Added: 22 April 1997

The Report of the Lund Committee on Child and Family Support

1. Background and Introduction

Since 1994, the different national ministries have been faced with the difficult task of setting broad policy directions and guidelines for the transformation of the public sector. The Department of Welfare has been engaged in a number of different processes to formulate new policies on a number of issues. The most important document to date has been the Draft White Paper for Social Welfare which provides the broad framework for other policies. The Draft White Paper established three principles for the Department's work:

• Welfare will continue to be a partnership between government and the private welfare sector.
• There will be a paradigm shift toward developmental social welfare.
• Social security will continue to be a central and valued part of the overall provision of welfare.

The Draft White Paper recognises the uneven provision of welfare services in the past as one component of larger societal inequalities caused by apartheid. It also recognises that there is a lack of national consensus on the issue of state financial support for children and families. As the current child and family welfare system is highly inequitable and financially unsustainable, the Minister of Welfare and Provincial Members of the Executive Committee established the Lund Committee on Child and Family Support to investigate the problem and recommend solutions in line with the provisions of the New Constitution.

The New Constitution states that everyone has the right to "social security, including, if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants, appropriate social assistance." Further, "the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within its available resources, to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these rights."

As the State Maintenance Grant is so interrelated with many initiatives in other sectors and influenced by the tremendous changes in the social services taking place throughout government, the terms of reference of the Committee were expanded beyond family social security payments. The final terms of reference for this Committee were:

• to undertake a critical appraisal of the existing system of support in all departments to children and families;
• to investigate the possibility of increasing parental financial support through the private maintenance system;
• to explore alternative policy options in relation to social security for children and families as well as other anti-poverty, economic empowerment, and capacity building strategies;
• to develop approaches for effective targeting of programmes for children and families;
• to present a report giving findings and recommendations.

2. Main Findings of the Committee

Under the previous social security system in South Africa, there were four categories of state support for elderly, persons with disabilities, social relief, and child and family care. The main grant in the field of child and family care was the State Maintenance Grant (SMG). A woman has been eligible for this means-tested grant, if she has applied for financial support from her partner or the father of her children through a magistrate's court, and has been unable to get it; or if she was widowed, deserted, or under certain other conditions.

Although legally all South African women were eligible for the grant, African women were largely excluded from receiving SMGs, or access, particularly in the former homelands, was very uneven. In 1995, about R 1.2 billion was spent on state maintenance grants. The result of these disparities are that a disproportionately high share of Indian and Coloured received SMGs. Overall, only 8 out of every 1,000 children received the grants, but 48 and 40 out of 1,000 Coloured and Indian children respectively were recipients. This compared to only 2 grants for every 1,000 African children. It has been estimated that it would cost between R 5 billion and R 20 billion to provide the current level of grants to all eligible women.

While the existing State Maintenance Grant is based on the nuclear family model, the traditional definition of a family does not apply to many South Africans living in poverty. Many families are headed by single women and more families are living outside of the conventional definition of a nuclear family. The fragmentation of families is to be seen as part of a broader political system, whose economic and political policies sytematically disrupted family life, particularly affecting African households.

Government recognises that the primary responsibility for the support of children should be with parents, regardless of the status of the relationship between the parents. However, under the current system, if fathers do not provide financial support for their children, then the State will step in and support them. There is concern that this is sending the wrong message about parental responsibility, particularly to fathers about their financial responsibility to their children.

The Committee found that social security is only one means of providing support for children and families. There are many alternative programmes and policies that could be pursued to contributed to the whole package of support such as free health care, early childhood education, and public works programmes. These in addition to developmental social welfare programmes offer more potential for more assertive initiatives for the full development of people's capacities, particularly the development of productive opportunities for women. Although the Committee believes that the welfare sector should assertively address developmental needs, it should not define itself primarily as a job creation programme. Multi-faceted strategies and intersectoral collaboration should be developed alongside social security provision.

3. Key Recommendations

The Committee presents a series of related recommendations to reform the current children social security system. The main recommendations are highlighted below.

• Reform of parental maintenance system

The primary objective of this reform would be to send a different signal to fathers that they must take greater financial responsibility for their children. To instill a new culture of assuming responsibility for the maintenance of one's off-spring, the Committee proposes a public maintenance campaign; information sharing between magistrate's offices, with innovative mechanisms to improve the service; and research focus on maintenance in rural areas. Computerisation is seen as the key to these reforms to allow ongoing monitoring of child maintenance payments. Specific, practical recommendations have been forwarded to the Department of Justice, South African Law Commission, and the South African Police Services.

