Mongezi Koko3 November 2024 | 9:12

Plans in motion to tackle child poverty in Gauteng - MEC Ramokgopa

The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, in partnership with Deloitte Africa, released a study on child poverty, revealing the staggering economic impact of the issue, estimated to cost the country nearly R1.3 trillion.

Plans in motion to tackle child poverty in Gauteng - MEC Ramokgopa

A woman sits on a chair as two children play around in Blikkiesdorp ('Tin Can Town' in Afrikaans), a settlement of corrugated iron houses, taken on April 20, 2010 about 25Km east of Cape Town, South Africa. Picture: RODGER BOSCH / AFP

JOHANNESBURG - With over 13 million South African children living in abject poverty, plans and initiatives have been set in motion to tackle this crisis.

On Saturday, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, in partnership with Deloitte Africa, released a study on child poverty, revealing the staggering economic impact of the issue, estimated to cost the country nearly R1.3 trillion.

The study also highlighted inadequate support from both public and private sectors in efforts to alleviate poverty.

Gauteng Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Vuyiswa Ramokgopa attended the event, expressing concern over the findings while assuring residents that solutions were within reach.

"So the focus on child poverty empowers us and gives us the tools now to start to say what are the levers that we need to pull to impact the next generation and the generations that will come."