“DESERVING” CHILDREN, “UNDESERVING” MOTHERS? MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES ON THE CHILD SUPPORT GRANT

Abstract

Following the change from over 350 years of colonial and apartheid rule in South Africa, thefirst democratically elected government that came into power in 1994 was faced with thechallenge of having to address vast levels of inequality and poverty. The distribution of wealthwere extremely skewed in terms of race, gender and region, with children growing up in rural,black and female-headed households disproportionately affected by severe levels of poverty(Cassiem, Perry, Sadan & Streak, 2000; Landman, Bhorat, Van der Berg & Van Aardt, 2003;May, 1998; UNDP, 2004). Consequently, child mortality and levels of stunted growth in SouthAfrica in general and amongst this group of children in particular were unacceptably high, and– by now constitutionally enshrined – children’s rights and basic needs were unmet for themajority of South African children (Manuel, 2007). Poverty continues to be the biggestchallenge faced by the government: Brandon and Pather (2007) for example cite that 24 millionSouth Africans are living below the poverty line, half of whom are dependent on governmentgrants.

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