• Introduction of a flat-rate child support benefit

The Committee recommends that the current State Maintenance Grant be phased out over a five year period to allow for the introduction of a new child support grant. The underlying principle of the new system would be that the benefits should follow the child. The Committee recommended that all children 0-9 are eligible for the benefit of R 70. Money would be paid to the primary care giver for all children who qualify. Children would need to be registered and meet certain health requirements like immunisations to receive their grant. Payment of grants should be made through the post office or bank on a quarterly basis, allowing the care-giver to retrieve it at their convenience.

• Continuation of care dependency grant

This grant is paid to carers of children with severe intellectual or physical impairments who require full-time care. This is a preferred option to costly institutional care.

• Continuation of foster care grant

Although the Committee expressed concern that some care-givers may opt for this larger grant, they felt that it was a vital lifeline for the care of children with no parents and must be protected.

• Develop an HIV/AIDs policy

Because of the magnitude of the HIV/AIDs epidemic in South Africa, the Committee recommends that the Department of Welfare urgently calculate the impact of the disease on the delivery of social services. This will facilitate future planning for the epidemic and shift responsibility for some services to other departments and sectors.

• Support development of reproductive health services and life skills education in schools

The Committee recommends that the Department of Welfare actively contribute to the development of reproductive health services and the life skills and sexual education curricula for use in schools. The Department should also facilitate the dissemination of the lessons learned from existing, innovative programmes.

• Forging links between welfare, social security, poverty alleviation, and other development programmes

The Committee commends the Department of Welfare for its paradigm shift to developmental social welfare. It recommends that these efforts be expanded to form greater linkages with the NGO sector and to share information and resources with other government departments on these issues.

4. Some Issues for Progressive Health and Development Sectors

This report and its recommendations raise many important issues for progressive health and development NGOs and CBOs. It builds in the principles of the Primary Health Care (PHC) approach. It supports intersectoral collaboration in both directions as a means to address the root causes of poverty. Many joint projects are suggested with other departments such as Justice, Agriculture, Education, Health, Labour, and Public Works. In addition, the report reaffirms the positive role of NGOs and CBOs in providing social welfare services.

Although fiscal discipline imposed by the government's macroeconomic growth strategy makes it impossible to reach all poor children, the proposed grant system would promote greater equity among South African children. It would address the historical imbalances and distribute more money to rural, African women and their families who are most seriously disadvantaged under the existing system. In order to achieve greater equity with limited resources, some current recipients will lose out.

Finally, the Committee has made several recommendations to strengthen linkages between the health and welfare sectors. They strongly support the introduction of reproductive health services and life skills education in school curricula. They call for urgent research into the economic and social implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Based on that research, they recommend that all government departments accept a greater responsibility for addressing the crisis. Finally, the Committee recommends that a connection be established between certain essential health services such as immunisations and receiving a state grant.

5. Some points for consideration

• The report argues that disproportionately high amounts previously paid out to fewer people, should be redistributed to meet the needs of all. To meet this goal, it proposes to reduce the current grant payments to R70 per child. Is such a ceiling adequate and would it ensure equity for all?
• Recognising that the main problems in the current system are of an administrative nature, would the proposed reforms bring about the administrative and structural changes needed to include previously excluded African households, particularly in the rural areas?
• Whilst acknowledging the benefits accruable from bringing communities into contact with mainstream financial institutions, will such a system not further alienate or limit access of already marginalised, poorly educated communities, especially in the rural areas?
• Is Social Welfare spending the best means of reducing inequity and redistributing benefits to all?
• The Bill of Rights states that every child has the right to"basic nutrition, shelter, basic health care services and social services". How does the proposed 30% target for child support benefits reconcile with the Bill of Rights?
• The Bill of Rights defines a child as a person under the age of 18years. How does the proposed extension of child support benefits to children between 0-6 years only reconcile with the above clause?
• To what extent will the proposed reforms contribute to the creation of a nurturing environment that promotes the preservation of family values?

6. Way Forward

The Committee submitted its final report and recommendations to the Minister of Welfare and nine provincial MECs in August 1996. Because of the short time frame given to make its recommendations, the Committee acknowledged that it was not able to carry out wide public consultation. Thus, its recommendations are largely technical in nature. Despite, their technical nature, they will have major implications for many South African families and children. For this reason, they have been very controversial.

The Portfolio Committee on Welfare will convene hearings on this report on 22 and 23 April 1997. Written and oral submissions are due to the committee by 14 April 1997. These hearings are part of the public consultation process on the future of child welfare in South Africa.

If any of the recommendations are accepted which have financial or legislative implications, they will be considered by MINMEC and submitted to Parliament. Within Parliament, there will be further hearings and opportunities for public comment. Specific dates have not been presented for implementation of the new system.

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