only mean beneficiaries will become poorer.