Petition to increase child support grant garners thousands of signatures
A petition for the child support grant to be increased amid the coronavirus pandemic has garnered over half-a-million signatures.
A group of South African academics, civil society leaders and development partners have written to the President - asking that government consider an urgent increase of R500 to the grant for a period of six months.
They say this will help mitigate the devastating impact of COVID-19 on children and their families.
The petition - which was started by the Children's Institute - has been signed by more than 20 organisations in the field of childcare and children's rights.
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Julia Ambler is with the Durban-based Umduduzi Hospice Care for Children - which is supporting the campaign.
"At the moment what we are seeing with the lockdown is that families are absolutely starving. There is no way these parents can support their child because they can't go out and earn that tiny bit of income they were able to do so beforehand. What we are hoping government can increase the child support grant for a period of six months."
On Tuesday, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said government was considering topping up the child support and old age grants to limit the impact of the pandemic.
