PBO tells MPs they should be concerned about small increase in number of child grant recipients
The Parliamentary Budget Office's public finance analyst, Busi Sibeko, told MPs that the projected number of grant recipients did not make sense when one looked at the trends.
The giant dome used as a temporary chamber of the South African National Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa. Picture: Supplied/@ParliamentofRSA
CAPE TOWN - The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has told MPs that they should be concerned at the small increase in the number of child grant recipients.
The office said this could be an indication that poor and vulnerable children were not benefitting from the social assistance, or parents were being blocked from accessing the grant.
The PBO briefed the select committee on appropriations on Wednesday on the 2025 division of revenue and appropriation bills, which still require Parliament's approval and form part of the budget.
The Parliamentary Budget Office's public finance analyst, Busi Sibeko, told MPs that the projected number of grant recipients did not make sense when one looked at the trends.
She said that the number of beneficiaries for the child support grant were only expected to increase by 0.2% in the medium term.
"I think members should be concerned with this because it raises questions about are parents being blocked in a way from accessing the child grant. Why is the number increasing so little given the number of children who are going to be born in the medium term."
Sibeko said there was a need to take a closer look at the entire sector and how it intersected with home affairs and the registration of children at birth.