TECL II
Court case to improve access to Child Grant
Court challenge to regulations on the Child Support Grant, which provides that a birth certificate is the only acceptable proof of a child’s identify.
- Media release by the Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security (ACCESS)
- Released on 17 March 2008
NOTE: This matter was settled between the parties, and the settlement made an order of court.
ACESS will take the Department of Social Development to court on Wednesday 19th March in the Pretoria High Court. The issue is the validity of regulations which ACESS say hold children hostage to other Departments, and in particular Home Affairs.
The Department of Social Development says in its regulations to the Social Assistance Act that they will only accept a birth certificate and identity document as proof of identity in order to process a child support grant. The DG used to have the discretion to accept other documents. ACESS will be arguing that this change is not fair on children, in that it makes them a hostage to the Department of Home Affairs. “We need children to use the grant to get to school, eat better, and improve their prospects. We can’t see them stopped by this paper chase.” says Patricia Martin, director at ACESS. “The department can’t shift this responsibility away from themselves. If birth certificates are not available, then they have to use clinic cards, school documents, or baptismal certificates. The Minister has acknowledged this is a problem – he must act.”
For example, at the time of a survey commissioned by ACESS, the local Home Affairs office in Nongoma had run out of ink for printer which is used for birth certificates. They are supposed to have petty cash for printer ink, but they apparently have no petty cash. Reasons given for this range from not having a safe, to having had cash go missing in the past. This means having the birth certificate printed in Ulundi, which is 50 k taxi ride away. Without the grant, you can’t get the certificate. Without the certificate you can’t get the grant.
In poor areas, up to 35% of children eligible for the child support grant are not able to access it, and lack of documentation form Home Affairs is a significant reason for this. It is difficult to count the number of children who don’t have birth certificates in their first year, but it runs as high as 62.4% in KZN, while a much higher percentage have documents in the Western Cape, for example.
The Department argues that the Social Relief of Distress (SROD) is available where no documents are obtainable. ACESS says this varies widely, and in any event, officials generally insist on the birth certificate anyway, and that the grant is only available where you have ALREADY made application for the grant. “The Department says they have produced a manual on SROD – more paper, none of which helps kids who can’t get birth certificates, therefore can’t make application for the grant, and therefore can’t be eligible for Social Relief.”
The Department also argues that there is more likelihood of fraud where you don’t require birth certificates. ACESS argues that there is no evidence that use of other forms of identification resulted in any significant fraud. “Don’t make children bear the burden of addressing fraud. The clean up within the Department has demonstrated that officials are often the cause of fraud, not beneficiaries” says Martin.